Property and owner data, one property at a time
A SCOUTRE property record holds 30 fields on a single parcel: owner name, owner mailing address, owner occupancy, estimated value, estimated equity, estimated mortgage balance, lender, lien position, loan and sale history, beds, baths, square footage, lot size, year built, zoning, land use, MLS status, rental information, Street View and nearby comparable sales. SCOUTRE covers 160 million US properties at roughly 95% coverage. Coverage varies by county.
The page below names every field, says where each one comes from, and states what the record does not include. One thing shapes all of it: there is no market-wide property search here. You open one property at a time, standing in front of it or typing its address, and the record tells you whether that owner is a motivated seller.
What is property and owner data?
Property and owner data is the combined public and commercial record for a single parcel: who owns it, whether they live there, what it is worth, what is owed against it, and what has happened to it. SCOUTRE assembles that record for 160 million US properties from county records. Coverage varies by county.
Property and owner data are usually sold apart: the assessor has the parcel, the recorder has the deeds and loans, a trace vendor has the phone number. One record puts all three against the same address.
Can you search 160 million properties by criteria?
No. There is no way to query the database for every preforeclosure in a city or every absentee owner in a ZIP code. You add properties one at a time, captured while driving, found by typing any US address, or worked from a list you already have. The 30+ filters then work on your saved leads.
SCOUTRE has no market-wide property search. The property is the unit, not the list: Property in Front and nationwide property search each add one property, and the record is then worked properly instead of skimmed.
If your strategy is to pull five thousand absentee owners in three ZIP codes and mail all of them, this is the wrong tool. Better to know that here than after signing up.
Where does the data in a property record come from?
County records are the origin of most of it. SCOUTRE licenses assessor and recorder data, processes it daily as counties publish, and matches a parcel to the property you opened. MLS status comes from participating boards only. Phone numbers and emails are not stored: they are traced when you ask. Coverage varies by county.
You open the property
Stand in front of the house and GPS identifies the exact parcel, or type any US address. No county to pick, no parcel number to find.
The parcel matches the county record
Ownership, deeds, mortgages, taxes, assessments and building characteristics are pulled against that parcel from licensed assessor and recorder data.
Derived figures are calculated
Estimated value, equity, equity percentage and mortgage balance are derived from recorded loan history and assessed values.
Signals and contacts are added
16 signals are flagged from the same record, and a skip trace runs against live sources the moment you request it. Hit rates vary by property and county.
All 30 fields on one property record
Thirty fields come back on a property record before you add anything of your own. Ownership, value, mortgage, transaction and building data sit on one screen, alongside 16 signals and nearby comparable sales. The same field set returns whether you stood at the house or typed the address. Availability varies by property, county and source.
- Owner name
- Owner mailing address
- Owner occupancy
- Estimated value
- Estimated equity
- Estimated equity percentage
- Estimated mortgage balance
- Lender
- Lien position
- Loan type
- Original loan amount
- Loan term
- Maturity date
- Loan history
- Sale history
- Last sale price
- Last sale date
- Down payment at last sale
- Deeds
- Taxes
- Assessments
- Beds
- Baths
- Square footage
- Lot size
- Year built
- Zoning
- Land use
- MLS status
- Rental information
Who owns the property, and do they live there?
Three fields answer that: owner name, owner mailing address and owner occupancy. Where the mailing address differs from the property address, the owner does not live there, and your letter needs the mailing address. SCOUTRE shows both separately on every record. Where the county records a trust or an LLC, that entity name is what returns.
An entity name is a starting point, not a dead end: the deed names the grantee, the mailing address is where notices land, and a state registry usually names an officer. See who owns this property.
How do you get the owner's phone number and email?
Skip tracing turns an owner name and mailing address into working contact paths. Traces run at the moment you request them against 150M+ US residential records in the skip-trace source, a different dataset from the 160 million US properties. A trace returns multiple phone numbers classified wireless or landline, multiple email addresses and a mailing address per owner. Hit rates vary by property and county.
Contact data is the one part of the record that is not public. The provider reports a 70–95% match range; input quality matters, and hit rates vary by property and county. See real estate skip tracing.
SCOUTRE surfaces screening indicators — Federal DNC, State DNC, DMA suppression and known-litigator flags. You are the caller of record and you are responsible for your own compliance. This is not legal advice. Property and owner records are also not consumer reports: do not use them for tenant screening, employment, credit or insurance decisions, which are governed by the Fair Credit Reporting Act.
Four fields that show the money position
Four fields carry the money position: estimated value, estimated equity, estimated equity percentage and estimated mortgage balance. Equity and mortgage figures are estimates derived from recorded loan history and assessed values. They are not statements of account balance. SCOUTRE puts all four on the record, so you see whether there is room to buy.
Seven fields off the recorded loan documents
Seven fields come off the recorded loan documents: lender, lien position, loan type, original amount, loan term, maturity date and the full loan history. Lien position tells you whether a loan sits first or second, which decides who gets paid and in what order. Estimated mortgage balance is derived from that history, not from the servicer.
Loan history is the part most people skip and the part that pays. Three refinances in six years is a different owner from a single purchase loan in 1998.
Sale price, deeds, taxes and the gap since the last transfer
Sale history, last sale price and date, down payment at last sale, deeds, taxes and assessments make up the transaction side. A long gap since the last sale with a small remaining loan usually means equity. A recent transfer at an odd price often means an inheritance or an investor. SCOUTRE returns the recorded documents behind those events.
Two honest gaps. In non-disclosure states the sale price is not public record, so it can be missing. And recording lags: a deed may not publish for a week.
Beds, baths, square footage and five more building fields
Eight fields describe the building and the land as the county has it on file: beds, baths, square footage, lot size, year built, zoning, land use and rental information. Square footage drives price per square foot, which drives comps, which drives after repair value.
Assessor descriptions are only as current as the last assessment. A finished basement or converted garage may never have been permitted. Field photos close that gap.
Nearby sold comps you can include, exclude or add to
Nearby sold comparables come back with the property, and inside deal analysis you can include, exclude or add to them, with price per square foot, an adjustable after repair value and a confidence score. Comps are sold properties near the subject, not active listings. The after repair value is yours to set.
Comps hit the same county limits as everything else: rural parcels, odd lot shapes and one-of-a-kind houses produce a thin comp set, and a thin set produces a wide range. SCOUTRE for wholesalers shows where the number lands in an offer.
All 16 distress signals, on the same screen as the owner
SCOUTRE flags 16 distress and opportunity signals on a property record. Signals are derived from county records and MLS data, so you are not reading deeds yourself, and they sit on the same screen as the owner and the equity figures. Signal availability varies by property, county and source.
- Preforeclosure
- Probate or inherited
- Tax lien
- Other liens
- Absentee owner
- Out-of-state owner
- Vacant
- High equity
- Free and clear
- Auction
- Bank owned
- Long-term owner
- Recent transfer
- No homestead exemption
- Low down payment at last sale
- MLS activity
What each one means, where it comes from and how to approach an owner carrying it is covered on the 16 distress signals.
Where motivation shows up on the record
Four parts of a property record point toward a motivated seller: the 16 distress signals, the equity position, the gap between the owner mailing address and the property address, and the length of ownership. All four sit on one screen for any property you open, whether you stood in front of it or typed the address. Signals describe circumstance, not intent, and availability varies by property, county and source.
Parcel match, Street View and the map your leads sit on
Location data on a property record includes the parcel match itself, the property address, lot size, Street View imagery and the map view your saved properties sit on. Standing at the curb, GPS identifies the exact parcel with no address typed, and the capture stores location, date and time. Parcel boundary files and mapping exports are not part of the product.
Address entry breaks on a corner lot and a house with no visible number; a GPS match does not, as Property in Front explains.
Your photos, notes and distress rating on the same record
Field documentation attaches to the same record: a distress rating from 1 to 5, property photos, voice notes, written notes, visit outcomes, GPS location, and capture date and time. A data provider cannot see peeling paint. You can. In SCOUTRE, results attach to your account's lead. They are not compiled into lists sold to other subscribers.
Tag what you see: peeling paint, overgrown lawn, cluttered driveway, damaged roof, boarded windows, accumulated mail, code notices, vacancy signs. Tag what happened: left sticky note, talked to neighbor, looks vacant.
How do you know the data is current?
Records are, which is not the same as real time. A county that records a deed on Monday might publish it on Friday. On contact data the app shows a Recent Data badge and a TRACED state, so you can see what you are working with. Coverage varies by county.
Freshness is worth being blunt about. A number from a list assembled months ago and resold across subscribers is stale before you dial it.
Can you get property owner data for free?
Yes, one property at a time. Every US county publishes ownership through its assessor, property appraiser, tax commissioner or board of assessors, and deeds through its recorder, register of deeds or county clerk. Most offer a free online search. The record is free, public and accurate to that county, but it stops at the name.
Start with the assessor for the parcel, the assessed value and the owner of record, then the recorder for deeds, mortgages and liens. Philadelphia publishes both at property.phila.gov; Cook County publishes assessments at cookcountyassessor.com. Budget $0 to a few dollars per document and twenty minutes per property.
If you need one owner name once, you do not need software. Look it up free. The eight routes are set out in how to find out who owns a property.
What is not in a property record?
Several things a data page would rather not mention. There is no CSV import and no export today, and each account is a single user. There is no API. Coverage varies by county. Some counties publish more, and more often, than others.
Field-level gaps, stated plainly: no roof age or condition, no permit history, no storm data, no utility or energy usage, no solar suitability, no rent roll, net operating income, cap rate or tenant data, and no owner demographics such as age, income or household composition. Deeds and lien signals are not a title search, and no foreclosure auction calendar is published here.
Those absences are why the record stays credible on everything it does carry. More limits are answered in the SCOUTRE FAQ.
From the record to a mailed offer, without leaving the property
The record is the start of a sequence that never leaves the property. Save it, and the 16 signals, the trace, your photos and your notes attach to the same lead. Deal analysis runs from those comps through repairs, motivation, strategy and offer to a true maximum allowable offer. A postcard then goes out carrying the photo of that house.
Six steps, one property: ARV, Repairs, Motivation, Strategy, Offer, Deal Summary. Mail is covered under direct mail postcards and letters, the whole loop in what SCOUTRE does.
How does this compare with pulling the record yourself?
Three routes exist for a single property. County sites are free and authoritative but split across two or three offices and stop before contact data. A title officer is fast and free until you ask too often. One record here returns 30 fields plus 16 signals in one place. Coverage varies by county.
| Route | Cost | Time per property | What it returns | Where it stops |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| County assessor and recorder | $0 to a few dollars | 15–30 minutes | Owner of record, parcel, assessed value, deeds | No contact data, one county at a time |
| Ask a title officer | $0, on goodwill | Hours to days | Ownership and encumbrances | Not repeatable |
| One SCOUTRE record | $79/month, unmetered | Seconds | 30 fields, 16 signals, comps, contacts | No market-wide search, no export |
What does property and owner data cost?
SCOUTRE costs $79 a month on one plan, after a 3-day free trial. Leads, captures, skip traces, re-traces, photos, voice notes and follow-ups are unlimited, so the cost per record never decides whether you look a property up. The only pay-per-use item is physical mail: postcards from $0.50 and handwritten letters from $0.83, print and postage included.
Mail is charged on approval, with address verification and a printed proof shown first. Every new user's first postcard is designed, printed and mailed free, including its QR cash-offer page. Full breakdown on SCOUTRE pricing.
Frequently asked questions
How many fields are in a property record?
Thirty fields return on a property record, listed in full above, covering ownership, value and equity estimates, mortgage detail, sale and deed history, building characteristics and MLS status. Sixteen distress signals, Street View imagery and nearby comparable sales sit alongside them. Availability varies by property, county and source.
Are the equity and mortgage figures accurate?
Equity and mortgage figures are estimates derived from recorded loan history and assessed values. They are not statements of account balance. SCOUTRE calculates them from documents the county has published, so a loan paid down without a new recording will move the real number away from the estimate.
Does a property record include the owner's phone number?
Phone numbers are not stored on the property record. They come from a skip trace run against live sources when you request it, returning multiple numbers classified wireless or landline, multiple emails and a mailing address per owner. Hit rates vary by property and county.
Can you export a property record?
There is no CSV import and no export today, and each account is a single user, with no teams, no seats and no shared pipelines. Deal analysis does generate a PDF report for one property, covering the owner, comps, after repair value, repairs, motivation, exit strategy, offers and a verdict.
Which property data points to a motivated seller?
Distress signals first: preforeclosure, probate, a tax lien, vacancy. Then the money position, because high equity or a free and clear house means a sale can actually close. Then absentee ownership and a long tenure. SCOUTRE returns all 16 signals on the same record, one property at a time. Availability varies by property, county and source.
Is property owner data public record?
Property ownership in the United States is public record, published by county assessors, recorders and clerks, and free to search one property at a time. Contact information is different: phone numbers and email addresses come from licensed commercial sources, not from the county, and they are never published free on this site.
Open one property and see the whole record
3 days free, then $79 per month. 30 record fields, 16 distress signals and unmetered skip tracing on every property you save. Cancel anytime.
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