FINALLY...Orange County, North Carolina has rolled out it's long awaited new website! Well, long awaited by me and probably the other real estate agents who specialize in Chapel Hill, Carrboro and other parts of Orange County!
We use the information available in the tax records and GIS maps to determine all kinds of things...like who actually owns the property we are looking at (yes, folks have tried to list for sale a home they are only renting) and if any improvements have been made to the structures. We can find out if the taxes are current and how much the taxes are and determine the tax value of the property. We also look up legal descriptions (so we don't try to sell your neighbors property instead of yours...again; it's happened) and we can tell who owned the home before you bought it or find an adjoining property owner to see if they are interested in buying that lot you want to sell. All that is fun for me but then I live real estate!
Did I mention that the new website is pretty, too? The link screen opens against a picture of the Old Well on campus and changes when you reload.
So what's fun about it for you?
INDYWeek.com has just written an article called "Who Owns Franklin Street" in which they used the new Orange County website to figure out who, exactly, owns the heart of our city! It's a pretty interesting read with a seriously cool map showing locally owned parcels (including UNC land which is defined as local), vacant land and land owned by out of towners. Check it out! They even link to the Orange County website so you can completely geek out on land records.
Trust me, this is a sweet piece of research and took the authors some time, not to mention, skill. I so love the map! If you love maps, love Chapel Hill and just like knowing stuff nobody else knows...you'll be in heaven!
Comments(4)