Learn about your property history with the Ocean County Clerk

Are you an Ocean County resident interested in tracing your property ownership record? Did you even know that you could do that?

Ocean County Clerk Scott Colabella is leading a free workshop to show you all the information that is available to you.

The workshop coincides with National County Government Month and will take place in the deed room of the Ocean County Clerk's Office located at 118 Washington Street in Toms River from 10:00 am to 1:00 pm on Saturday April 14.

"We'd like to have the public come in and actually see how their records are placed on record in the courthouse," Colabela said.

The workshop, run by the OC Clerks staff will start with Colabella making opening remarks about everything in the room and the process of how everything is put on record.

After that, everyone will break into groups, see the books and go on the public computers.

"The staff will then try and assist them with any questions, guide them to a complete search of their property and print out records," Colabella said.

If the homeowner lives in a very old property, they will be taken to the book which has records that date back to 1850.

Anyone who comes to the Ocean County Clerk's Office event is allowed to make copies from the book.

There's also another important topic that will be discussed and that's the property alert service.

"In this day and age of fraudulent records, we now offer a service where people can sign up with us, it's absolutely free and God forbid, anything fraudulent ever takes place involving their deed or mortgage, they'll get notified electronically through an email and then they can go to the proper authorities," Colabella said.

If a certified copy of the document is needed for insurance purposes they can do that too for a small fee.

The workshop is free, however registration is required.

To register please call 732-929-2018 or email Scott Colabella at scolabella@co.ocean.nj.us. 

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