Deed Search Property: Find and Retrieve Any Recorded Deed
Deed Copies · Deed Lookup · Grantor and Grantee · Legal Descriptions · Deed History
A deed search locates and retrieves the recorded deed for any property from county recorder, clerk, or registry of deeds records: the grantor and grantee names, deed type, recording references, legal description, and consideration paid. Order a Deed Copy ($45) for a PDF scan of the actual recorded document with all signatures, notarizations, and recording stamps, or a Property Detail Report ($29) for the deed information alongside current ownership, mortgage, and tax data. All 50 states, no login, same-day service available.
How to Search Property Deeds
A property deed search reads the county’s recorded instruments for one parcel and returns the deed that controls ownership: who granted, who received, what type of deed carried the transfer, the recording references, and the legal description. The house deed lookup that once meant a counter visit now runs from an order form for any county in the country.
Two orders answer almost every deed question. The $29 Property Detail Report returns the deed information with ownership, mortgage, and tax data. The $45 Deed Copy returns the recorded document itself, verified by an abstractor as the current vesting deed. It ships flat-fee regardless of page count. County offices typically charge per page plus search fees, and often require in-person visits or mailed requests.
The Deed Types a Search Can Return
The deed type controls what the grantor promised, and the report identifies it because the difference is the whole point.
Warranty Deeds, General and Special
The strongest conveyances: the grantor warrants title against defects, for all time in the general form and for the grantor’s own period of ownership in the special form. Most arms-length sales ride on one of these.
Quitclaim Deeds
No warranties at all: the grantor conveys whatever interest exists, if any. Common between family members, in divorces, and in title-clearing work, and a red flag worth investigating when it appears mid-chain in a sale context.
Grant Deeds and Security Deeds
State dialects: California conveys by grant deed with implied covenants, while Georgia secures loans with security deeds that look like conveyances. Regional forms are exactly why the report names the instrument.
The Foreclosure Family
Trustee’s deeds, sheriff’s deeds, and tax deeds transfer through forced sales, and each signals a history worth examining, which is where the chain of title takes over.
The Estate Family
Personal representative deeds, executor’s deeds, and transfer-on-death instruments move title through death, and a gap here is the most common quiet-title trigger in the record.
Verified as the Current Vesting Deed
Databases return the newest scan they hold; an abstractor verifies the instrument actually controls current vesting before it ships, the difference between a deed lookup and a deed answer.
$45 Flat, Any Page Count
County offices typically charge per page plus search fees, with in-person or mailed-request hurdles. The Deed Copy is $45 flat, emailed, with recording stamps visible and print-ready for filings.
Recording Standards, Cited
Deed recording practices are coordinated through the Property Records Industry Association, and every document ships with its recording references so any finding verifies at the county.
Deed vs Title: Two Searches, Two Questions
The instrument versus the ownership status it adds up to
The document
- Answers: what instrument transferred ownership, to whom, and how.
- Returns: grantor, grantee, deed type, recording data, legal description, consideration.
- Best for: lost deeds, exhibits, boundary descriptions, verifying vesting names.
The status
- Answers: who owns it and what claims attach right now.
- Returns: vesting plus mortgages, liens, judgments, and tax status, cited.
- Best for: purchases, closings, refinances, and disputes, at the title search hub.
County Deed Copy Guides
Dedicated retrieval guides for the busiest recording jurisdictions, expanding continuously
Deed Copies by County
The copy of deed hub covers the retrieval process end to end, with county guides for Harris County, TX, Dallas County, TX, Tarrant County, TX, Bexar County, TX, Travis County, TX, Collin County, TX, Denton County, TX, El Paso County, TX, Fort Bend County, TX, Galveston County, TX, Hidalgo County, TX, Montgomery County, TX, Williamson County, TX, Brazoria County, TX, Miami-Dade County, FL, Los Angeles County, CA, Cook County, IL, Maricopa County, AZ. Every other county in the country orders identically: address in, recorded deed out, $45 flat.
Deed Names Change at State Lines
Deed forms change by state:
- Grant deeds in California.
- Security deeds in Georgia.
- Warranty deeds through most of the country.
- Town-recorded instruments across New England.
- Registered-land certificates on Torrens property.
The property records by state directory carries each state’s recording office and deed conventions. Pricing never changes.
Schedule of Fees
Deed searches sit on the same flat schedule, the same in every U.S. county
| Report | Fee | What It Includes |
|---|---|---|
| Property Detail Report | $29 | Current owner, parcel, how title is held, values, tax status, most recent sale. |
| Deed Copy | $45 | The recorded vesting deed retrieved from the county’s official records, delivered as a PDF. |
| Title Search by Name | $95 | Every property tied to a person or entity, with statewide or nationwide options at checkout. |
| Property Lien Report | $95 | Recorded liens against the property: deeds of trust or mortgages, releases, tax and mechanics liens. |
| Full Owner Lien Report | $195 | The recommended due-diligence search: property and owner, judgments, tax, UCC, bankruptcy. |
| Chain of Title | $375 | Every recorded conveyance in order, from the earliest available record to the current vesting. |
| Expanded Title Search | $385 | The most comprehensive examination and preliminary title report scope. |
One flat fee per property, no account, no subscription. Delivered as a PDF by email. See the full schedule of fees.
How a Deed Search Works
From address to recorded instrument, seven days a week
Enter the Property Address
Provide the address or assessor parcel number at the order portal; no county account, login, or in-person visit is required anywhere in the country.
Choose Copy or Report
The $45 Deed Copy delivers the recorded instrument itself; the $29 Property Detail Report delivers the deed data with ownership, mortgage, and tax detail; the $375 Chain of Title delivers every vesting deed in the history.
An Abstractor Locates and Verifies
The deed is pulled from the correct county office and verified as the current vesting deed, not simply the newest scan a database happens to hold.
PDF by Email, Flat Fee
The document arrives by email regardless of page count, with recording stamps visible, typically same day for copy and detail orders placed before 8 PM Pacific.
Deed Search Questions
Fast answers from the recorded instrument
What is the fastest house deed lookup?
The $29 Property Detail Report: grantee names, deed type, recording date, and consideration from the current vesting deed, typically same day by email.
Can I find the deed to my house without the original?
Yes: the recorded copy is the legal record. The $45 Deed Copy delivers it with stamps visible, replacing a lost original for every practical purpose.
Need every deed in the property’s history?
The Chain of Title Report ($375) assembles all vesting deeds chronologically with recording references, the deed history answer for court and estate work.
Deed Search FAQ
How do I get a copy of my deed?
Order a Deed Copy ($45) with the property address. A professional abstractor locates the recorded deed at the county office and verifies it is the current vesting deed. You receive a PDF scan of the actual document, with all signatures, notarizations, and recording stamps. The $45 is flat regardless of page count, while county recorder offices typically charge per page plus search fees and often require in-person visits or mailed requests.
I lost my deed. Do I still own my house?
Yes. Ownership is established by the recorded deed at the county, not by the paper in your drawer, and the recorded copy is the legal record. A $45 Deed Copy replaces the lost original for every practical purpose: sales, refinances, estate files, and court filings all run on the recorded instrument, and losing the physical paper changes nothing about title.
What is the difference between a deed and a title?
The deed is the document; title is the legal ownership status the documents add up to. A deed search retrieves the instrument that transferred ownership; a title search examines the whole record, deeds plus mortgages, liens, and judgments, to establish who owns the property and what claims attach. You can hold a deed and still have a title problem, which is why the two searches exist separately.
How do I find out whose name is on a deed?
The $29 Property Detail Report answers it from the recorded vesting deed: the grantee names exactly as vested, the deed type, the recording date, and the consideration paid, alongside current ownership and mortgage data. For the document itself, add the $45 copy, and for the person-first direction see find property owner.
Are property deeds public record?
Yes, in every state. Recorded deeds are public documents, open to inspection at the county recording office. Anyone can order a deed search on any property, including one they do not own. Buyers verify a seller, neighbors check a boundary description, attorneys assemble exhibits, and heirs document an estate. The owner is never notified.
What types of deeds will a search find?
Whatever the record holds. General and special warranty deeds, and quitclaim deeds. Grant deeds in California and security deeds in Georgia. Trustee’s and sheriff’s deeds from foreclosure sales, plus tax deeds. Personal representative deeds from estates, and transfer-on-death instruments where states allow them. The report identifies the deed type because the type controls what the grantor actually promised.
Is a deed of trust the same as a deed?
No, and the names confuse everyone: a deed transfers ownership, while a deed of trust secures a loan against the property, the West Coast cousin of a mortgage. A deed search retrieves the vesting deed; the loan instruments and their releases show up in the lien search layer, and the legal definitions are summarized at Cornell’s legal encyclopedia.
Do I get a new deed when I pay off my mortgage?
No. The deed never changed hands during the loan; what records at payoff is a release or reconveyance clearing the security instrument. If the release never recorded, the loan still clouds title years later, one of the most common defects a title search catches, and the cure starts with the documents.
How far back can deed records go?
To the earliest county record, including instruments digitized from microfilm and book eras. The Chain of Title Report ($375) assembles every vesting deed in order, standard 30 years and extendable, with recording references on each, which is the deed history answer for quiet title, probate, and boundary work.
Deed Forms and Record Systems Change at the State Line
Why the same order behaves differently by jurisdiction
The instrument itself has regional dialects. California conveys by grant deed with implied covenants, Georgia secures loans with security deeds that read like conveyances, Texas and most of the country use warranty forms, and town clerks in Connecticut and Vermont record what counties record elsewhere. The report names the instrument type because the type controls what the grantor actually promised.
Registered land replaces the deed chain. On Torrens property in Minnesota, Hawaii, and parts of Massachusetts, a certificate of title issued by the registrar governs ownership, so a deed retrieval there produces different evidence than in a recording county. Knowing which system applies before ordering is part of the abstractor’s job.
Index gaps are the silent failure. A wild deed recorded outside the grantor-grantee sequence hides a real transfer from a name-only search. So does an owner indexed under three name spellings. Older instruments frequently sit on microfilm and microfiche rather than in any digitized index. Both are handled by retrieval at the counter, cited by recording reference, under a refund guarantee standing since 2009.
Search Property Deeds Now
Locate and retrieve the recorded deed for any property in all 50 states: deed data from $29, the recorded document for $45 flat regardless of page count, and the complete deed history for $375. Verified by professional abstractors, delivered by email, no login, no subscription.