This background information is related to the data processing of Cuyahoga County transfer records, and the fields found in the transfer listing tables.
Field Notes
The following is a list of the fields, in order, which are found in the tables. Many are exactly what the column heading is, so there is little or no accompanying discussion for those. Fields that have an asterisk (*) in front of them in this documentation are not on every file, and the reason(s) for that is explained in the description of the field.
| FIELD NAME | FIELD DESCRIPTION |
|---|---|
| Parcel Number | Includes dashes, in the form BBB-PP-IIII, where BBB=”book”, PP=”page”, and IIII=”item” |
| (*) Historic District | Found only on the Historic District files. There are multiple historic districts that are analyzed for this table, and this column lists the historic district in which the parcel is located. |
| (*) Corridor Area | Found only on the Euclid Corridor files. There are multiple subareas that are analyzed for this table, and this column lists the portion of the Euclid Corridor in which the parcel is located. |
| (*) Landmark Area | Found only on the Landmarks files. There is a large set of landmark parcel numbers that is analyzed for this table, and this column lists the landmark name. It is common for there to be no landmark transfers in a given month. |
| Parcel Address | Street address for the parcel |
| Parcel Municipality | For most of the files, the parcels will all be in Cleveland, but there are a few files that focus on the suburbs |
| Parcel Zip | |
| (*) Statistical Planning Area (SPA) | This field does not appear on the files that include only records for suburbs |
| (*) 2014 Ward (based on 17-ward boundaries) | This field does not appear on the files that include only records for suburbs |
| (*) 2009 Ward (based on 19-ward boundaries – started with January 2010 file) | This field does not appear on the files that include only records for suburbs |
| Census Tract (2010) | |
| Land Use Type, or Original Land Use Type (latter only on residential files) | This is the land use code, translated into words, which is provided on the file as we get it (except for a small subgroup which gets converted into condo land use codes, based on the end of the parcel number – this usually takes place when non-residential buildings, such as warehouses, get converted to condos, but the land use code does not get changed on the original file). |
| (*) Final Land Use Type | At one point in time this field had a somewhat different function. However, it currently stores a shorter version of the land use code. |
| Deed Type | Three-character abbreviated version of the type of deed used. Over the years, the data supplied in this field on the original County file has varied from a 3-character code to a string of characters that sometimes but does not always complete the description. For continuity, we have always supplied a 3-character code in the transfer files. In several cases, multiple 3-character codes mean the same thing, and these are shown together. A full description of these deed types can be found here. |
| Conveyance Price | Sale or transfer price. Sometimes the County does not enter the actual “sale” price, due to the complexities of the actual information required. For more on this, please refer to the ccfo table-conveyance info page. In addition, sometimes a price is reported which actually reflects the sum for multiple parcels. For more discussion about how to recognize such multiple-parcel prices, see the discussion for the fields Receipt Number and Number of Parcels Combined. |
| Conveyance Flag | Most users will never need to bother with this field. However, for more details on this field, which is connected to the previous field, conveyance price, please refer to ccfo table-conveyance info page. |
| Transfer Date | |
| Receipt Number | In almost all cases, you won’t need to worry about this. However, there are some instances in which more than one property is bundled together and the total sale price is reported for the group (instead of the individual sale prices for each separate property). In these cases, where provided, the receipt number may allow you to see which properties were grouped together. For example, in the January, 2018 file for residential transfers by SPA, in rows 32-33, both parcels have the same receipt number (848808). See also the discussion for the field Number of Parcels Combined. |
| Auditor’s Filing Number (AFN) | This info doesn’t seem to be provided much anymore, but used to be on most records. If it is provided it will be in this column. |
| Number of Parcels Combined ($) | This column goes along with the Receipt Number column. As noted in the discussion for that column, there are some instances in which more than one property is bundled together and the total sale price is reported for the group (instead of the individual sale prices for each separate property). This column stores the number of parcels which have been grouped together. Note: if the value in this column is greater than 1, then you cannot rely on the transfer price to provide an accurate reflection of the value of the parcel in that row, since the transfer price will reflect this property, as well as at least one other property. |
| Property Class | The full property class is stored in this field (after conversion from a one- or two-letter code). |
| Taxable Assessed Building Value | Auditor’s (taxable) assessed value of the building portion of the property. Note: assessed value equals 35% of the estimated (taxable) market value. Also, the value in this column reflects only the taxable portion of value for the property; if there are exempt or abated portions, these will not be reflected in the value. |
| Taxable Assessed Land Value | Auditor’s (taxable) assessed value of the land portion of the property. Note: assessed value equals 35% of the estimated (taxable) market value. Also, the value in this column reflects only the taxable portion of value for the property; if there are exempt or abated portions, these will not be reflected in the value. |
| Taxable Assessed Total Value | Auditor’s (taxable) assessed total value of the property. Note: assessed value equals 35% of the estimated (taxable) market value. Also, the value in this column reflects only the taxable portion of value for the property; if there are exempt or abated portions, these will not be reflected in the value. |
| Taxable Estimated Market Value | Auditor’s estimated (taxable) market value for the parcel. Assessed value equals 35% of this value. Also, the value in this column reflects only the taxable portion of value for the property; if there are exempt or abated portions, these will not be reflected in the value. |
| Total Estimated Market Value - Multiple Receipt Estimated Market Value | This column will only have a value if more than one transfer was bundled and the total transfer price was reported (instead of individual transfer prices for each parcel). The next column calculates the ratio of transfer price to estimated market value, and in order for multiple bundled transfer price ratios to make sense, we need also to sum the individual estimated market values, and then divide a bundled transfer price by a bundled estimated market value. For example, in the March, 2018 file of residential transfers listed by SPA, parcels 023-07-053 and 023-07-060 have the same receipt number, as well as the same conveyance price. Since they have the same receipt number, the conveyance price represents the price for the combination of the two parcels. We sum the values of the field Taxable Estimated Market Value for the two parcels, producing Total Estimated Market Value – Multiple Receipt Estimated Market Value. This is the value used in the ratio of the price to the estimated market value (see next field) both of these parcels. Otherwise, the cell will be blank. |
| Ratio Price to Estimated Market Value | This ratio provides a sense of how high or low the transfer price was in relation to what the auditor estimated its value to be. It is calculated as the ratio of the conveyance price to taxable estimated market value (or to total EMV multiple receipt estimated market value, if applicable). |
| Buyer Name | |
| Seller Name | |
| Tax Mailing Name | Name of entity to which tax bill is sent |
| Tax Mailing Address | Address of entity to which tax bill is sent |
| Tax Mailing Municipality | City/village/township of entity to which tax bill is sent |
| Tax Mailing Zip Code | Zip code for entity to which tax bill is sent |
| (*) Old SPA Name | Statistical Planning Area parcel would be in if the previous SPA geographies were in use |
| Taxable + Non-Taxable Estimated Market Value | All other estimated values in this file include only the taxable portion(s). This field pulls in values from a separate file that contains both taxable and non-taxable (abated, exempt) values. This field is also used in determining a value for the Conveyance Flag field. Most users will never need to worry about any of that. However, if interested, please see the ccfo table-conveyance info page. |
| 2000 Census Tract | |
| Duplicate Flag | At one point in time, we used to weed out duplicate records based on having the same parcel number, transfer date, and conveyance price. However, in some cases, these can all have the same values but there can be different buyer and/or seller names listed across records. We decided to keep all of those in in case users were analyzing changes in ownership. If the value of this field is greater than zero, this means that the current record is pretty much (but not exactly) a duplicate of the record above it. For example, in the March, 2018 residential records by SPA, there are two records for parcel 020-03-081. In the first record, the buyer name is “Lee, Richard Alan & Dani L”, while in the second record the buyer name is “Lee, Richard Alan”. The respective seller names are also slightly different. In this case they both appear to be in the same family. However, in other cases the multiples can include different family names. |