How do you trace a house history?

Question:

How do you trace a house history?

(year built etc...)

Best Answer - Chosen by Asker: It depends on how much history you want... If you just want to know when it was built, it may be as simple as going to your local Assessor or appraisal district and asking them when it was built. However, if you want to know the chain of ownership since the house was built it is going to require you going to your County Clerks office and researching the deed history. Keep in mind, every change in ownership requires a new deed whether it be a warranty deed or quit claim deed.

Using the deed records, you can create a chronological list of all owners of a piece of property. Ask for the index to deeds by buyer. Note the seller's name and the legal description of the property. Then use the index to find the sellers deed to the same piece of propery and note whom the seller bought it from. Work your way back through the deeds to the original owner, make a copy of each deed, and keep track of the volume and page numbers. A sharp increase in the value of the property could mean that a building or addition was added to the property.

You also could go to your local library and look at the city directories. Many of the city directories have a criss cross feature where you can look up places by address. This is a low tech way of going about it... If you want to do a thorough job, I suggest the way I outlined it in the last paragraph.

Blessings and Good luck!!