Property records can be a gold mine of information.
Because property taxes are local, there’s no one database where you can look up every record. But the NETR Real Estate Research and Information site will point you to the websites and online databases of tax records for every county in America. Many of these counties have put their public records online, including copies of deeds, parcel maps, tax data, ownership information, property assessment and sales data. This information can be invaluable for backgrounding individuals and also lead to local story ideas.
One of the better local property tax record sites out there is the aptly named TaxRecords.com, which offers searches by name, sale price, property address, street and zip code for New Jersey, Maryland and parts of Pennsylvania.
Derek Harper, a reporter at The Press of Atlantic City, recommended the site, and says TaxRecords.com has been helpful to him “since it also can be used as a reverse directory and a neighborhood directory. It also links to tax maps, some of which are decades old, unfortunately.”
Some news organizations have also put real estate databases online. If you’re searching for information on people or property in the Washington, D.C., area, for example, the real estate database on WashingtonPost.com is hard to beat.
This is a great use of the Web and, if your news organization isn’t already doing it, might be worth considering.
SUBMIT YOUR TIPS: What websites do you find most useful in your reporting? Send a brief note with your name, affiliation and a description of a favorite site to tips@cyberjournalist.net and I’ll publish them in future columns.