There are thousands of sites on the internet for finding property records. In order to direct you to the right site, the need to know exactly what type of property records you are looking for. If you are looking for property valuation, then use either Zillow.com or eppraisal.com.
Zillow provides a free home valuation tool which includes square footage, bedroom/bathroom count, historical information, assessed value of homes in the area and a satellite map of the property and the surrounding neighborhood. Eppraisal also provides free home valuation estimates, data on comparable houses, recent sales, neighborhood details and local market trends. For a small fee, Eppraisal will run a detailed report.
If you are searching for assessor information, I suggest Nationwide Environmental Title Research (Netronline.com). This site has the most comprehensive collection of both online and offline county assessor, recorder and tax collector contact information. Netronline also has a free search box to identify the owner of the property you are searching.
If the state or county of the property you need to obtain information does not have a free web service, then I suggest Intelius. The Intelius property report only costs a few dollars and includes sales history, current value, lot size, property details, owners information, current mortgage, legal description & more.
The most comprehensive source for property records is through a title company. Unfortunately, title companies do not provide property information free online. An account needs to be set up and they do charge monthly fees to obtain their services. Titles companies provide information as to the current owner of a parcel of land, the property profile, whether there are any property liens, who was the prior owner, who signed for the title and much more information that would not be available through an online service.
The popular title insurance companies are North American Title, Chicago Title and Stewart Title Company. Title insurance companies will only set up accounts for real estate brokers, attorneys, mortgage and escrow companies and other real estate related companies. Here is a website with the complete list of all the title insurance companies throughout the United States - Title Insurance Companies List.
Last, and not to be overlooked, a Google search for the property may pull up all the information you are searching for. In the Google search box, type the property address followed by either the city or zip code. In most cases, the search results will pull up a Google map of the property and in some cases, the names of the individuals or businesses at that address. Google searches are the most effective way to search because underneath the Google map, are the natural listings of all the web sites on the internet that list the address you are searching for.
