Investigating Your Property
Now that you’ve found a property that you like, it’s time to do your due diligence. Investigating the property records can be as important as your home inspection. There are several ways that you can research a property to find out more about it.
It’s best to do this research before your home inspection in case you turn up any red flags that would stop you from moving forward with paying for an inspection on the house.
PROPERTY RESEARCH CHECKLIST
1) PORTLANDMAPS
If you’re buying a house in Portland, then www.portlandmaps.com will be one of your number one ways to investigate your property. Just type in the address and you’ll discover a wealth of knowledge. Spend some quality time at your computer clicking through each and every tab on portlandmaps. You’ll often be amazed at what you find. If you have any questions about the information you find, be sure to notify your team right away!
2) CITY RECORDS
City of Portland Bureau of Development Services. Usually the best place to find the most up to date and accurate records about your property will be the city records department. In Portland, the records department is right downtown at 1900 SW 4th Ave. A few dollars and a little bit of wait time will produce all the documents that they have on record for your home. Most of these are building permits, but you can sometimes find original house plans, and good information about the location of utilities, old septic systems, etc. If you have any concerns that un permitted remodeling was done to the house, a trip to your local records department is in order. For more information: http://www.portlandoregon.gov/bds/
3) COUNTY RECORDS
The county also has a number of records about your property. A trip to Multnomah County Records at 501 SE Hawthorne can produce the following documents: Recorded Documents (deeds, liens, mortgages, etc.), Tax Bills (copies of actual tax statements), Tax Rolls (certified tax, value and appraisal information), Characteristic Cards (full appraisal information and values), Misc. Indices (owner, address), Block Books, Land Records. Usually most of the information you really need relating to ownership and taxes will also be provided in your preliminary title report, but if you don’t want to leave any stoned unturned, then feel free to visit the county. For more information: http://web.multco.us/ recording/public-records-research
4) GOOGLE
Yep, Google it! Sometimes you can find fascinating information just by typing your address into Google with quotation marks around it.
5) THE SELLER!
Do you have questions about the house that you think the seller might know? NOW is the time to ask. Just send along your questions to us, and we will do our best to get answers from the seller.