Overview

Return to Property Search


Adams County includes Townships 15 through 20 North, and Ranges 28 through 38 East. Incorporated municipalities, include Othello, Ritzville, Lind, Washtucna and Hatton. Unincorporated town plats include Moody, Lauer, Packard, Marcellus, Cunningham, Palouse Falls , Benge, Ralston, Roxboro, Shrag and Paha. Adams County also includes portions of Irrigation Blocks 44 through 881 in the Bureau of Reclamation’s Columbia Basin Irrigation Project.

 

All parcels in Adams County can be queried based on Parcel ID, Ownership, Street Address or Township-Section-Range coordinates.

 

All parcels that have been sold or otherwise exchanged via a Department of Revenue Real Estate Excise Tax Affidavit can be queried using the Sales Search option. Unless a price range greater than zero is specified, search results may include simple name changes, quit claim deeds, gift deeds, etc. Sales records are available dating back to 1994.

 

Positive dollar (greater than zero) Sales Search results may include both true-and-fair-market, and non true-and-fair-market value transactions (for example, foreclosures). For a definition of True and Fair Market Value, please refer to the Property Tax topic on the Washington State Department of Revenue website www.dor.wa.gov.

 

When searching on sales, and then viewing appraisal data for a property, current physical characteristics are displayed. These are not necessarily the characteristics that existed at the time of sale. For example, if a property sold in 2003, and was remodeled to include additional living space in 2004, the additional square footage will be included. Further, if an unimproved land parcel sold in 2003, and a new home was built on the property in 2004, appraisal data will include the home. A clue to whether a property has changed since the time of sale is the building permit record available on each parcel which shows the date on which the permit was granted.

 

Note that data available via this website is the same data available in the Assessor’s Office. The data is updated nightly and is therefore normally current as of the prior business day. Also note that we do not maintain records of easements, water rights, mineral rights, or mortgage lien-holders. If you need to pinpoint the exact location of a property boundary such as a city residential lot line, you may need to contact a surveyor. Lot dimensions displayed on this web site are intended for property tax calculation purposes only.

Use of Wildcard Characters in Searches

Two wildcard characters can be utilized to narrow a property query. These include the underscore (_) and the percent sign (%). The underscore can be used to instruct Taxsifter to return results that include any single character in the location where the underscore is specified. The Percent Sign instructs Taxsifter to search for any string of characters of any length. Potential uses include:

Locating a Range of Street Addresses

If you have been unable to locate a specific address along a street (for example, you were provided the wrong address), you can view all addresses along that street by entering one of the following queries in the Situs (address) Search field:

 

   %broadway

returns all addresses along Broadway in any Municipality

   %s broadway

returns all addresses along South Broadway in any Municipality

   %s broadway ave, othello

Returns properties along South Broadway Avenue , Othello

   %s broadway%othello

Returns the same properties as above

   1___s broadway ave, othello

Returns all properties along the 1000 block of South Broadway, Othello

   %, washtucna

Returns every addressed parcel in the Town of Washtucna

Locating Properties Based on Township, Range, and/or Section

Taxsifter expects entry of the Township, Range, and then Section. A hyphen (-) must be entered preceding the section number. You can locate all properties within a particular Township, Range, a Township/Range combination, or a particular Section by using one of the queries below:

 

   15__-__

returns all parcels located in Township 15

   __36-__

returns all parcels located in Range 36

   1536-%

returns all parcels in Township 15, Range 36

   1536-05

returns all parcels in Township 15, Range 36, Section 5

 

Note that results obtained will include all parcels within the specified township, section, range grid, regardless whether the property is a rural farm, a parcel within a rural plat, a farm unit parcel within the Columbia Basin Project, or a city lot.

Locating Properties Based on Parcel Identification Number

You can locate a single property, or a group of properties by using the Parcel ID search field. If you know the 13-digit Adams County parcel number for a particular property, simply enter it in the Parcel ID field and click the Search button to go to that property.

 

To locate a range of properties, you can utilize any portion of a parcel number, combined with a wildcard character to locate specific groups of properties. Examples of Parcel ID wildcard queries that might be used include:

 

   153628051%

returns all parcels within Barrett’s Addition inside the City of Othello

   7%

returns all Railroad Lease properties in Adams County

   210045084%

returns all parcels within Farm Unit 84, Irrigation Block 45

   293305%

returns all parcels in Township 19, Range 33, Section 5

Locating Classes of Property Sales Based on Department of Revenue (DOR) Land Use Codes

You can narrow searches for sales of a particular property class (for example, restaurants) by using a standard two-digit DOR land use code in your sales query. These codes are listed in sub-section 5 of Washington Administrative Code (WAC) 458-53-030. You can view this list via the following Washington State Department of Revenue link:

 

   http://apps.leg.wa.gov/wac/default.aspx?cite=458-53-030

 

For example, to locate sales of mini-marts, markets, or supermarkets, enter the two digits 54 in the Sales Search Land Use/DOR Code field. Land Use Code 54 is used to classify retail food trade properties.

Adams County Parcel Numbering System

To understand the Adams County parcel numbering system, and subdivision codes for use in the Parcel ID wildcard searches referenced above, view the following:

 

   Overview of Adams County Parcel Numbering System

   Subdivision Codes for Incorporated and Rural Plats

 

Note: The option to perform wildcard searches applies only to the Non Sales Search. When searching for sales, you must use the From / To parcel number range fields provided.

Searching for Bare Land Sales

All sales of property on which no significant primary structure (viable stick-built or manufactured home, farm building, or commercial structure) existed at time-of-sale are categorized as bare land sales by this search facility. These include properties either with or without established site improvements (water, septic, power, etc.) and/or less than $10,000 estimated value in nominal or incidental improvements at time-of-sale such as very old outbuildings with little or no remaining economic life, a condemned home to be demolished after sale, an 8x12 pump house yard shed improvement on a 500 acre agricultural land sale, etc. At this time, you can search specifically on bare land sales dating back to January 1, 2001.

 

The Bare Land sales search option is designed to be used in conjunction with any one of the All, Residential, Farm, or Commercial search options. For example, to identify all non zero-dollar dryland or deep-well irrigated agricultural land sales without significant improvements such as a farm residence and/or outbuildings at time-of-sale located in the eastern portion of the county, one might query on:

 

   Farm radio button:

Checked

   Bare Land check-box:

Checked

   In City/Area:

East County Rural

   Sale Date From:

01/01/2001

   Price Range From:

1

   Acreage From:

40

Availability of Maps, Surveys and Recorded Documents

Parcel Maps, Plat Maps, Recorded Documents and Surveys are not available online at this time.

 

v      Copies of Plat Maps and Recorded Documents may be obtained from the Adams County Auditor’s office either by visiting the office at 210 West Broadway, in Ritzville Washington , or by sending a request to jacquel@co.adams.wa.us. A fee will be charged for this service.

 

v      Adams County Road Maps and Road Map Books may be obtained by visiting or calling the Adams County Public Works Department at 210 West Alder Avenue in Ritzville (509-659-3276), or by visiting or calling the Adams County Building and Planning Department at 165 North 1st Avenue in Othello (509-488-9441). A fee will be charged for this service.

 

v      Irrigation Block / Farm Unit Maps are not the purview of Adams County . To inquire about these, please contact the East Columbia Irrigation Project Main Office at 509-488-9671.

 

v      For inquiries regarding town or city maps, zoning requirements, or city permits, please contact the appropriate municipality:

 

City of Othello

509-488-5686

City of Ritzville

509-659-1930

City of Lind

509-677-3241

City of Washtucna

509-646-3253

City of Hatton

509-488-3976

Additional Common Requests

v      For assessment information on properties in surrounding counties, please contact the appropriate assessor’s office:

 

Franklin County Assessor

509-545-3506

www.co.franklin.wa.us

Grant County Assessor

509-754-2011

www.co.grant.wa.us

Lincoln County Assessor

509-725-7011

www.co.lincoln.wa.us

Whitman County Assessor

509-397-6220

www.whitmancounty.org

 

v      For information on historic properties (for example, genealogy inquiries), consider contacting the public library or historical society in the town of interest. Adams County maintains only current property ownership and physical characteristic information.