Who Built My House? Find the Original Builder

Evelyn Sanderson - July 5, 2024

aerial view of a construction site

Everyone once in a while might wonder and ask who built my house. Knowing who built it can satisfy your curiosity about the history of your house, but it can also be financially rewarding if it is constructed by a renowned builder. There may also be a historical significance that may drive the value of your house even more.

Regardless of why you want to learn who built your house, there are several ways to go about it. Our article will explain how you can discover the person or the people who built your home.

Five Ways to Learn Who Built Your House

Below is an overview of five methods for finding who built your house. Some involve simple actions like asking your neighbors, while others require visiting your county clerk. Each can help you find out the original builder of your house.

1) Ask Neighbors

Asking neighbors who built your house might seem such a simple thing to do at first, but it is often the most effective. Long-term residents in your neighborhood likely have at least some information about the builder of your home.

One helpful tip for finding out who built your house by asking around is talking to elderly neighbors. Given that the median home age in the US can be up to 79 years in some states, elderly residents are more likely to have an answer.

Also, if you’ve purchased your home with the help of a real estate agent, they might know the builder or company behind its construction.

2) Visit Your County Clerk’s Office

The county clerk’s office holds property information that includes real estate ownership, which is all in the public records. You can visit your county clerk’s office or give them a call to ask the original builder of your house.

In addition to helping you identify who built your home, the county clerk’s office can provide other details that can give you insights into your house’s history. This can help you find out if there’s a historical significance to your home.

3) Visit Your Local Library

Sometimes, the property records available may not date back far enough to point you to the original builder. In these cases, your best option is to visit your local library, as they may have property records, land surveys, building permits, and other documents that can lead you to the builder.

Before heading there, save time by first checking if your local library’s website has an online database to conduct a property search. Many libraries now offer online searches to residents for various purposes, including property searches. However, there are more effective ways to discover who built your house – more on that below.

4) Contact Previous Owners

Contacting previous owners is another effective way to learn who built your home, especially if it was recently constructed. With older houses, the chances of identifying the builder aren’t as high, as the previous owners may have deceased, and their relatives may not know much about the history of the house.

Additionally, previous renters might have some information about the builder, not just previous owners. Again, if you’ve purchased your house with a realtor, they can help you contact previous tenants – if not the original builder.

While contacting previous owners is useful for finding out who built your home, obtaining their contact information can be challenging. Luckily, just like discovering the builder of your house, the method below will also help you learn who lived there before you moved in.

5) Use Information.com’s Address Lookup

Last but not least, perhaps the most effective way to find out who built your house is through our reverse address lookup tool. All you need to get started is your address and let Information.com do its magic to bring up property records.

As previously mentioned, our tool can also help you find out previous owners and tenants if the original builder doesn’t appear in public records. Finding who built your home this way is the most effective because you don’t need to go to your county clerk’s office or local library. You can simply do a property search in minutes to find the original builder.

How to Search an Address to Find Who Built My House on Information.com

Here’s a step-by-step guide on how to use our reverse address lookup tool to discover your house’s original builder.

  1. Go to our reverse address lookup tool.
  2. Enter your address (street, city, state).
  3. Click search.
  4. Let Information scan public records and web pages,
  5. Get your report.

Finding who built your home with our reverse address lookup tool is as simple as that. Some key information you’ll discover regarding the history of your house aside from the builder is previous owners, property taxes owed, and details about people who previously lived at your house.

If your home was built by a company, our reverse address lookup tool will also reveal the name of the company and the owner(s). With all these features, why bother asking neighbors or going to the county office? You can learn all this information in just a few minutes using our reverse address lookup tool.

FAQs

How do I find out what my house looked like when it was built?

If you’re living in an older home, you may wonder how it first looked before you settled in. While images of houses when they were built aren’t always in the public records, the sale history of your house, which appears on our reverse search results, may contain previous images. You can find out all these by doing a reverse address search on Information.com.

How do I learn when my home was built?

The construction date of your home is included in the house purchase documents. Insurance records, purchase appraisals, and home inspection reports all list the construction date. If you no longer have these documents, you can learn when your house was built through our reverse lookup tool or by contacting your county clerk’s office.

How do I check the history of my home?

Depending on what you want to learn about your home’s past, most information should be available on your county website. Check the sale history of your house to see who purchased it in the past. If your county doesn’t provide this information, do a reverse address search to find out previous residents and other historical information about your house.

Discovering Who Built Your House and Beyond

Asking who built my house is about more than just satisfying curiosity. If your house was built by a renowned builder in the area or has some historical significance, it can drive the value of your home quite a bit. At the very least, it can give you the upper hand when negotiating with potential buyers.

We’ve discussed various ways to find out who built your house. While all are useful for this purpose, the best way to identify the original builder is through our reverse address lookup tool. It will point you to exactly the person or company responsible for constructing your home.

However, this is one of many capabilities of our reverse address lookup tool. You can use it beyond finding who built your home. One common use of our reverse address search is learning who your neighbors really are.

Simply by entering their address, you will learn all the available information about the people who live there, including their criminal history and sex offender registry status. This is perfect for investigating new neighbors and learning more about people around your kids. Head over to our homepage to begin your search.

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