Property records can be a valuable tool for investigators. It’s amazing how much information is available to the general public. You can find:
- Property owners (current and former)
- Property taxes (and whether they’re current)
- Existing and closed mortgages
- And more . . .
What is a property record?
In general, a property record can tell you what real estate someone owns and the liabilities against that asset. A deed, which shows the current and previous owner of an asset, is one example. A mortgage, showing who has loaned money to purchase the property, is another.
A deed can tell you how ownership of a property was transferred, such as inter-family transfers, where properties are granted to a spouse or put into trust, or an out-of-family transaction. This information can be helpful when researching someone’s assets or ability to satisfy a judgement.
Other examples of property records and documents filed with property records include:
- Assignments
- Powers of attorney
- Uniform Commercial Code (UCC) filings
- Corporation documents
- Liens
- Releases/Satisfactions
- Lis pendens
- Notices of foreclosure
The list goes on.
In future blogs, we’ll dive more into these filings and what they are. For now, we’ll explore where and how to find them, as well as some practical uses for them.
Where can you find property records and how can you search them?
As a licensed private investigative firm, we have access to several commercial subscription databases with large numbers of property records and fantastic search capabilities. However, as we’ve noted about online databases of court records, we rely on more than those databases for property records.
Online resources are an excellent tool to get a quick lay of the land, but they may not be current, complete or accurate.
Digging deeper
A quick anecdote: We were doing a background check on an individual using multiple subscription databases. We found various properties associated with him; however, he had no significant liens or judgments against him. We sent a researcher into a very small, remote town in his address history at considerable expense, just to make sure we weren’t missing anything. It was a good thing that we did: a federal tax lien for more than $2,000,000 had been filed against him only a few days earlier. Had we only checked the databases, we would have missed that critical piece of information.
Finding and accessing property information varies by state, county and town. Property records are typically filed at the county or town recorder’s/clerk’s office, and in most states, the recorder’s office covers an entire county. However, in some states, such as Connecticut, property records are filed at the town level.
Search capabilities also vary by jurisdiction. Some counties make their records readily available online, which is typically the case in Florida. In other places, only limited records are available online, and/or they require a paid subscription to access them. It’s important to understand which online records are the equivalent of in-person searches. And some jurisdictions only allow for in-person searches.
How far back?
Another variable is the search indices themselves. Some offices may have digital records going back 30 years or more. Some may only have more recent records on the computer index and require a “book search” for older records. This can be a very tedious process and is best left to professional researchers who are well-versed in that office’s setup.
Also, some search indices require that you search by the grantor (seller) and grantee (buyer) separately. Other indices allow you to search by grantor and grantee at the same time.
Additionally, some jurisdictions have all property records on one index, while others require a search on multiple indices. For example, deeds and mortgages may be found on one index, with tax liens and judgments are on another. In Pennsylvania, for instance, real estate records are filed at the Recorder of Deeds Office, and civil filings and tax liens are filed at the Prothonotary. Some counties may house these offices within the same building; others may require a trip to a different building altogether.
How can these records be used?
At Integras, we search for property records for many different reasons. For example, some of our clients hire us to conduct due diligence background checks on individuals and companies with which they are planning to invest or do business. They want to make sure that there are no criminal, civil, financial or reputational issues before making that investment. We’ll search to see if the subject owns property and, if so, how they manage their finances. It’s also helpful to know if that person is “underwater” (i.e., owing more in mortgages than the property is worth). We’ll also search to see if there are any liens naming the subject, which could indicate past or current financial stress.
We also conduct asset searches for law firm clients. We search property records to determine the current assets of individuals and companies and to find any recent sales that may have generated capital gains. We can also potentially find corporation filings, which could define other assets, such as fictitious businesses or partnerships. Uniform Commercial Code filings may uncover assets being used as collateral. In addition, we look at liens, judgments, notices of civil cases, foreclosure filings, and other liabilities to get a more comprehensive view of a subject’s financial condition.
Property records can also support more traditional types of investigations. Perhaps we are interested in finding out if someone is, or has been, married. In many jurisdictions, marriage records are not available to the public. However, we may find property records where someone is named as a husband or wife, such as a deed, mortgage or power of attorney. These kinds of records may also reveal other personal or familial connections that could not otherwise be found.
Property records can provide a wealth of information that goes well beyond the property itself. They may not be necessary or suitable for all situations and budgets, but it’s important to know the benefits of this type of research. The trick is knowing what records are available and how to find them.
We hope you found this information helpful. If you have a question that we haven’t answered, please post your comment below.
