How do you go about finding the property owner?

CopperMinerAZ · Mar 5, 2012

Hi there, i searched for this but was unable to find it.

Lets say i found a home to detect, but nobody lives there. Its not abandoned, i checked the county assessors office and it is owned by somebody i just cant figure out who. It gives a mailing address but no name??? :?:

I am still very new to this

So i am probably missing something obvious.

I found what looks to be an old town in the middle of nowhere, when i checked the assessors office; it is all zoned as one property. According to them, it was built 1912, and the following buildings in 1938 and 1948. THAT IS OLD FOR ARIZONA!!! :shock:

, We only became a state in 1912, may find some cool stuff there.

I just want to make sure i exhaust all option on getting permission and doing the right thing.

scout23 · Mar 5, 2012

Do you have a county auditor web site. If not go to your county auditors office and do a property search. It is public records and will show owners name and address.

stikes · Mar 5, 2012

i use www.yellowbook.com and do a reverse lookup with the address it sometimes gives a name or sometimes gives a phone number. the reverse lookup can be used with an address or a phone number and is located at the top left of the page. good luck

emoryjim · Mar 5, 2012

One way is to walk on the property and start MDing. That will raise an eyebrow real quick. I am not condoning trespassing, but it is an option

plnick · Mar 6, 2012

Google "tax maps" for the city or county in question. Every county that I have searched for in my area has these available online.

CTCurt · Mar 6, 2012

scout23 said:
Do you have a county auditor web site. If not go to your county auditors office and do a property search. It is public records and will show owners name and address.

This....

TheCoilist · Mar 6, 2012

You can not rely strictly on the web information. I live in a small town, the tax assessors site did not yield me accurate information. The dream house I wanted to hunt lead me down this path. Found a name and address. Did a search for the other address to see who owned that and the names did not match. I sent a letter to that address anyway explaining how I got the information. Never heard back. No phone numbers were provided.

Dead ends all plentiful online. Be careful.

Yeki · Mar 6, 2012

I have a realtor friend who has owners looked up for me as long as I have an address.

silver49009 · Mar 6, 2012

emoryjim said:
One way is to walk on the property and start MDing. That will raise an eyebrow real quick. I am not condoning trespassing, but it is an option

Not a good plan at all.
One way to automatically lose permission from that landowner and anyone else within several square miles if it's a small town.

Someone pays or owes taxes on that piece of land or homesite. The county building or local township will have tax records. If they don't they will be able to tell you where to look.

Joe

Nic_West_Texas · Mar 6, 2012

Could be older than 1912.. if Arizona became a state in 1912.. then that could be when they started recording things.. so maybe the house was already there, and they just wrote it in the books as being 1912.

CopperMinerAZ · Mar 6, 2012

sounds like i am going to have take a trip downtown to the assesors office. I will deffinetly not just go out and start mding the place, i want to make sure i do the right thing. Thanks for all the good advise guys!

gunwolf · Mar 7, 2012

emoryjim said:
One way is to walk on the property and start MDing. That will raise an eyebrow real quick. I am not condoning trespassing, but it is an option

I agree..always get permission FIRST and formost..
if there are no signs posting private property...no tresspassing, hunting, ect...
here in NY they only have to be every 600ft.
and no one actually verbally or otherwise told you not to go on that property, then the chances of actually being charged with trespassing are slim to none.
they can ask you to leave...once they do this you would be breaking the law by returning.

I have MDed old RR beds that are private owned but have easements...which is sort of a gray area. snow mobiles use these trails, 4 wheelers use them, hunters use them, but I have been asked to please leave a few times :?:

jmorton04 · Mar 7, 2012

I am not familiar with Arizona rules, but

the property in question is either owned by someone who pays taxes on it, it is church or school property, or the local taxing jurisdiction (probably county) has seized it for back taxes.
I would make sure you have the correct address/description and then head to the tax office/county assessor to find out WHO paid the taxes last. Don't stop there, go back several years and look for a delinquency. It is possible that a tax speculator has begun to pay the taxes on it to gain title to it.

Another possibility is that the property is land that belongs to a Native American tribe and if that is the case, I have no idea of how to proceed, other than to suggest "don't", unless you are a member of that tribe and have connections.

Every square inch of the USA belomgs to the government or a company or an individual/family. Generally, that person is the person who pays the taxes.

HH,
John Morton

TheCoilist · Mar 7, 2012

Might be important to note while on this subject that edges of lakes, beaches, and other bodies of water are often never privately owned unless the body of water is enclosed on private property. Similar to easements, most of these edges are state owned properties and as long as the state allows detecting, you can do it regardless of homeowners consent. You can even fish there. If the home owner comes out there isn't much they can do, but I would check with your state's parks and wildlife peeps first about the laws. You will need to know the exact definition of water easement that you have access to.

DwightS · Mar 7, 2012

The easiest way is to check your local Geographical Information Survey (GIS) site. In your favorite search engine, type in your county or parish name and state followed by GIS. Once you learn to use it you can find the owners of the property. If the owner's name isn't listed, do a reverse look-up of the address through whitepages.com.

brokenhunter · Mar 7, 2012

I use the GIS for the county, fortunate that my counties is updated frequently, and is very easy to use. The county directly south of me is much more confusing when it comes to how to access all the information available. All of them will be a bit different and information should be less than 2 months old. The one for my county is updated at a minimum of every 2 weeks. A trip to your auditors office is worth it also as they will have maps that you won't find online.

stikes · Mar 7, 2012

try here i think this is your county

http://www.pinalcountyaz.gov/Departments/InformationTechnology/GIS/Pages/Home.aspx

CopperMinerAZ · Mar 9, 2012

Found it on the GIS System! thanks i will be contacting this person very soon!

Mark D · Mar 9, 2012

Thanks for all of the post .... this was great information

CopperMinerAZ · Mar 12, 2012

I have bookmarked this tread as well, this stuff is gold for a newbie like me!!!

How do you go about finding the property owner?

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