Find out where your municipality keeps local property records. Generally, your county is the keeper of these records. They may be stored at the courthouse, the county recorder's office or equivalent, or potentially available online. (NEW JERSEY)

NOTE: If you cannot visit the office that houses these records and the records are not available online, you may use online records from another county.

1. Locate where these records are housed for your chosen area, then pick a property and research the title/deeds for it, noting the form of ownership (e.g., sole owner, joint tenancy, trust) cited on the records.
2. Determine the type of deed that was given as well as whether a mortgage was used to procure the property.
3. Follow the change of title back at least three transactions noting who was selling to whom and what the various forms of ownership were.

For clarity, the title and deed records differ from a simple transaction record often available on many real estate records. This assignment requires you to know who took the title, what deed was given, and how the title was taken. Be sure that your submission conveys this information.

Narrate the information that you glean along with your experiences as well as the answer to this question: What type of ownership do you believe presents the greatest advantages and disadvantages? Be sure to give reasons and support your answer.