Learn to search property records in yor neighborhood

AUBREY COHEN - THE BELLINGHAM HERALD

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Want to know how much your neighbors paid for their homes or how your house's assessed value compares with theirs? It's easy to do.

The Whatcom County Assessor's Office posts information on its Web site about property purchases, assessed values, details about the size of buildings and what's in them, how much various governments charged a property in taxes, building permit history, maps showing how areas are divided into lots and more.

Those records go back to 1985, Assessor Keith Wilnauer said. Go to his office in the county Courthouse to find records back to 1961.

Wilnauer's office also has aerial photographs going back to 1950 and more detailed information about property titles, transactions, maps and file numbers to find actual property transaction documents at the neighboring Auditor's Office.

Most people who come to the Assessor's Office look up real estate sales information to get an idea of market values in an area, Wilnauer said.

"You have to do your own research," he said. "The information is there and we assist you."

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