To pull title on a property yourself, search the public land records held by your county recorder, register of deeds, or county clerk. Most counties let you do this online using the property’s address or parcel number, and the records will show you who owns the property, what debts are recorded against it, and any easements or restrictions on the land. Nothing stops you from doing this on property you don’t own. Land records are public in every U.S. county precisely so anyone can look.
What You Need Before You Start
The street address is a starting point, not the whole answer. Multiple parcels can share a similar address, and a single address can cover land that’s been subdivided. The more reliable identifier is the Assessor’s Parcel Number, or APN, a unique code the county tax assessor assigns to each piece of land. You can usually find the APN through the county tax assessor’s website by entering the address. Once you have it, every search you run targets that exact parcel instead of a neighbor’s lot or an outdated subdivision.
Gather the current owner’s full legal name too. Many county systems are indexed by party name rather than parcel number, and a name gives you a way to cross-reference. It also helps to note the legal description of the property, which uses metes and bounds, lot-and-block, or government survey references to define the boundaries. The legal description appears on prior deeds and tax records, and it’s the language that controls when boundary questions come up.
Finally, figure out which office holds your county’s land records. The name varies: County Recorder, Register of Deeds, County Clerk, or sometimes the Circuit Clerk. Each office keeps its own database and sets its own fees. A quick search for “[your county] recorded documents” will usually land you on the right portal.
Searching the Records Online
Most county recorder offices now offer searchable online databases. These portals let you search by owner name, APN, document number, recording date, or document type. Browsing is often free. Downloading or printing copies of the actual documents usually costs a small per-page fee.
Before you dig in, find out how your county indexes its records, because it changes how you search. Most counties in the United States use a grantor-grantee index, which organizes records by the names of the parties in each transaction: the grantor is the person transferring the interest, the grantee is the person receiving it. To trace a full ownership history, you start with the current owner’s name as grantee and work backward through each prior transfer. A smaller number of counties use a tract index, which organizes records by geographic location or lot number. Tract indexes make it easier to pull everything recorded against a specific parcel in one place. If you’re unsure which system your county uses, the office staff can tell you.
Online portals also have limits worth knowing about. Older records may not be digitized. Some counties only have electronic records going back to the 1980s or 1990s, so anything recorded earlier requires an in-person visit to review microfilm or physical books. And the portal won’t interpret what you’re looking at. It will show you a chronological list of every document recorded against the property. You still have to read the deeds, liens, and other filings to piece together the picture.
Going in Person
A trip to the recorder’s office gets you access to the full record, including documents too old for the digital system. Most offices have public terminals with the same index available online, plus staff who can point you toward microfilm or book-and-page records for older filings. In-person visits are also the only way to get certified copies, which are documents carrying the office’s official seal. Courts and title companies require certified copies for legal proceedings; a screenshot from the portal won’t do.
Fees vary by county. Standard uncertified copies run from under a dollar to a few dollars per page. Certified copies cost more and may require a written request form. Payment methods differ by office but generally include credit cards, checks, and cash.
Reading What the Records Show
A search pulls up every recorded instrument affecting the property. The documents fall into a few categories, and knowing what each one does is most of the work.
Deeds
Deeds are the backbone of the search. Each one documents a transfer of ownership from one party to the next, and together they form the chain of title. A complete, unbroken chain running from the current owner back through every prior transfer is what establishes marketable title.
The type of deed matters. A warranty deed provides the strongest protection because the seller guarantees they hold clear title and have the legal right to sell. If a defect surfaces later, the buyer can hold the seller responsible. A quitclaim deed transfers only whatever interest the grantor happens to have, with no guarantee they have any interest at all. Quitclaim deeds are common between family members, in divorce settlements, and to clear up minor title issues, but they offer no protection if the grantor’s ownership turns out to be defective.
Liens
Liens are recorded claims against the property representing unpaid debts. The most common is a mortgage or deed of trust, which secures a lender’s loan against the property. These appear with the original loan amount, the lender’s name, and the recording date. When the loan is paid off, the lender records a release or satisfaction. If no release appears, the lien still clouds the title even if the debt was actually paid. Unreleased mortgages from decades ago are one of the most common title headaches.
Other liens appear without the owner’s consent. Tax liens show up when property taxes or federal or state income taxes go unpaid. Mechanic’s liens get filed by contractors or suppliers who weren’t paid for work on the property, and they attach to the property itself, not just the person who owes the money. Judgment liens arise when a court awards money damages against the owner and the creditor records the judgment in the land records. Any of these has to be resolved before a clean transfer can happen.
A lis pendens is a recorded notice that a lawsuit affecting the property is pending. It doesn’t mean the owner has lost anything yet, but it warns anyone searching the records that the case could change ownership or create new claims. A property carrying a lis pendens is difficult to sell or refinance.
Easements and Restrictions
Easements grant someone other than the owner a specific right to use part of the property. Utility companies commonly hold easements to run power lines, water pipes, or sewer connections across private land. Shared driveway easements let neighbors cross each other’s property for access. These rights travel with the land, so they bind future owners even if the easement was created decades ago.
Restrictive covenants set rules for how the property can be used. In residential subdivisions, covenants might limit building height, prohibit commercial activity, require certain landscaping, or regulate exterior paint colors. Covenants are recorded in the land records and enforceable by other owners in the same development.
Gaps in the Chain of Title
A clean chain of title is an unbroken sequence of recorded transfers from the current owner back through every prior owner. When a link is missing, the chain breaks. Common causes include a deed that was never recorded, a name misspelled so badly the indexes don’t connect it, or an estate that transferred property without going through probate. A broken chain raises questions about who actually owns the parcel, and those questions can halt a sale.
Other defects to watch for as you read:
- Unreleased liens: a mortgage or judgment that was paid off but never formally released.
- Clerical errors: a misspelled name, wrong parcel number, or incorrect legal description in a recorded document. Even a minor typo can make a deed unsearchable in the index.
- Forged or fraudulent documents: deeds executed by someone impersonating the true owner. Rare, but the chain of title after the forgery is legally void.
- Missing heirs: when an owner dies and an heir with a legitimate claim wasn’t included in the probate, that heir’s interest survives and can surface years later.
Where DIY Stops Being Enough
For a quick ownership check, a lien lookup, or general curiosity about a parcel, a DIY search is fine. The county portal gives you a working snapshot, and the fee to pull a few document copies is minimal.
The stakes change when money is on the line. If you’re buying property, lending against one, or relying on the search to make a large financial decision, a self-search leaves too much room for mistakes. Professional title searchers know where records hide. They catch unreleased liens from defunct lenders, UCC filings a casual searcher wouldn’t think to check, and indexing errors that make documents invisible in a standard name search. A professional search also typically goes back 40 to 60 years of ownership history, while a DIY search usually covers only what’s easy to find in the digital index.
If you’re getting a mortgage, the choice isn’t really yours. Lenders require a professional title search as part of closing, and the fee is bundled into your closing costs on the Loan Estimate and Closing Disclosure.1Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. What Are Title Service Fees? Lenders also require a lender’s title insurance policy, which protects the lender’s interest, not yours.2Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. What Is Lender’s Title Insurance? An owner’s policy, which covers your equity if a defect surfaces after closing, is separate and optional.3Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. What Is Owner’s Title Insurance?
Pulling title yourself gives you a picture of what’s recorded against a property today. That’s often all you need. When it isn’t, the search you did on your own still pays off: you walk into the professional review knowing what questions to ask and what the records already show.