PROPERTYSPARK ARTICLE

How to Find Information About a Property and Its Owners

There could be many reasons why someone wants to get information about a house and who lives there. It could be a real estate agent, a house hunter, or just a neighbor who’s wondering who lives across the street. No matter what your intentions are—to find info on the property or its residents—there are many resources that can help you out. Let’s take a look at some of them.

People search engine

There are several online platforms where you can find data about a property and its occupants based on the property’s address. One such platform is Nuwber, a people search website that provides reverse address lookup services, where you can type in the property’s address and find data on its owners, including their contact information, social media profiles, and professional details, among others.

Apart from this, you’ll find details about the house and the neighborhood it’s located in, including local amenities, streets nearby, and sex offenders in the area.

How to perform a reverse address lookup on Nuwber?

1. Type in the address in this order: street number, street name, city, state, and zip code.
2. Click Search.
3. Enjoy the results.

County’s assessor office or local government website

The county’s assessor office and local government websites can be regarded as primary sources for property records and related public data. Platforms of this type are maintained by local government entities and are meant to provide a wide range of records, including land use data, ownership details, and even tax assessments.

To use these resources, the only thing you need to do is enter a property’s address into the search function available and look through official records provided by the source. Because this intel is used for tax assessment and municipal planning, the risk of inaccurate data is low. Better yet, these resources are also cost-effective; more specifically, access to them is usually free.

Real estate websites

If the strategies described above haven’t provided the needed data, you may want to visit one or more real estate websites. These platforms often aggregate data from multiple sources to provide information on estimated property value, historical sales data, and neighborhood trends.

Real estate websites can be especially useful when the goal is to get a broader understanding of a particular property. Since the focus of these platforms is to provide real estate information, they can be used to fill gaps in real estate data following research through public records. It’s worth mentioning that some of the data provided will be estimates, and these types of metrics should always be used carefully, as predictions don’t always match reality.

Generic search engines and social media

Sometimes not even a real estate website will tell you much about a property or a neighborhood. In such cases, generic search engines such as Google and social media platforms can come in handy.

For example, public records or a real estate website will typically not give you much information on neighborhood crime rates or the quality of the nearby schools. When doing a reverse address lookup to get real estate intel, you might want to check what people say about a particular area. That being said, use this type of information carefully, as people may underestimate or overestimate how dangerous a particular location is or how good a school is.

Another thing to take into consideration when using social media and search engines is that not only is the information available based on subjective impressions but can also be highly inaccurate. Whether intentional or not, it’s well-known that people use certain platforms to spread disinformation. As such, if you’re to make use of subjective information, it’s usually best to use it along with objective metrics and always double-check the accuracy of the details provided.

Local library

Before the Internet era, searching for intel about a property and its owners often involved a walk to the local library. This approach can still be useful when, for example, you’re looking for historical research or when you need data about older properties.

Local libraries and historical societies may also have at their disposal things such as city directories, old maps, and newspapers that cannot be accessed online. These resources can give important information about the past of a property, its architectural changes, previous occupants, and other useful details.

Professional services

If all other methods fail or if you haven’t yet been able to gather all the intel you need, it’s likely time to consider hiring a professional. Some companies, like My Site Plan, have access to databases and resources that aren’t available to the general public, meaning they can provide detailed information about a property and who lives there.

For example, private investigators can be used to gather data about the history of a property and its owners, uncovering intentionally or unintentionally hidden information. This level of detail will typically only be useful for legal cases, privacy or security concerns, and complex real estate transactions.

Bottom line: Reverse address lookups can only take a few minutes

A few decades ago, it would’ve taken at least a few weeks or even months to find information about a property and its residents. Nowadays, with so many reserve address lookup service providers, it’s possible to retrieve all the details with just a few clicks. Better yet, generic search engines and social media platforms can often be of use to fill in any gaps in the data you have.

Although finding property intel is easier than never, there are still cases when doing an amateur search is risky. When dealing with complex legal cases or considering investing in a property, investigating an address with the help of experts is a safer option. After all, paying a service fee once is always better than paying the wrong mortgage.