Is there a searchable database containing the owners' names of commercial property in the US?

Answer 1

Assuming you are in the states... all you have to do is look up the county auditor's website and find the real estate info link. There you will find a place to enter any info that you know about the property. In my area the most helpful is just the street number and it brings up all properties with those numbers in their address. From there you can look at the tax cards and see if they're current and if they aren't you may be able to report that and push for forclosure but that's a whole new game. Another helpful thing about these sites is that when they assess the property and update the net info they also put a picture of it with the tax card so you can verify it is the building that you are wanting. Good Luck!

Answer 2

i don't think so.

first you must look up each parcel in zoning books for each community.

then, if you do not know the parcel ID number (PIN) for each address, you need to get that at the assessor's office for the county that the subject property is in.

then you go to the recorder of deeds' office of that community and ask to see records of transfer for the parcel. it is always best to have the PIN, because it is a unique identifier for each piece of property. it goes with that property, just like your social security number goes with you. when you die, your social security number is extinguished. not so for real estate, unless all records are destroyed and the entire database must be rebuilt!

i wish i knew why you want the entire database of all commercial properties in the usa, because it's important. some commercial properties get re-zoned to some other type of zoning, like when a condo developer wants to change from commercial to residential zoning.

so, even if you could access a national database of commercial properties, it probably would not be up to date.

additionally, so many times, parcels that are zoned commercial are placed into trust with a bank. so therefore, the owner's name appearing in the tax records (which would be used to make up such a database) would be a bank, and it would have a trust number associated with it. these are called land trusts. a long time ago, people thought that they could hide their ownership of such properties by having a land trust. well, if someone were to get injured on that property, it's easy for the attorneys and especially the courts to get the true owner behind the trust, because a bank cannot lie to a court.

however, for you (even if you were a judge, it would take forever for you to locate ALL the names of owners of ALL commercial real estate, right?), your best bet is to get a real estate salesperson's license so that you can access the current zoning drawings and PIN numbers. remember, though, that many, many real estate tax bills are paid in arrears. therefore, for example, in cook county, illinois, the first installment due for 2006 taxes is shown on the tax bill issued in the early part of 2007. the county does not issue the tax bill for 2007 until 2008, and so on. so if there was a change of ownership within the past 12 months, you wouldn't know that unless you pulled the records of transfers of deeds for each parcel.

gee, i've got to say that this is one darned big undertaking! i have to wish you luck! let me know if you get wind that there is such a database!

Answer 3

Most Counties these days have web sites where you can look up parcel information, however you can usually only get owner information in person.