The Paper Trail

Figure M Figure N Figure O

Figures N and O--The Kallis's collection of photographs shows their 105-year-old home in every season and in various stages of decorating, maintenance and landscaping.

There is a world of information about your house lying around on paper--if you just know where to look. Start your document hunt by doing a title search at the county recorder's office. "It's the best way to find out who owned your property," says Kathy Flanagan, an architectural historian in San Diego. You can pay a title company $250 or so to do the search for you, or you can do it on your own. The chain of title will give you the names of all the previous owners and the dates they bought and sold the house, and it will give you the information you need (a book number and page) to look up the actual deeds (kept in the county courthouse). Often a title search is sufficient, Flanagan says, because it gives you the names of the former owners. Still, researching the deeds, though tedious, can provide even more details about the property itself and former owners.

"At times deeds make properties come alive," says Karen Nagel, a Haverford, Pennsylvania, architectural historian, who often traces properties three centuries back to Pennsylvania founder William Penn's original 45,000-acre land grant in 1682. "You get all kinds of gossip in old deeds," she says. "For instance, if someone went into bankruptcy, the deed will explain how and why they went bankrupt."

The deed will also give you the legal description of your property and may include descriptions of the building or property and info about when buildings were added. You can get an expert to dig up and photocopy all the deeds for you, but it can be expensive, anywhere from $500 to more than $1,000. Other stops along the paper trail might include:

• Property abstracts. Before the current title insurance system came into effect, abstracts tracked the transfer of land from one person to another. In Denver, for example, property abstracts often date back to the 1860s, when the area was first settled. Some abstracts trace the land from farmland or homestead to its division into blocks and lots for city development. But abstracts can be hard to find because they were passed from owner to owner and not kept on file. Some libraries or historical societies may have abstracts; or you may find a neighbor who has one for his or her house, which also may tell you something about your property.

• Tax files at the county assessor's office. The file often includes the date the home was built, info about alterations to the home and maybe even photographs.

• Building permits. Permits contain the owner's name and give you a "fairly accurate "idea of the date of the building, says Nancy Widmann. In Denver, permits were required beginning around 1889. You can also find permits that cover alterations, so you'll know what was changed and when. Permits may be kept in the historical section of your public library; if they're not there, ask your city assessor's office for help.

• City directories. With a list of names of your home's previous owners in hand, head to the local historical society or to the local history room of your public library. Most cities have old directories (the precursors of phone books) listing residents by name, address and occupation. (If you're looking for info about a woman, though, city directories may not be the best source, says Nancy Widmann. "Sometimes women were listed and sometimes not," she says. "And if they were married they were not listed separately from their husbands.") Your state historical society may have biographical files on previous residents of your home. In California, Kathy Flanagan uses old "vanity books" in which people would pay to have their profiles listed in a sort of "Who's Who" in town.

• Old census records. They often list the people living in the household (you have to look them up by address), ages, occupations, even what country they may have emigrated from and when.

• Old newspapers. You may find obituaries for previous owners or even articles about them.

• Old photos. Historical photos can be a terrific source of information. Archival photos (look for them at the library, historical societies or local newspapers) of the city may show your house at earlier dates. Old newspaper photos may include pictures of previous owners or the home itself. Nancy Widmann found images of one owner's home in the background of photos of Denver's tramway. Through researching the model of the streetcar in the photo, she was able to date the picture to within a few years. If your home is near a prominent building, check books or newspaper articles to see if there may be photos of your home in the background.

• Old maps. Real estate maps, fire insurance maps, even railroad maps can provide you with a "footprint" or aerial outline of your home, giving you a very good look at how the building may have been altered over time. Look for maps at your local library or historical society. Fire insurance maps (often called "Sanborn" maps) show the footprint of the building and what materials it was made of. When studying old maps you'll need the legal description (subdivision name, block and lot) of your house from the deed because the street names and even numbering system may have changed. Railroad atlases, first published in the 1880s, also have maps showing the footprint of buildings on the property and names of owners.