Property ownership is a matter of public record. Visit your local county assessor’s office—or in some cases, their records are now online—and you should be able to track down a property owner’s name using a parcel number or street address. When it comes to pursuing real estate leads, however, especially commercial real estate opportunities, the limited details of public records aren’t always enough. In these cases, professionals depend on other resources to conduct a property owner search that goes beyond what’s public.
Performing a Public Property Owner Search
Why are public property ownership records less than helpful? With regard to commercial real estate, especially, public records are often lacking the pertinent ownership contact details.
Knowing how to search for public records, however, is still important.
If you are pursuing real estate opportunities that are local to you, the best place to start searching for public records is through the county assessor’s office. In the case of property deeds, the information is often located with the county recorder. For real estate opportunities beyond your local county or city, resources such as NETRonline.com provide a nationwide directory for county offices that keep public records.
Whether your county offers an online database or you have to go into the assessor’s office, you will need either the address, parcel number, or owner’s name for the property you wish to search for.
Let’s say you search by street address, you should be able to discover some, if not all, of the following information:
- Taxpayer/Owner’s name or business name
- Mailing address
- Assessed value and taxable of the property
- Parcel Number
- Property type (commercial or residential)
- Date property was last assessed
While some of these details are useful for real estate professionals—owner name and mailing address, for instance—the public records are lacking some details essential to moving your business forward.
In the case of CRE opportunities, most commercial properties will be in the name of the corporation or LLC, and not the owner or key decision-maker. Without knowing who makes decisions for repairs, investments, or sales opportunities, it can be difficult to turn that information into a productive lead.
Taking Your Property Owner Search Beyond Public Records
Generating new CRE and residential leads begins with having the right resources to go beyond public ownership records.
ProspectNow allows you to dive deeper into property owner details in order to maximize your time and find more qualified leads—whether you are a broker, lender, investor, or you provide building maintenance services.
The ProspectNow database includes information on nearly 40 million commercial real estate properties, both on and off the market. This means you can search millions of properties to find details that include:
- Name of owner or key decision-maker
- Owner’s email, phone number, and mailing address.
- Contact details for LLC managing members
- Purchase and tax history of the property
- Ownership portfolio for LLCs
What makes this resource stand out is the use of predictive analytics to discover off-market properties that are likely to sell. CRE professionals can pursue leads that are still off-market but trending toward the need to sell, whether due to market predictions, financial purposes, or both.
Instead of searching through public records one name or address at a time, ProspectNow makes it easy to access the information you need to pursue CRE opportunities both near and far. The database is searchable by property type, size, owner, location, and even whether or not it is in preforeclosure.
Speed Up Your Search
Prospecting new leads is a critical part of your role in commercial real estate. While networking and word of mouth play a significant part in finding new clients, conducting a property owner search allows you to discover unique off-market real estate opportunities.
The traditional public records search is a great way to find the details of one or two properties that you are pursuing. The tax assessor or county recorder, however, will lack the necessary information you need to contact key decision-makers and owners.
By utilizing the tools available through ProspectNow, you can speed up your property owner search and find information that goes well beyond the details available in public records.
Discover new, motivated leads through our database of properties, LLCs, and businesses. Utilize predictive analytics for CRE and residential real estate and explore a world of off-market real estate potential. Ready to see how it works? Sign up for a free 3-day trial and get started with your detailed property owner search today.