Where to go to find property information

Buying & Selling Real Estate
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Where to go to find property information

Tim Moore
Cohoes, NY · Member since 2015 · 34 posts · 4 votes
Hey BP! My wife and I have been talking about buying a multi family as our first home, house hacking and then building on from there. We were at one of our friends' houses the other day and she mentioned that the duplex on the corner had been owned by a couple that passed away and was now in possession of their son who has left it vacant. Intrigued, I wanted to try and find more information on the property and see if we could reach out to him. Just from a quick look on the easy sites (Zillow, Trulia, etc) it said that the deed to the house had been sold for 10k in December of 2015. I'm a little confused as to what that means to be completely honest. Does it just mean that my friend, who has been living on the street for 20+ years, doesn't have her information right on who owns the property? Or is there some sort of transaction that would've happened when this guys' parents passed away? I was under the presumption that if you have property passed down to you in will or trust etc there's no sale that needs to happen, but I could just be naive about the whole process. Let me know what your thoughts are because we want to reach out to the son and make an offer if the property is just sitting there. Thanks for the feedback!
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Hugo Alves
Field Service Manager · Scotch Plains, NJ · Member since 2017 · 90 posts · 31 votes
9y

@Tim Moore Easy way that I've been able to find this information is on the county tax assessor site. It will give you the information such as: date of sale, type of sale, who owns the property, and what book and page the transaction is recorded. Once you have that, you can check public records to check for the owner and read the documents posted on the site. Once you have that information, you can go a few routes. If it was a deed transfer to the heir, you can reach out to the attorney involved and ask if they would touch base with the individual to see if they are willing to sell. Other route is contacting the person directly through mail or seeing if you can locate a phone number for them. 

Just a few ideas

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  • Hugo Alves
    Field Service Manager · Scotch Plains, NJ · Member since 2017 · 90 posts · 31 votes
    9y

    @Tim Moore Easy way that I've been able to find this information is on the county tax assessor site. It will give you the information such as: date of sale, type of sale, who owns the property, and what book and page the transaction is recorded. Once you have that, you can check public records to check for the owner and read the documents posted on the site. Once you have that information, you can go a few routes. If it was a deed transfer to the heir, you can reach out to the attorney involved and ask if they would touch base with the individual to see if they are willing to sell. Other route is contacting the person directly through mail or seeing if you can locate a phone number for them. 

    Just a few ideas

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  • Samuel LynchPro Member
    Realtor · Jacksonville, NC · Member since 2016 · 108 posts · 47 votes
    9y
    I've found it easy to use the tax assessor site as well. The County GIS is good to identify properties to research then use the tax site to get the other information you seek.
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  • Tim Moore
    OP
    Cohoes, NY · Member since 2015 · 34 posts · 4 votes
    9y

    @Hugo Alves @Samuel Lynch Thanks guys! I've never used the tax assessor site, but I've heard a lot of people talk about it. I was able to look up the deed for the property and in it, it states that the the son and his wife "to have and to hold the premises herein granted unto the parties of the second part, their heirs and assigns forever." It uses the word "forever" 3 times in the deed basically stating that they hold it forever. Is it possible to list in an estate that a property can never be sold or is that just a terminology that I've never seen? Can someone really be blocked from selling their property that has been handed to them by their deceased parents even if they don't want to keep it or am I crazy?!

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  • Hugo Alves
    Field Service Manager · Scotch Plains, NJ · Member since 2017 · 90 posts · 31 votes
    9y

    @Tim Moore I don't believe so. From a quick search online, I noticed that all deeds have that statement, or something similar with the Habendum, which is the part within the deed that actually transfers the deed to the new individual. 

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  • Tim Moore
    OP
    Cohoes, NY · Member since 2015 · 34 posts · 4 votes
    9y

    Thanks @Hugo Alves! I figured that was the case since, you know, this is America and people have a hard time being told they CAN'T do something. It seemed like a very weird way to phrase it, but I had also never looked that closely at a deed before. Thanks for the feedback, this is why I love BP.

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  • Hugo Alves
    Field Service Manager · Scotch Plains, NJ · Member since 2017 · 90 posts · 31 votes
    9y

    Anytime!

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