Have you spotted a new face in the house across the street?  Before welcoming your new neighbor, you might first want to check online or consult public records before heading over to their house with a home-baked pie.  A little online research can make it easier to connect, get their name right and even find things you might have in common.  This could also apply to the neighbors that you already know!

Alternatively, you might learn enough about the person’s background to keep your distance and avoid their house entirely.  We all have a digital trail of public records, previous addresses and Social Media Profiles, so checking a person’s background online is more discreet than asking potentially awkward questions and creating a misunderstanding. 

You may also be looking for a new house and can’t make up your mind between streets in the same neighborhood.  Or you may just have a weird feeling about a person and you’re thinking twice about letting your child go to their house to play with their kids.  Whatever the reason, you can always rely on the power of the internet — and more specifically, people search engines — to get the full picture on who lives on your street.  A quick search about the houses could reveal which one will be the best fit.

Find Out Who Lives on Your Street 

A search for a street address in Google will reveal lots of real estate price information, but you may be wondering where to find more detailed information about a specific person living on your street, like a full name, a cell phone number, an email address, etc.  Even if you know the person’s first or last name, Google will usually come up short. 

That’s why you should make it a habit to use a dedicated people search engine whenever you need to find information about someone living on your street.  People search engines like Spokeo aggregate billions of public records from a variety of sources including criminal reports, arrest records, state and federal databases and social media. 

How To Do A Reverse Address Search 

To get the full picture on a person who lives on your street — or on three streets over, for that matter — you only need the address. Here’s how it works: 

1. Type the address into a reverse address search tool.
2. Scroll through the results until you find one that looks correct to you based on the number of occupants and select “See Results.”
3. Scroll through the report, and select “See Results” for any residents you are looking to learn more information about.

These results can contain a huge variety of information about the people who call that address home, including the names of each person registered at that house (although it may not be up to date with any new neighbor’s information). It may also include: 

• Family Info
• Marital Status
• Contact Info (Phone Number and Email Address)
• Pics & Profiles from Social Networks
• Criminal Records/Arrest Records/Sex Offenses (Additional Fees Apply)

You can also start a search using a person’s name, phone number or email.  The first two should be obtainable from a reverse address lookup, but an email address isn’t something a person tends to share in neighborhood small talk, so you may have to scour social media profiles to find it.  If you’re concerned about the identity or authenticity of an email you’ve received, you’ve got what you need to dig deeper and find someone’s address. 

How To Use Public Records

Everyone is entitled to search public records to access information held by city, state or federal government agencies.  The process is far from seamless, however, and you will often have to scour separate department records held by each particular state.  

A good place to start your search is the National Center for State Courts, which holds details of any criminal records that have not been sealed or expunged.  In some states, like Minnesota, information is relatively thorough and easy to access.  In others, like New York, you will need an exact name match and will have to pay a search fee. 

If you want to check if a registered sex offender is living on your street, consult the National Sex Offender Public Website which tracks and logs the 900,000 registered sex offenders in the US. 

Final Thoughts

To find out who lives on your street, you can repeat the process outlined above for each of the homes on your block.  This should show you all available information on current (and past) residents, including their full name, and also information on the home itself (purchase price, estimated value, etc.).

Your summer block party is about to get a whole lot less awkward. 

References

• https://www.ncsc.org/topics/access-and-fairness/privacy-public-access-to-court-records/state-links5
• https://www.ncsc.org/topics/access-and-fairness/privacy-public-access-to-court-records/state-links5
• https://chs.state.mn.us/
• http://ww2.nycourts.gov/apps/chrs/index.shtml
• https://www.nsopw.gov/en/
• https://socialmediaexplorer.com/social-media-marketing/how-to-get-to-know-your-neighbors-and-their-past/

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