To find mortgage information on a property, you have three practical routes: search the county recorder’s public index where the mortgage was filed, run the address through an online property records database, or pay a title company for a full title report. The recorder’s office is free and authoritative but slow to navigate. Online databases are fast but can lag reality by days or weeks. A title search costs money but gives you the complete picture, which is why it’s the standard step before buying.
Which method fits depends on why you’re looking. A quick check on a house you’re curious about is one job. Confirming clear title before you sign a purchase contract is another.
What to Gather Before You Search
Pull a few identifiers together first so you land on the right parcel. The street address is the obvious starting point, but you’ll also want the current owner’s legal name, because many county indexes are organized by the names of the parties on the document rather than by address.
The most precise identifier is the Assessor’s Parcel Number, sometimes called a Parcel Identification Number or Property Index Number. Local tax authorities assign this unique number to every tract of land. You can find it on a property tax bill or through the county tax assessor’s website. Using the APN prevents mix-ups from similar street names, subdivided lots, or multiple units at one address.
Recorded mortgages also carry a formal legal description of the parcel. You don’t need it to start, but it helps you confirm you’ve pulled the right document once results come back.
Searching the County Recorder’s Office
The county recorder, called the Register of Deeds or City Register in some places, is the official repository for documents that affect property titles. When a lender funds a home loan, the mortgage or deed of trust gets recorded there as public notice that the property secures a debt. State law determines whether the instrument is labeled a “mortgage” or a “deed of trust,” but both give the lender a security interest in the property.
How the Index Works
Most recorder offices use a grantor/grantee index. The grantor is the owner who pledged the property; the grantee is the lender receiving the security interest. Enter the owner’s legal name and the index returns every recorded document involving that person, including mortgages, assignments, and releases. Each entry shows the recording date, document number, and book-and-page reference so you can pull the actual document.
Many counties now offer free online portals where you can search the index and view scanned images from your computer. If online access isn’t available, you can visit the office and use a public search terminal. Viewing is typically free. Printed copies carry a fee, and certified copies, the kind you’d need for a legal proceeding, cost more than standard photocopies.
What the Recorded Mortgage Shows
A recorded mortgage or deed of trust lists the original loan amount, the names of the borrower and lender, the date of the loan, and the legal description of the property. It may reference the maturity date. If the loan was later sold, you may also find a recorded assignment identifying the new holder of the debt.
Online Property Databases
Private online databases aggregate public records from counties across the country into one searchable platform. You enter an address or owner name and get a report summarizing the property’s financial history, including previous and active loans, lender names, and recording dates. These tools are useful when you’re researching multiple properties or don’t want to learn an unfamiliar county’s filing system.
The trade-off is timeliness. These platforms pull from official county filings but update on their own schedule, so a recently recorded satisfaction of mortgage or new lien might not appear yet. Treat the results as a starting point rather than a final answer, especially before a time-sensitive decision like submitting an offer.
Hiring a Title Company
A title company gives you the most thorough picture of a property’s financial and legal status. For a fee that typically falls between $75 and $500, a title professional produces a preliminary title report, sometimes called a property profile. It lists every recorded lien on the property, including mortgages, home equity lines of credit, mechanic’s liens, tax liens, and judgment liens, along with easements, deed restrictions, and other encumbrances.
The report identifies the current owner, the recording details of each lien, and the order of priority among competing claims. Title professionals have access to proprietary title plants and can trace the chain of ownership back decades, which is why this is the standard route for buyers who need assurance of clear title before closing.
Title Insurance
A title search identifies known issues; title insurance protects you financially if a problem surfaces later that the search missed, such as a forged deed, an unknown heir, or a recording error. Lenders almost always require a lender’s title insurance policy as a condition of the loan. An owner’s policy, which protects the buyer, is optional but widely recommended. Owner’s policies typically cost between 0.5 percent and 1 percent of the purchase price and remain in effect for as long as you own the property. If a covered defect appears after closing, the policy pays for your legal defense and any resulting loss up to the policy amount.
What Public Records Won’t Tell You
Knowing the limits of the record saves you from wasted effort. Public mortgage documents show original terms, not current ones. You will not find:
- The current loan balance. Only the original amount is recorded; the remaining balance stays between borrower and servicer.
- The interest rate or loan type. The promissory note, which spells out the rate and payment schedule, is not recorded in most jurisdictions.
- The monthly payment amount.
- Payment history. Whether the borrower is current or behind doesn’t appear unless a formal notice of default or lis pendens has been filed.
If you’re the borrower and need current balance or payment information, contact your loan servicer. If you’re a third party, that information isn’t publicly available.
Finding the Current Servicer or Loan Owner
A common frustration is discovering that the lender named on the recorded mortgage isn’t the company handling the loan today. Mortgages are frequently sold and transferred, and many loans sit on the Mortgage Electronic Registration Systems (MERS) platform, where MERS itself appears as the nominee on the recorded document rather than the actual owner.
MERS ServicerID
If a recorded mortgage lists MERS as the beneficiary or nominee, the free MERS ServicerID tool can identify the current servicer and investor. You can search by property address, or, if you are the borrower, by your name and Social Security number. The tool returns the current servicer’s name and, for verified borrowers, the investor who owns the loan.1MERSCORP Holdings, Inc. Homeowners ServicerID MERS can also be reached at (888) 679-6377.
Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac Lookups
Many residential mortgages are ultimately owned by Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac. Both offer free online lookup tools on their websites; enter the property address to check whether they hold the loan.2Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. How Can I Tell Who Owns My Mortgage?
Qualified Written Request (Borrowers Only)
If you’re the borrower and want detailed information about your own loan, federal law lets you send your servicer a Qualified Written Request. Under the Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act, the servicer must acknowledge receipt within five business days and provide a substantive response within 30 business days.3Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 12 U.S. Code 2605 – Servicing of Mortgage Loans and Administration of Escrow Accounts During the 60 days after the servicer receives a request about a payment dispute, it can’t report negative information about those disputed payments to credit bureaus.4Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. What Is a Qualified Written Request? This route is not open to third-party researchers.
Checking Whether a Mortgage Has Been Paid Off
When a mortgage is fully paid, the lender is supposed to record a document that removes the lien from the public record. In states that use mortgages, it’s called a satisfaction of mortgage. In states that use deeds of trust, it’s called a deed of reconveyance. Either confirms the borrower no longer owes the debt and the lender no longer has a claim.
To verify a payoff, search the recorder’s index for a satisfaction or reconveyance recorded after the original mortgage. The release should reference the original mortgage by book and page number or document number, so you can match it to the correct loan. If the original mortgage is there but no release, the lien may still appear active in the public record even if the loan was actually paid.
Most states require lenders to record a satisfaction within a set timeframe, often 30 to 90 days after payoff, and impose penalties for failing to do so. If you’re the borrower and your lender hasn’t recorded the release, ask the servicer in writing to file it. A title company can also help by contacting the lender or preparing the paperwork.
Signs of Default or Foreclosure in the Record
Public records can also show whether a property is heading toward foreclosure. Two filings signal trouble:
- A notice of default. In states that allow nonjudicial foreclosure, the lender or servicer records this when the borrower has fallen significantly behind. It marks the beginning of the pre-foreclosure process.
- A lis pendens, Latin for “pending litigation.” It’s recorded when a lawsuit involving a claim against the property has been filed, including a judicial foreclosure action, and gives public notice that title is in dispute.
Finding either during a search is a red flag for buyers and investors. A notice of default means the owner is at risk of losing the property; a lis pendens means active litigation could affect title. In both cases, get professional guidance before proceeding with any transaction on that property.
A Note on Lien Priority
When a property has more than one lien, recording order generally decides who gets paid first if the property is sold or foreclosed on. Under this “first in time, first in right” principle, a mortgage recorded in 2015 has priority over a judgment lien recorded in 2020. At foreclosure, the earlier lien is satisfied before the later one receives anything.
Property tax liens are the major exception. In virtually every jurisdiction, unpaid property taxes take automatic priority over all other liens no matter when they were recorded, which means even a first mortgage can be wiped out by a tax lien foreclosure if the taxes go unpaid long enough. Keep this in mind when you see multiple recorded claims against the same parcel: the sequence in the index isn’t always the final word on who has the strongest claim.