{"id":1132,"date":"2024-03-11T20:36:21","date_gmt":"2024-03-11T20:36:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lesswing.com\/?p=1132"},"modified":"2024-03-12T21:38:46","modified_gmt":"2024-03-12T21:38:46","slug":"is-it-a-property-or-a-parcel","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lesswing.com\/index.php\/2024\/03\/11\/is-it-a-property-or-a-parcel\/","title":{"rendered":"Is it a Property or a Parcel?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Consumers refer to properties using an address but when buying and selling, what changes hands is called a parcel. Counties record parcel transfers to protect owners’ real property rights<\/strong>. Parcels pre-date the postal system. Record keeping is performed at the parcel level because it is possible to sell real estate that does not have a postal address. An example would be a deeded parking space that accompanies the second-floor flat. Two parcels are part of the offer, but the consumer associates the flat and parking part with the address.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Local governments use parcel identifiers to record deeds, process liens and issue tax assessments. The format of parcel identifiers varies by location and identical identifiers can be used in multiple locations. <\/strong>Searching across locations with a parcel identifier is challenging because the identifiers are not guaranteed to be unique. This results in the user needing to select the parcel they are interested in from a list of parcels with the same identifier. Computer-to-computer systems that move information through business processes are not well-suited for conversations like this. Earlier real estate computer systems made partial copies of records across systems because all business was being conducted locally and computer-to-computer communications were not reliable.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A combination of the identifier<\/em> and location<\/em> can be used to uniquely identify a specific parcel, preserving the historical accuracy of information and streamlining information sharing across industries.<\/strong> The technical term for this is a compound key<\/em>, a well-known and widely implemented approach to similar situations. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Parcel identifiers can be called by different names depending on the area of the country being searched. Most of the US record keeping is conducted at the county level, but I will cover that topic a little later in this article. The identifier name is part of the professional vocabulary of the area and reflects historical record-keeping practices.<\/p>\n\n\n\n