The Washington Post recently featured the story of an unusual housewarming gift in its real estate section. According to The Post, Elizabeth Rattigan gave her niece a history of the Cleveland Park home the niece just purchased as a housewarming gift. To compile the home’s history, Rattigan used building records, canvassed local newspaper records and visited at least two Washington, D.C.-area historic archives to compile.
These are all wonderful resources for researchers to be aware of when conducting research on a property. In addition to making a great housewarming gift, property records are relevant in just about every type of research effort, whether you backgrounding an individual, trying to understand more about a business, verifying the residency of a political candidate, learning about a nonprofit’s assets and operations, or scrutinizing a city’s dealings with developers. Property records also offer some of the best insights into the finances and assets of an individual or company.
Here are some of the most fundamental questions that property records can be used to answer:
· What properties does a certain individual or company own?
· Who currently owns a specific property? What is the property’s ownership history?
· Who sold or purchased a property, when, and for how much?
· How was the purchase of a property financed? Who were the lenders and trustees involved? What were the terms of the loan?
· Has a borrower paid off their mortgage? When did they do so, how long did it take, and did they take out another mortgage afterward?
· Has an owner defaulted on their mortgage?
· Has a property been foreclosed on, taken back by creditors, or sold at auction?
· What is the assessed value of a property? Is it different from the sale price? Has it changed over the years?
· What kind of property is it? Does it include the additional land around it? What are the exact boundaries, and how is it zoned?
· How much does the owner pay in property taxes? Do they pay on time, do they have a history of late or missed payments? Does the owner receive any kind of special tax breaks?
· Has the government ever filed a tax lien against the owner of a property? What kinds of taxes were at issue? Was the lien paid off, and if so, when?
· Has a lien ever been attached to a property as part of a judgment against the owner/debtor? Was the debt paid off, or was the property seized and sold?
· Has a contractor ever taken action against a property owner for unpaid work? If so, how was this resolved?
· Does an owner claim a property as their primary residence?
· Has a property undergone major renovation? What kinds of permits were issued and for what kind of work?
Keep these questions in mind when working with property records and use them to guide both the nature and locations of your inquiries.