Read a parcel card

Try it here

Parcel mapSample data

Use this when you’ve opened a parcel and want to know what you’re looking at. To open one, click it on the map or in the list on the left. The parcel panel opens on the right.

Some parts of the card depend on the county. Owner, mailing address, acres and tax value are there for every North Carolina parcel. Site measurements (buildable acres, flood, wetland, steep ground, road frontage) are there in covered counties, and sales where the county publishes them. Where something isn’t available the card says so, rather than showing a zero.

Screenshot to come src/assets/screens/howto-card.pngA parcel panel, top to bottomArrows: the address and place; the Tax value and Last sale boxes; The land grid; the Go / Review later / No-go bar

The top

Address and place. The street address on the county record, then the town, county and state. The buttons beside it: ‹ widens the panel, + List adds the parcel to a list, ⋯ has Copy parcel link, Parcel report (PDF), directions, Google Maps and Street View, and × closes it.
Photos. The aerial photo with the parcel outlined, and the other views (older photos, topo map, Street View where there is one). Click to see them full size.

Owner, acres, value and last sale

The owner’s name, with a copy button, and the acres in a box beside it. Acres are measured from the parcel outline on the county’s map, not the deeded acreage.
Tax value: the county’s value for property tax, and the same per acre. It’s often years behind the market.
Last sale: price, price per acre and month, where the county publishes sales (8 North Carolina counties so far). A deed under $1,000 shows as Non-market (a gift, family or estate transfer). Otherwise it says No sale on record, or that the county doesn’t publish prices.
The parcel number (click to copy) and land use.

Owner & mailing

A table with the owner exactly as the county wrote it, whether it’s a person or a company or trust, whether the owner is absentee (the tax bill goes to another address), the mailing address, the parcel’s own address, the county, and the land use.

Values & history

Every tax value on record with its date, the last sale, and any change of owner Acresift has seen.

The land

A grid with Road frontage, Buildings, Buildable acres and percentage, Flood zone, Wetland and Steep shares, and Water (creeks, ponds, lake frontage) where measured. How buildable acres are measured explains the numbers. A dash means the county hasn’t been measured yet or the parcel is under 2 acres.

Site, zoning & stormwater

Zoning rules: the town, if the parcel is inside town limits, otherwise the county.
Stormwater: the post-construction stormwater program from the North Carolina DEQ map: None, Local, State or Multiple.
The zoning district itself is under At this spot further down, where the county publishes a zoning map.

Tax card

Where the county’s own tax card is online, it opens inside the panel: bedrooms, bathrooms, building details, sales and values straight from the county. Lee County is live today; more counties are coming.

Your decision

The bar at the bottom stays in reach as you scroll: Go, Review later, No-go. See Save lists and decisions.

Numbers on the card come from public records and map layers. They’re right for screening, not for closing. Confirm flood, wetland and access with a survey and the county before you buy.

Words used on this page

Buildable acres: The parcel's mapped acres minus the parts in the FEMA 100-year flood zone or floodway, mapped wetland, open water, and ground steeper than 15%. Each spot is only taken out once, even where two of these overlap.
Road frontage: The length of the parcel's boundary that runs along a public road centerline, in feet. Zero means no mapped road touches the parcel: it may be landlocked or reached by an easement.
Absentee owner: An owner whose tax bill goes to an address other than the parcel itself. Out-of-state and overseas owners are kinds of absentee owner.
Tax value: The county's assessed value, used to set property tax. It is set on the county's schedule, often years apart, and is not what the land would sell for.
Sale price: What was paid at the last recorded sale, from the deed. Sales under $1,000 (gifts, family transfers, corrections) are not treated as market sales.
Stormwater program: The rules that say how new building must handle rain runoff. In North Carolina, some areas have a local program, some fall under the state, and some have none, which usually means less cost and review for a small subdivision.