The IRE Resource Center is a major research library containing more than 23,250 investigative stories — both print and broadcast. Add to that more than 3,000 tipsheets from our national conferences on how to cover specific beats or do specific stories and you have a resource that no reporter or editor should be without. These stories and tipsheets are searchable online or by contacting the Resource Center directly (573-882-3364 or rescntr@ire.org) where a researcher can help you pinpoint what you need. Browse or search the tipsheet section of our library below. Logged-in members can view the tipsheets free online:
Search results for "property taxes" ...
-
Following the Money: From Grade School through College
This tipsheet discusses how to track education funding from grade school through higher education. The data sources used for example are the Illinois State Board of Education and Property Tax Revenue from the Illinois Department of Revenue. Lowenstein advises on where to look for education funding: local property taxes; commercial and industrial property taxes; local and federal governments; test scores by region; other supplemental income for schools
Tags: education; taxes; property taxes; department of revenue; education funding; testing; test scores
-
Belief is in the document: Tips on investigating religion
Gorski discusses various aspects of covering religion. The tipsheet includes advice about where to find church records such as 990s, applications for property tax exemptions, and articles of incorporation. The tipsheet also explains what each type of record could reveal about the church.
Tags: religion; beat reporting; churches; nonprofits
-
A Neighborhood Built to Fail
Mellnik discusses how to identify foreclosures, starter homes and lenders from various public records. He explains how to use the register of deeds, county property records, FHA data, building permits, bankruptcy filings, and consultant reports to find data for a story about property records. He also includes some tips about mapping foreclosures.
Tags: property; foreclosure; mapping; data analysis; public records; real estate; beat reporting
-
Using property tax/appraisal records in stories: avoiding pitfalls
Lavigne shares general and specific advise for utilizing property and tax records in investigative stories. She explains how to deal with challenges and irregularities that occur when working with land records, and lists types of records that are frequently overlooked.
Tags: land records; real estate; property taxes; titles; deeds; contracts
-
Property, mortgages and foreclosures
The authors explain how paper and electronic records from property transactions, mortgages, property taxes and foreclosures can provide essential information for reporters on that beat. The authors refer back to their own experience using those records to offer tops about finding and understanding similar data.
Tags: real estate; property; taxes; Home Mortgage Lending; mapping; Census; demographics
-
Foreclosing on the American Dream
This tipsheet discusses various ways to identify foreclosures, including court and county records, as well as many factors that can affect foreclosures, such as high rate lenders. Mellnik also discusses how to use mapping to visualize foreclosures for the reports.
Tags: real estate; housing; loans; property records; property taxes; Federal Housing Administration
-
Hidden Disparities
This is Gebeloff's PowerPoint presentation on a study the Star-Ledger did that showed discrepancies in property tax rates along racial lines. Using databases and GIS they analyzed 66 different townships in New Jersey that demonstrated a trend; higher-value property owners tend to underpay and lower-value property owners to overpay taxes when properties are not frequently reassessed. The Star-Ledger showed that property values should be more accurately reassessed more often.
Tags: Mapping; GIS; CAR; property values; tax assessment; property taxes
-
Investigating Property Scams
First, this tipsheet explains some of the most important documents for any investigation involving property taxes. It includes tax filings, mortgage records, financial disclosure forms, liens, and corporate records. Next, the tipsheet suggests some things to look for in the data that usually signal something fishy. Finally, it offers a list of helpful websites for backgrounding those sorts of investigations.
Tags: property; real estate; mortgage; property tax; deeds; inspections
-
Reporting on Property and Housing Issues
This tipsheet is a guide to using property and housing documents in your reporting. It discusses the information found in various documents, such as deeds of trust, delinquent property records, and business licenses. It also offers advice on how to use the HUD database to aid in your reporting.
Tags: housing; urban development; property tax; tax records; real estate
-
Land Grab: Property Records Tipsheet
Lisa Vorderbrueggen has 11 tips for how to find more information on property records, from befriending your local planners, being on a first-name basis with your county assessor, checking delinquent property tax lists, and real estate conflicts of interest.
Tags: property records; environmental impact reports; assessed value; public records; campaign contributions