How to Find Property Owners
- Craig Kaiser
- Dec 4
- 5 min read
Identifying property owners is essential for real estate developers, agents, surveyors, and land managers. Whether you're exploring a development, managing nearby land, or just curious, knowing who owns a property is the first step. This guide covers traditional methods for finding property owners, their limitations, and modern tools that simplify the process. Learn how to access comprehensive ownership details quickly and efficiently, without the usual hassle.
Key Takeaways
To find out who owns land for free, visit the county recorder’s office or tax collectors office, or use their online public record search tools.
Traditional methods of finding property owners are time-consuming and inconsistent.
Modern property data tools like LandApp Pro can tell you who owns land nationwide, saving hours of time and research.
Nationwide coverage is a competitive advantage for real estate professionals, allowing them to identify deals faster than competitors relying on manual ownership searches.
How is Property Owner Information Used?
Real estate professionals, developers, property investors, and anyone just curious about land ownership can use nationwide ownership for a variety of different purposes. For example, land investors can identify absentee owners of vacant land for their acquisition campaigns, while developers can research ownership patterns to find assembly opportunities. Real estate professionals use it to find owners of off-market properties that match their buyers' criteria. Additionally, anyone curious about real estate and land ownership can find out who their neighbors are and see who owns land.
How to Find Property Owners
There are 5 different ways to find property owners. To see who owns land and real estate, you can visit the country recorder's office, use online public records, visit the tax collectors office, or use comprehensive property data tools and applications like LandApp Pro.
1) Visiting the County Recorder's Office or Website
The most reliable source for property ownership information is the local county recorder's or assessor's office. The county assessor's office maintains public records of property ownership, including owner names, mailing addresses, assessed values, and property characteristics. Many counties have digitized their property records, making them accessible through online portals. This can save you a trip to the courthouse. You can often search by address, owner name, or Assessor's Parcel Number (APN).
Pros: Free, official records that show ownership history and legal documentation
Cons: Time-consuming, inconsistent formats, often requires visiting multiple counties if you are researching multiple properties, may require fees for copies
To find property owners from the county recorder's office or by using property assessor data, you first need to identify the county where the property is located. Then, you'll have to visit the county recorder's office in person during business hours or go to their website if they provide public records only. You can use the property’s address or parcel number to search through public records, which may involve looking through physical ledgers or using dated computer systems. After finding the relevant deed, you can request a copy, which usually requires a small fee.
2) Visit the Tax Collector's Office
The second way to find property owners is to visit the tax collectors office. Property tax records include owner information and mailing addresses. These records are particularly useful for identifying absentee owners.
Pros: Current mailing addresses, indicates tax status
Cons: Limited information, separate from assessor data in some jurisdictions, they may charge a small fee to obtain official documents
To visit the tax collector's office to find property owner information, begin by identifying the correct office for the property's location, as these offices are typically organized by county or municipality. Then you can request access to the property tax records by providing the property address or parcel number. The staff may direct you to public terminals or printed ledgers where the information is stored. Look for current mailing addresses and tax status, as these details can confirm ownership and indicate whether any taxes are overdue. After locating the relevant record, you may need to pay a small fee to obtain official copies of the documents. Always check the office's specific procedures or requirements before your visit to ensure a smooth process.
3) Online Property Search & Listing Websites
The third method to find property owners is to use online property search and listing websites. These websites sometimes display owner information, or at least provide property details you can use to narrow your search.
Pros: User-friendly interfaces, free
Cons: Information often incomplete or outdated, focused on listed properties
To use online real estate listing platforms to find property owners, start by searching for the property address or neighborhood of interest on online listing marketplaces. Sites like Zillow, Redfin, or LandApp provide detailed property listings that often include the owner’s contact information if the property is for sale or lease by owner. If owner details aren’t directly available, you may find the listing agent’s contact information, who can facilitate communication with the owner. Keep in mind that unlisted properties typically won’t show up in these searches, limiting the usefulness of this method for off-market properties.
4) Comprehensive Property Data Tools
Online property search tools and comprehensive property data tools like LandApp Pro provide instant access to comprehensive nationwide ownership data, eliminating the need to visit county websites or compile information from multiple sources.
Pros: User-friendly interface, instant search, nationwide coverage
Cons: Some information can be outdated, $6 monthly fee
Today's real estate professionals need faster, more reliable access to ownership data. Modern property intelligence platforms like LandApp Pro aggregate data from thousands of counties nationwide, standardize it, and make it instantly searchable, changing the game. To find property owners online using LandApp Pro, you can search by owner name or view land owner names on the map view. Instead of spending hours tracking down information county by county, you can find what you need in just a few clicks.
Traditional vs. Modern Methods of Finding Property Owners
While traditional methods of finding landowners, like visiting the county recorder or assessor's office, can work, they come with significant drawbacks. The data is often fragmented, as each county maintains its own system with different formats and levels of accessibility. This makes the process incredibly time-intensive, often taking hours or days to gather data for a single property. Furthermore, public records aren't always updated in real-time, leading to outdated information, and records may be incomplete, with old, missing, or inaccurate mailing addresses. These issues can create major scalability problems, making it nearly impossible to find owners for hundreds or thousands of properties. However, you can find land owners for free using these methods, while online platforms often charge fees for property ownership data.
Modern property data applications like LandApp Pro provides instant access to comprehensive nationwide ownership data, eliminating the need to visit county websites or compile information from multiple sources. You can instantly find property owners by searching using a property address, parcel number (APN), owner name, or geographic area. LandApp Pro also provides additional parcel data, like property characteristics, property boundaries, and geographical features. LandApp Pro provides this data at an affordable price of just $6 monthly.
Ready to revolutionize your property research? Subscribe to LandApp Pro today on desktop or on our mobile applicationto unlock instant access to nationwide ownership data.
