I remember, years ago, making time to hit the local town halls to pick up a copy of the listing property's field card. In the town of Manchester, Ct, they kept an account for you. That was before the internet became the great tool that it now is. You could call their office, give them the addresses that you needed, and within minutes, they would fax it to you. Of course, if you were not standing at the office fax machine, another agent could snap up that listing away from you, simply by reading the field card or just taking it. Having your name written on the field card, by the town staff who faxed it to you, certainly helped. We loved the service that this town offered, just the same, and used to wish all the towns were that cooperative with Realtors. It saved us time, gas and money.
The field card is a form that the towns use to describe the fundamentals of your property. The lot size, the deed (volume and page numbers), the interior square footage of the home, the type of heat in the home, the number of bedrooms and bathrooms and what the owners of the property paid for that home when they bought it, along with the date of their or previous transactions. The assessment and appraisal values are listed there, too. Some cards offer more information than others.
Then, there was a term that the town's use for properties in their database, the day book. It's a printed out report of the latest ownerships and/or liens, that are happening, day to day. Expecially, in the type of market that we are now experiencing, this is still a good place to check, prior to listing a property. You do need to know who owns the property and what liens there may be attached to it. Looking up the deed is good, but, to find out recent activities on the title of that property, go for the day book. By the way, the day book can go back thirty days or more.
Here are a few links to some of the towns in my area of Connecticut. If you Google "Town Assessements", you should be able to find a similar product where you might be looking for a home. The town records still should be checked, to be sure. They are updated more often than these sites would be.
Online Property Cards Local Cards by Town
Accuracy is important in our business, so, do check back with the local town for verification. To see the surrounding properties or neighborhood, go to Google Earth. This is an amazing tool, too!
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