On the beat: Developing stories with land

dataPaula Lavigne

The Dallas Morning News

IRE Fort Worth - 2006

Types of land records• Property tax/Appraisal data• Deed transfers• Tax liens• Foreclosures / bankruptcies• Private real estate (Realtor info.)• Home mortgage lending (HMDA)• Housing authority data• City permit and inspection reports• Other required registration (new TX homes)• GIS / satellite imagery

The Dallas Morning News found that big companies and land investors were benefiting from tax exemptions designed for farmers, at a revenue loss to cities and schools.

• Appraisal records from four appraisal districts.

• Some private data from real estate experts.

The Dallas Morning News showed how people in big expensive houses in a posh Dallas suburb were living beyond their means.

• Federal court bankruptcy records; included property information.

• Foreclosure records from a private vendor.

• Appraisal district.

St. Petersburg Times analyzed more than 260,000 single-family home sales between January 1998 and July 2003 to show how property values in some suburbs skyrocketed.

BONUS: Interactive five-county neighborhood map for readers to research prices.

The Chicago Tribune series on predatory lending showed how gangs were turning to mortgage fraud to rake in millions, hurting owners in mostly low-income minority neighborhoods.

- lending data from the Home Mortgage Disclosure Act

- Census data, foreclosure cases, other court records

Mortgage fraud:

The new street hustle

The Virginian Pilot gathered home sales data from five cities to show how values had appreciated.

Included a piece on how rising values created a shortage of affordable housing for area workers.

BONUS: Searchable price comparison database

St. Louis Post-Dispatch – Fall 2000

Dozens of St. Louis voters are being wrongly accused of casting ballots from fraudulent addresses in last year's Nov. 7 election. They are among thousands of registered voters who, based on city property records, appear to live on vacant lots.

Land records on deadline

• Tracking down neighbors, witnesses, when you can’t make the trip.

• Verifying someone’s residence.• Backgrounding: Economic status, family,

neighborhood, business associates, debts/loans.

• Neighborhood transitions in income, race/ethnicity, economic investment, etc.

Land data: Avoiding pitfalls

• Know the terms:– Market value– Appraised value– Assessed value– Taxable value– Principle value

If you’re using data from different sources, make sure you’re comparing apples to apples

Land data: Avoiding pitfalls

• Find an impartial expert– Realtor, lender, appraiser, inspector, etc.,

someone in the industry not involved in your story who can guide you through difficult terms and procedures.

• Missing information• Ownership transfers• Subdivided properties• Outliers

Land data: Negotiating the “sale”

• “That’s what we charge everybody.”• “You’ll have to buy it from XYZ company.”• “Our 1980s-era computer can’t do that.”• “You’ll have to pay us for programming.”• “That’s none of your business.”• “We don’t store that electronically.”• “That’s copyright,” or, “That’s proprietary.”

Land data: Negotiating

Four DFW counties

Collin County

Denton County

Tarrant County

Dallas County

Cost for appraisal database and GIS data

Free, delivered via file transfer

$35, mailed on CD

Free, public Web download

$50,000

Land data: Negotiating• Start with a conversation.• Be specific – if it helps

– Time span– Type of records– Geography

• Research public records laws• Focus on public interest, benefit• Report stalling, denial, excessive charges

Success!  We asked in Nashua, N.H., for the GIS files and

assessor's files of city property records. We were rebuffed. We wrote a stern letter, and got the files on CD for $1.

- Bill Dedman, Nashua Telegraph.

When the News & Record in Greensboro, N.C., was told it would cost $82,500 for a property tax database, it sued. The paper not only won, but, as a result, the law was changed to improve access to electronic data statewide. - Lex Alexander, News & Record

www.paulalavigne.com/car/landrecords.html

links to story examples, PowerPoint, tip sheets.