Start with the right parcel
Every conclusion about a site depends on one earlier question: which land is this? We settle that before anything else.
What we read
County tax and parcel records, the county’s mapped boundaries, the state parcel layer as a backup, recorded identifiers, the owner of record, the site address, and the acreage on the tax record and the deed. Recorded deeds and plats add detail when a question needs them.
What the record establishes
- Which record belongs to a given county and parcel identifier.
- The boundary as the county has mapped it.
- The recorded acreage, and where it came from.
- Which parcels touch, and whether a group of parcels forms one connected piece.
Acreage from the tax record and acreage measured from the mapped shape are two different observations. We keep both and label each.
What it cannot establish
A surveyed legal boundary. Clear title. A legal right of access. The exact position of an easement. Whether the person offering the land has authority to sell it. Whether a neighbor’s land, which looks like it completes the site, is under anyone’s control.
Two parcels that touch on a map are not an assembled site. They are a possibility.
Where public data misleads
- Identifiers change form. The same parcel can carry a parcel number and a separate map number, and a county may accept only one of them. A site can “not exist” in a search because of the identifier’s format.
- A single typed character matters. We have seen an address fail to match because of an extra space.
- A search by owner can change the subject. Widening a search from one parcel to everything an owner holds can quietly turn a single tract into a larger package, and every finding after that describes different land.
- A layer called “parcels” is not always the county’s parcels. Some public map services hold a project subset, or even geometry from another county.
Who confirms it
A licensed surveyor sets the boundary. A title attorney confirms ownership and recorded burdens. The owner and the broker establish who can sell and on what terms.
What we hand you
The parcel or parcels, confirmed against county records; both acreage figures and their sources; the neighbors; and a plain statement of what a survey and a title search still need to settle.
Questions
Why does my acreage differ between the tax card, the deed, and the map?
Each was measured at a different time for a different purpose. We record all three. A survey decides.
Can you work from an address alone?
Usually, with the county name. An address, a parcel identifier, an owner name, or a tax card will each get us to the record.
Tell us what the project needs
Load, acreage, counties, and timeline. We reply with how we would run the search and where we would start.