Real Estate Professional · Little Rock, AR · Member since 2013 · 10 posts · 1 vote
I’m sure this is a newbie question but if I want to find out who owns a rundown property in a neighborhood what are the steps I need to take or how do I find this information.
Adding a few more suggestions to those already given:
Try Googling the name of the county and the letters "GIS". GIS stands for geographic information system and is the mapping function behind county tax records. Once inside GIS, you can search the property address and see the owner information, plus a lot of other helpful data.
After I locate the owner this way, I like to search to see what other properties the owner has, and whether the taxes are current.
If the owner is an LLC, you can try Googling the state and "SOS search." I'm in North Carolina, so I'd search "North Carolina SOS" or "NCSOS search." Look for an area to search the company name. That will give you the annual report filing, which has the owner or manager names and addresses.
@Lafayette Payne ... All of what @Conn G. said, but I skip looking at the prop on Zillow and go straight to the parcel search with the address. To find out more information about the owner, I skip trace using truepeoplesearch.com and/or fastpeoplesearch.com I'm in the process of working with a skip tracer to get more accurate contact information, but those two sites can get you started.
Adding a few more suggestions to those already given:
Try Googling the name of the county and the letters "GIS". GIS stands for geographic information system and is the mapping function behind county tax records. Once inside GIS, you can search the property address and see the owner information, plus a lot of other helpful data.
After I locate the owner this way, I like to search to see what other properties the owner has, and whether the taxes are current.
If the owner is an LLC, you can try Googling the state and "SOS search." I'm in North Carolina, so I'd search "North Carolina SOS" or "NCSOS search." Look for an area to search the company name. That will give you the annual report filing, which has the owner or manager names and addresses.
@cedric Here's more info, including steps, in this post. It's for another geographic area, but steps should be similar.
https://www.biggerpockets.com/forums/311/topics/741985-locating-property-owner-addresses-boise-id?page=1#p4366812
Good question. Each county is a little different, so you might need to search a bit to find the website or website area you want.
Start with the following google searches:
- county/city name + tax assessor
- county/city name + GIS + tax bill
Look for an opportunity to type in an address you’re curious about. When property details appear, search around for tabs or links to property taxes. Somewhere in there you will find the status, etc.
Be sure to look for web addresses with .gov endings. These are free resources and are reliable.
A side note, some countries have a delinquent tax overlay layer on their GIS mapping system. Iredell County NC is an example. That makes your search super easy, so it should be a first step to try.
Holler with more questions. I’m happy to share what I know.
@Lore Postman Hello, and thank you for providing detailed instructions. I live in Texas and I found the owner's name and address. I've tried all the suggestions on this link however, the owner's address is the property address. This property is a small apartment complex with no leasing office and the address of the owner doesn't show a unit or a phone number. I was hoping to send him/her a letter so I do need a mailing address. A phone number would be good too.
Is there another way to skin this cat? I'm hoping not to go door to door looking for the owner.