How to Trace Property Ownership
- 1). Find the website for the jurisdiction where the property is. One easy way to do this is to visit the National Association of Counties website at www.naco.org (see link under References). Click on the "Find a County" link under the "About Counties" heading just under the website title.
- 2). Select the appropriate state, then county, from the list. If you don't know which county you are looking for, select the "Places/Cities" link in the related links box on the right. This will bring up a list of matched cities, towns and counties.
- 3). Click on the corresponding county, city or town. On the jurisdiction's information page, click on the underlined link for the jurisdiction's website at the top of the page.
- 4). Select the link for property records information on the jurisdiction's website. Different localities may have different titles for this link, but all are similar to "property records," "property and tax information," "property search," and so on.
- 5). Search by address by typing the street number and name in the correct boxes. If multiple properties come up on the results page, (this might happen if you did not include the street number or if there are multiple properties at one address) select the desired property from the list.
- 6). Find the current and past owners by scanning down the property tax file for the information.
