How do I find out who owns the land/lot next to our home?

duckinnut said:

Your local town hall assessor's office should have the info you need if not the county assessor's office will most definitely have it. Most towns and counties have property taxes and who pays them. It is usually in giant books in their office that is available to to everyone. Just look up your street and then the parcel. It will tell the owner of record and it's valuation which doesn't always mean what it is worth. Worth less if it is un-buildable.

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Of course. Since every scrap of property is taxed, there is a record of that taxation at the assessor's office, both township and county. The government sends the bill to someone and holds someone accountable to pay the taxes. If those taxes are not paid and fall in arrears, the property is taken from the owner, re-sold for at least the back taxes, and a new tax payer of record is established.

Some would say the government actually owns all the land under such a system and "land owners" are but renters for the property tax.

Call the county courthouse, and tell them you need to know owner of a property. They will transfer your call to the right folks. Give them the physical address of the property (or tell them your address, and that you need the one to the North, or whatever....) and they will give you a name. If you ask, they will also tell you the address of the current property owner, where their tax assessment is sent.

Little update*
I called and I got the guy's address. The operator said they don't have phone numbers so I'm gonna google his name and address to see if I can find him in yellow pages or some other site like that. He lives in Colorado and according to the operator he hasn't been paying taxes so next year on June 30 the county will take the lot and it will go on auction. My mom predicts that no one will probably bid on it [considering where we live and there are a lot of lots that have been empty for years] so we will do 2 things -
1. If I can find his phone number we will call him and if doesn't owe that much tax mom will do some haggling to get the land.
-If that does not work or we cannot find the number-
2. Wait until the county takes back the land next year and mom will bid on it herself and buy it. She plans on just $1,000 or $2,000 . Yes we do have neighbors coming but we are downsizing our animals and moving some animals around. The backyard will be for the ducks, chickens, and turkeys. We will do more construction to make a few grow out pens [they will double as broody areas], an aviary, and a separate pen for new birds. The dogs aren't that noisy and once we clean the old laying flock's fenced in area out the pups will move there, don't worry it's a pretty big area and they're small dogs!

And if we cannot get the land at all, the backyard thing isn't too shabby...