I had my brush with lo-tech at the government building today while I was looking for my parent's property deeds. I also found out how much information is available to the public. The Recorder has records of all property deeds. However, prior to a few years ago, all those deeds were bound in books. I guess in their attempt to modernize, they put everything on microfilm. If you've never used microfilm before, let me tell you, those things are a pain in the ass to use. Even though the machine they had there were pretty modern, I still had to use the knob and speed through to find the correct pages in the microfilm. I think they should upgrade their system for digital documents. It would make life so much simpler, but I guess they have better things to do with their money, such as tearing down that hideous River St. sign.
The Assessors office also keeps records of who owns what, including the cost of the property. I don't know why that would be public information, but it is, and I find it kinda scary. If I bought a house, I don't think I would be comfortable with someone else knowing how much I spent on it.
Posted by jupiterstar at February 26, 2002 11:08 PM