The Indiana records that decide what a home really costs and what the seller has to tell you: disclosure law, property-tax reset, the official registry, and the FEMA flood map — sourced, with the county offices that hold the files.
Check the records behind the address before you offer.
Check any address — free previewThe legal standard: The seller must complete the state form based on their current actual knowledge and give it to a prospective buyer before an offer is accepted; the form is not a warranty and does not substitute for an inspection.
Indiana sellers complete State Form 46234 before your offer is accepted, disclosing known defects, meaning conditions with a significant adverse effect on value, health or safety, or expected useful life. The form specifically asks whether any part of the property lies in a FEMA flood plain and whether the seller carries flood insurance. It reflects only the seller's actual knowledge, so pair it with your own inspection and flood-map check.
Sources: forms.in.gov · in.gov · in.gov · waynecounty.in.gov · in.gov · public.courts.in.gov
Buying does not reset the home's assessed value to your purchase price; Indiana trends values toward market value-in-use every year. Expect your bill to move with annual trending and with the homestead deductions you file for yourself, which are on a legislated phase-down schedule.
Homestead: Owner-occupants who file with the county auditor receive Indiana's homestead deductions, but under SEA 1 (2025) the standard deduction is being phased down (for example, $40,000 for the 2026 assessment year, falling to $0 by 2030) while the supplemental deduction rises, so the benefit a seller had will not simply carry over to you.
Indiana Sex and Violent Offender Registry is run by Indiana Department of Correction, in partnership with Indiana county sheriffs (Indiana Sheriffs' Association). Search it by the home's address before you offer — and search again before closing, because registry data changes as people move.
Open the official Indiana registry
You can also search every state at once through the federal National Sex Offender Public Website (NSOPW). A CurbFacts report shows the registry count for the home's ZIP — the same public data, organized for the decision.
The only flood map that decides a lender's insurance requirement is FEMA's — the National Flood Hazard Layer behind the official FEMA flood map viewer. Listing sites license private models that can and do disagree with it; when they conflict, the FEMA map is the one your lender and insurer use.
Check the exact parcel, not the ZIP code: flood-zone boundaries cut through streets, and two houses side by side can sit in different zones.
Indiana's Seller's Residential Real Estate Sales Disclosure (Form 46234) describes the property's condition, while the separate Sales Disclosure Form (Form 46021) is a tax and assessment filing made at closing; do not mistake the assessment form for condition information.
SEA 1 (2025) phases the homestead standard deduction down each year ($40,000 for 2026 assessments, $0 by 2030) while raising the supplemental deduction, so model your future bills on the new schedule rather than on the seller's current bill.
What the Indiana disclosure does and does not cover, section by section, and the questions it never answers.
Read the guideHow to run an address through the official Indiana registry, and how to read what comes back.
Read the guideRecords live at the county level — assessor, recorder, permits. Pick the county for its records checklist.
Every CurbFacts report pulls the public records behind an address — flood determination, registry, tax reset, price history, permits, and what's planned nearby — and shows its sources.
Check any address — free preview