New online tool lets user set criteria for property search
THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH
The Franklin County auditor's office plans to roll out an online tool this week that will help people research properties, whether they're in the market for a house or simply curious to see who owns the most expensive mansion in town.The program could be useful for title companies, appraisers, real-estate agents, school districts, businesses, house hunters and the curious, said Tony Frissora, the auditor's chief of staff.
Anyone already can search for information about a particular property by searching under the address or owner's name on the auditor's website. The new system allows users to set criteria and then run reports that will create spreadsheets of all the parcels that fit.
For example, someone could search for three-bedroom, two-bathroom homes in the Grandview Heights school district appraised at $200,000 to $250,000. Search categories include sale date, property type, ZIP code, appraised value and number of rooms.
"It's going to save an enormous amount of time," said Sue Lusk-Gleich, president of the Columbus Board of Realtors. "It just gives both the consumer and the Realtor more information. And the more information, the better we can do our jobs."
Unlike listings of property sales, the auditor's database includes every piece of land in the county.
Agents have had to laboriously look through property data piece by piece if a client has criteria that don't match any homes listed in the agents' database of recent listings and sales, Lusk-Gleich said.
With the new search, they will be able to run a quick report to find any matches and then contact the property owners to see if they might want to sell.
Sophisticated research groups already regularly collect the entire county database, said David Norris, who works for Community Research Partners, a nonprofit group that studies data in central Ohio. The new search system will make that information more accessible to everyone, he said.
"Anytime an agency puts public data in the hands of the public, it's a good thing," Norris said.
Business owners could use the system to scope out the demographics of a neighborhood where they're thinking about opening.
School districts could better estimate how many properties are in their taxing district.
People also could pull up comparable properties to see whether their taxes are higher or lower.
The auditor's website receives about 23 million visits a year, and the vast majority are to use the existing property-search tool, spokesman David O'Neil said.
Before basic property searches went digital, the auditor's office fielded about 300,000 calls per year, O'Neil said. This year, it's had about 50,000.
Officials hope the latest offering will make life easier for the auditor's office and the public, especially with new appraisals due for the county next year.
Another benefit: If someone wants to see how the recession has affected property values in their neighborhood, they'll be able to search the new numbers next year.
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