To find out what mortgage is recorded on a property, search the county recorder’s office where the property sits, either through its online records portal or in person at the counter. Mortgages, deeds of trust, and the documents that release them are public records, indexed by the names of the parties and by parcel number. In most counties the search itself is free; you only pay if you want copies of the actual documents.
What to Gather Before You Search
Two pieces of information do most of the work: the owner’s full legal name as it appeared on the closing documents, and the property’s street address. County systems index by name, so a missing middle initial or a misspelling can make real records look like they don’t exist.
Better still is the Assessor’s Parcel Number, a unique code the local tax assessor assigns to every parcel. It appears on property tax bills and on the county assessor’s website. When two owners share a name, the parcel number is what gets you to the right property on the first try.
Where Mortgage Records Live
Every county has an office that keeps recorded property documents. Depending on the state it’s called the recorder, the register of deeds, or the county clerk. That office is the central filing cabinet for mortgages, deeds, releases, and other instruments affecting title.
Documents are organized in a grantor-grantee index, and the labels catch people off guard. When a mortgage is recorded, the borrower is the “grantor” because the borrower is granting the lender a security interest. The lender is the “grantee.” So if you’re searching by the borrower’s name, look for mortgage filings in the grantor index.
You’re looking for entries labeled “mortgage,” “deed of trust,” or “security instrument.” About half of states use deeds of trust instead of traditional mortgages. Both pledge the property as collateral for the loan. A deed of trust routes legal title through a neutral trustee until the debt is paid; a mortgage creates a direct lien between borrower and lender. Either document is filed in the same recording index.
Searching Online
Most counties now run a public records search website. The interface typically lets you enter an owner’s name, a parcel number, or a document number, then filter the results by document type so mortgages and deeds of trust rise to the top. Each hit shows the recording date, the parties, and identifying numbers (either a book and page or an instrument number).
Click a result and you’ll usually see a summary or a low-resolution preview. Full copies generally cost a few dollars to download. Coverage varies widely between counties. Some have digitized records going back a century; others only reach back to the 1990s. If the document you want predates the digital archive, you’ll need to visit in person or request a copy by mail.
Searching in Person
Walk into the recorder’s office during business hours and you’ll find public access terminals where you can run the same name or parcel searches. Staff can point you to the right machine and walk you through the local interface, which differs from county to county. The system returns a chronological list of recorded documents identified by book and page or instrument number.
Older filings that predate digital conversion may only live on microfilm or in bound ledgers, and the staff can direct you to the right reader or cabinet. Once you’ve located the mortgage, you can request copies at the counter. Plain copies run a few dollars per page in most jurisdictions, with certified copies costing somewhat more. Most offices take cash, checks, and cards, though electronic payments sometimes carry a small surcharge.
Confirming Whether the Mortgage Is Still Active
Finding a recorded mortgage doesn’t tell you the debt still exists. Loans get paid off through regular payments, refinancing, or sale of the property. What closes the loop in the public record is a follow-up document called a satisfaction of mortgage, a release, or a discharge. In deed-of-trust states, the equivalent is a deed of reconveyance. Any of these tells the world the debt is paid and the lien is cleared.
To find one, search the grantor-grantee index for documents recorded after the mortgage date. On the satisfaction, the lender appears as the grantor, because the lender is giving its interest back. Most states require lenders to record the release within a set number of days after final payment and impose penalties on lenders that drag their feet.
If you find a mortgage with no matching satisfaction, two things are possible: the debt is still active, or the lender simply never filed the paperwork. The second is surprisingly common and is how “phantom liens” end up on properties the owner believed were free and clear. For anyone buying a property, confirming that every recorded mortgage has a matching release is one of the central pieces of due diligence. An unreleased mortgage clouds the title and can hold up a closing.
Finding the Current Loan Servicer
If what you actually want to know is who collects the payments today, the recorded mortgage won’t necessarily tell you. Loans are sold and transferred constantly, and the servicer on the original document may not be the current one. The Mortgage Electronic Registration Systems (MERS) website offers a free lookup called ServicerID. Most major lenders register loans in MERS, so there’s a good chance the loan you’re researching is in the system.
You can search by property address, by the borrower’s name and Social Security number, or by the Mortgage Identification Number from the original loan documents. The tool returns the current servicer, and if you verify your identity as the borrower, the investor who owns the note.
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau notes that borrowers can also call their current servicer or send a written request asking who owns the loan; the servicer must respond with the owner’s name, address, and phone number. The CFPB additionally points homeowners to the Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac mortgage lookup tools, which show whether either agency owns the loan.1Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. How Can I Tell Who Owns My Mortgage
Other Liens You May See Alongside the Mortgage
Mortgages aren’t the only financial claims recorded against real estate. The IRS can file a federal tax lien that attaches to all property the taxpayer owns. Under federal law, that lien isn’t valid against a purchaser or someone with a security interest until the IRS files a notice in the office designated by state law for the county where the property sits.2Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 26 USC 6323 – Validity and Priority Against Certain Persons In practice, that notice usually lands at the county recorder’s office (in some states, the secretary of state) and shows up in the same index as mortgages.
You may also see state tax liens, municipal utility liens, and judgment liens from lawsuits. Some of these are filed in separate indices maintained by the court clerk rather than the recorder, so a single search at the recorder’s office won’t always catch everything. If you want to be thorough, check with the county court clerk as well.
When a DIY Search Isn’t Enough
A self-directed search works well for confirming whether a mortgage exists or checking the status of a specific lien. For buying, refinancing, or litigation, the stakes outrun what a casual search can handle. Title companies and abstractors perform a chain of title search, tracing every transfer and encumbrance back through decades of ownership, checking court records for judgments, looking for unpaid property taxes, and verifying that prior liens were released.
The product is a title commitment or preliminary report spelling out exactly which liens, easements, and restrictions affect the property. Title service fees are part of the closing costs on a mortgage and cover both the search and the premium for a lender’s title insurance policy.3Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. What Are Title Service Fees
Even a professional search has limits. Forged documents, undisclosed heirs, clerical errors in prior recordings, and liens filed in the wrong index can be effectively invisible in the public record. An owner’s title insurance policy exists to cover those gaps, protecting the homeowner against financial loss from claims that existed before the purchase date.4Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. What Is Owners Title Insurance For early investigation, pulling the records yourself is the right move. For an actual closing, pair the professional search with an owner’s policy.