Professionals in the mortgage, real estate, insurance, and finance industries often rely on large, primary-source datasets to evaluate homes, perform due diligence, manage risk, engage customers, and more. One of the most readily available primary-source datasets is public records property data — official legal information that is available to the public. The property data found within public records is used by lenders, insurers, analysts, servicers, and others to meet strategic business objectives.
It would take years to manually access enough records to collect a meaningful amount of data. Fortunately, Data as a Service providers now offer ready-to-use property data at scale with standardized values.
However, selecting a public records provider that meets your exact needs isn’t easy. With many vendors offering similar-sounding solutions, it can be challenging to identify a provider that best aligns with your business goals, infrastructure, and data strategy. In this post, we’ll discuss six things to consider when selecting a public records provider.
Choosing the right public records property data provider
Finding the right public records provider is about selecting a partner who can deliver accurate, timely, and scalable data that supports your business goals.
“Before we can even begin to leverage AI-made possible advances in real estate analytics — we need more data,” said David Bluhm, Managing Director at Agnitio Capital NA, in the GEM Crystal Newsletter. “The real estate industry is just starting to see the promise, the value and the benefits of a more data-driven approach to valuing, predicting, investing in, and owning real estate — and many react from fear and a perspective of being threatened. In 2025, we’ll see a higher value placed on the unique datasets that drive expanded context and deeper understanding.”
When selecting a provider, consider data accuracy, coverage, update frequency, scalability and integration, customer support, and cost. Ask your property data provider about the following factors to ensure that both the vendor and their dataset can meet your needs:
1. Data accuracy
Precise property data fuels decision-making. Accurate, high-density property data is essential for powering downstream models, analytics, underwriting, risk assessment, and other business decisions.
It’s crucial to select a property data provider that ensures the information being delivered is comprehensive and accurate. Start by asking how the data is sourced: Is it collected directly from authoritative sources like county assessor and recorder offices? Is it verified or cleaned before delivery? Data that’s pulled, processed, and standardized directly from official sources typically offers higher accuracy and traceability than datasets aggregated from multiple third parties.
How a data provider delivers information on missing property details is also important to consider. For example, if a property is missing key details, such as the number of bathrooms, it’s possible that the dataset will communicate that the property has zero bathrooms, which is usually not true. Some datasets deliver these zeros as null values, indicating that the data is missing instead of delivering inaccurate information. Inaccurate or outdated data can lead to poor decision-making, compliance risks, or even legal issues.
Transparency is a key component of data accuracy. Ensure your provider clearly flags modified, inferred, or derived fields, and they maintain consistent standards for how data is structured and delivered. Choose a provider who prioritizes data fidelity, transparent data sourcing, and integrity.
2. Data coverage, completeness, and historical depth
When selecting a property data provider, ensure that the provider offers accurate, reliable coverage of most properties throughout the United States. Some providers claim to cover 99% of U.S. properties, but broad geographic coverage is only part of the story. Evaluate a provider’s field density, which describes how consistently each data field is populated across records. A dataset with 300 available fields doesn’t add value if only a fraction is consistently filled.
Consider the historical depth of the dataset. Some providers only offer property data records that date back a few years, while others offer 20 or more years of records. Long-term history is essential for modeling trends, assessing risk, and understanding how a property or market has changed over time.
It may also be prudent to select a provider that offers configurable access to the data, such as the ability to purchase only specific geographies or data types. This flexibility can reduce costs and ensure you’re only paying for what you actually need.
3. Update frequency that scales
Real estate decisions are made every day in the U.S. — from ownership transfers to new liens and assessments. An influx of ever-changing property data impacts the information found in public records. To ensure the data you’re using is as updated and accurate as possible, it’s important to select a public records provider that updates its property data frequently and that your provider’s update cadence aligns with your current use case and supports future scalability.
Some property data providers may only update data once per week, while others update every day. Certain providers may also offer configurable updates, meaning you can select between daily, weekly, monthly, or other update schedules. Selecting a provider with flexible delivery options can help avoid costly provider transitions later. Opt for a provider with a reliable update schedule and the ability to scale its update frequency as your needs evolve.
4. Scalability and integration
As your business expands, it’s critical that your data capabilities can scale to meet your needs. Choosing a property data provider that can scale nationally can alleviate stresses associated with a growing business or customer base. Does your provider offer national coverage, flexible file formats, and systems built for efficient integration? Look for providers who can seamlessly integrate into your existing tech stack with minimal engineering efforts.
Scalability is also about how well property records are linked. A provider that offers a common property identifier across datasets can reduce data loss and offer a more comprehensive view of a property.
Lastly, consider whether or not the provider has additional datasets available, such as automated valuation models, market analytics, other derived insights, or home price indexes that can be bundled and licensed together. Using a property data provider that can offer multiple datasets simplifies your workflow by removing the need to coordinate with different vendors.
5. Customer support and data partnership
Even the best datasets raise questions, especially when they’re powering high-stakes decisions. That’s why strong customer support should be a key factor when selecting a public records provider.
The data provider you select should feel more like a data partner — not only responding to issues, but proactively ensuring that your team uses the data to its fullest capacity. The right provider will guide implementation, answer technical questions, and ensure your team is fully equipped to turn raw data into real business value.
Ask your provider about their customer service and support process to verify that you’ll be able to receive the assistance you need exactly when you need it, whether by phone or email. A provider that prioritizes long-term success will stand out in what they deliver and how they offer support at every stage of your business journey.
6. Evaluating cost in context
The final consideration we’ll discuss is cost. When it comes to property data, the cheapest provider isn’t always the best value. Lower-cost options may come with tradeoffs in data accuracy, coverage, update frequency, integration flexibility, or support — all of which can impact your long-term bottom line.
Instead of comparing price tags, evaluate what you’re getting for the cost. Does the provider offer configurable delivery options, bundled datasets, or flexible subscription models? More importantly, are they helping you unlock value through data you can trust, streamlined workflows, and insights you can act on?
The most cost-effective solution is one that meets your needs today and scales with you tomorrow. Prioritize overall value, not just the lowest price.
Clear Capital’s public records solutions
Clear Capital’s Tax Assessment Data and Recorder Deed Data public records offerings are designed for businesses that rely on comprehensive property data — lenders, servicers, insurers, investors, analytics teams, and more. Our Data as a Service solutions offer bulk access to critical property information that supports confident decision-making, risk mitigation, and operational efficiency.
- Covering 380 data fields and 99% of U.S. homes
- 20+ years of historical data
- Improved data quality with ready-to-use values
- Flexible delivery and subscription models
- A dedicated support team to help you leverage public records to their full potential
Our team would love to chat about how our public records can help you achieve your business goals. Download our ebook, Unlocking the Power of Public Records Property Data, to learn more.
