The free route: county property records
Every US county keeps a record of who owns each parcel, because someone has to receive the tax bill. That record usually lives with the assessor, the property appraiser or the treasurer, depending on the state. It is public, and in most places you can read it online at no cost. Three ways to use it:
- Search one address at a time. The assessor's search page shows the owner's name and usually a mailing address for tax bills. This answers "who owns this house?" well, but building a list for a whole ZIP code this way can take days.
- Use the county parcel map. Many counties run a GIS viewer where you can draw a box or pick a neighborhood. Some let you download the selected parcels as a table; many do not.
- Ask for the bulk file. Some counties post the full tax roll for download. Others sell it, or provide it through a public records request. Formats, fees and wait times differ from one county to the next.
The catch is not price but labor. ZIP codes cross county lines, so one ZIP can mean two downloads in two layouts. Column names change between counties. And a county file gives you names and addresses only. Phone numbers are not part of the property record, so you still need a separate skip trace before you can call anyone. If you only need one owner, read how to find a property owner by address instead.
How Find homeowners works in Locate Next
- Pick the area. Enter a ZIP code, a city or a county.
- Read the results. Each home shows the owner of record, the property address, the separate mailing address, and year built and value when the county has them.
- Save it as a list. The list stays in your workspace, so you can come back to it later.
- Skip trace the list. Run the saved list through skip tracing to look for phone numbers and emails. You see the most it can cost before anything runs: $0.17 per search with results, and no results, no charge.
- Export. Download a Contacts CSV, your sheet plus contacts, Phone 1 to 10 fields, or numbered phones with DNC. See CRM export for the layouts.
The data comes from parcel records. A name in the owner field is the owner of record as the county lists it. It can be out of date after a recent sale, and phones from a skip trace are leads to check, not proof of identity. What a skip trace match proves explains the difference.
What each record holds
| Field | Source | Note |
|---|---|---|
| Owner of record | Parcel record | The name on the county tax record, shown as the county writes it. |
| Property address | Parcel record | The home itself. |
| Owner mailing address | Parcel record | Kept apart from the property address, never merged into it. |
| Year built | Parcel record | Only when the county record has it. Otherwise blank. |
| Value | Parcel record | Only when the county record has it. Otherwise blank. |
| Phones and emails | Skip tracing, after you save the list | Not part of the property record. |
Why the mailing address matters: when it matches the property address, the owner probably lives in the home. When it points somewhere else, you may be looking at a landlord or an owner who moved away. Postcards sent to the house will not reach that person. The absentee owner list guide walks through that comparison.
Limits and price
Each account can pull up to 5,000 owners per ZIP per day. For a dense ZIP, finish the pull over two or more days, or narrow it to a city or county. Locate Next costs $49 a month. Skip tracing the saved list is $0.17 per search with results, paid from a prepaid balance. No results, no charge. Get started at $49 a month.
Do Not Call checks happen at the Export step and are recorded number by number. Where no current answer exists, the number is marked Not checked rather than clear, and a Not listed answer does not mean anyone agreed to be called. The check compares phone numbers with the dataset currently active on this site. It does not promise a live connection to government records, identify the owner of a number, or establish consent to contact someone. DNC checks are included at no extra charge.
Other ways to get a homeowner list
Several list tools do this job with more filters than a plain area search. Competitor figures below were read on each vendor's own pages on November 5, 2026; each name links to its pricing page, and the Sources list has the rest.
| Option | Entry price | How you build the list | Phones |
|---|---|---|---|
| County records | Free to read online; bulk files vary by county | Address search, parcel map or roll file | Not included |
| Locate Next | $49 a month | ZIP code, city or county search, up to 5,000 owners per ZIP per day | Skip trace the list at $0.17 per search with results |
| PropStream | Essentials $99 a month, or $81 a month billed annually | 165+ filters across 160M+ properties, and 20 ready-made lead lists | 12 cents a contact on Essentials; free on Pro ($199 a month) and Elite |
| PropertyRadar | Solo $119 a month, or $99 a month billed annually | 300+ criteria cited on the pricing page; 10,000 exports a month on Solo | 250 phones and emails a month on Solo, then 8 cents a contact |
| DealMachine | Basic $119 per seat a month with 10,000 data credits | Nationwide property and owner data, unlimited lists, a driving for dollars app | One data credit per unique person; no per-trace dollar price published |
Where each one fits, by job:
- If you want lists cut by distress signals such as pre-foreclosure or tax liens, PropStream fits: it has ready-made lead lists and far more filters than an area search. See PropStream alternatives.
- If you prospect every month and want monitoring, mail and a dialer inside one subscription, PropertyRadar fits. Its contacts come pre-matched within monthly allowances. See Locate Next and PropertyRadar.
- If your team drives neighborhoods and sends postcards, DealMachine fits, with its driving app and per-piece mail pricing.
- If you need the owners in a ZIP code, city or county, then phones for that list in the same workspace, Locate Next fits.
- If you only need a few owners and have time, the county records cost nothing.
Ask for the list inside Claude or ChatGPT
You can connect Locate to Claude, ChatGPT, Claude Code, Codex or Cursor through its MCP server at https://app.locatenext.com/mcp, signing in with your Locate account. Then ask in plain words, for example "homeowners in 44104" or "what would it cost to skip trace this list". Searches that cost money run only after you say yes, and Locate does the work on its own servers. Other vendors offer AI connections too: DealMachine documents an MCP server, and PropertyRadar's API page describes one. Skip tracing in Claude or ChatGPT has the setup.
Who uses a homeowner list
Home service trades and investors use area lists for different reasons. A roofer or window company may want homes of a certain age in the neighborhoods it already serves; year built, where the county records it, helps there. Solar crews often look at single homes where the owner lives on site, which is where the mailing address check earns its keep. Investors tend to look the other way, for owners who live elsewhere. See skip tracing for roofers, skip tracing for solar companies and skip tracing for real estate investors.
One practical note for any trade: if you open a CSV in Excel, ZIP codes that begin with zero, common in New England and New Jersey, can lose that zero. Import the ZIP column as Text, or open the file in Google Sheets, before you send it to a mail house.
Common questions
How do I get a list of homeowners in a ZIP code?
For free, use the county assessor or property appraiser: search owners one address at a time, select parcels on the county map, or request the bulk tax roll. With software, search the ZIP code and save the results. In Locate Next you get the owner of record, property address and separate mailing address, and each account can pull up to 5,000 owners per ZIP per day.
How do I find a homeowner's name by address?
Search the address on the county assessor's or property appraiser's website. The owner of record is listed with the parcel. In Locate Next, search the ZIP code, city or county that contains the home to see the owner of record from parcel records.
Are homeowner lists public record?
In general, yes. Owner names and parcel addresses sit on the county tax roll, which is public record. Phone numbers and emails are not part of that record; they come from a skip trace.
Does the homeowner list include phone numbers?
No. The list holds names and addresses from parcel records. Skip trace the saved list to look for phones and emails, at $0.17 per search with results. No results, no charge.
Is there a limit on how many homeowners I can pull?
Yes. Each account can pull up to 5,000 owners per ZIP per day. For a bigger area, split the search by city or county, or continue the next day.
Are phone numbers on the list checked against Do Not Call?
Checks run when you export, and a number with no current answer stays Not checked. The check compares phone numbers with the dataset currently active on this site. It does not promise a live connection to government records, identify the owner of a number, or establish consent to contact someone. DNC checks are included at no extra charge.
Sources
- PropStream, pricing page. Essentials price and annual rate, the per-contact skip tracing add-on on Essentials, the Pro price, and free skip tracing on Pro and Elite. Read November 5, 2026.
- PropStream, homepage. 165+ filters across 160M+ properties and 20 ready-made lead lists. Read November 5, 2026.
- PropertyRadar, pricing page. Solo price and annual rate, 10,000 monthly exports, 250 monthly phones and emails, the per-contact overage and the 300+ criteria figure. Read November 5, 2026.
- PropertyRadar, API page. The MCP server description. Read November 5, 2026.
- DealMachine, pricing page. Basic plan price and data credits, nationwide property and owner data, the driving for dollars app and per-piece postcards. Read November 5, 2026.
- DealMachine, data credits guide. One credit per unique person or record. Read November 5, 2026.
- DealMachine, lists and exports. Unlimited lists. Read November 5, 2026.
- DealMachine, MCP server guide. The MCP server. Read November 5, 2026.
- Locate Next, pricing page. Monthly fee, per-search charge and minimum top-up. Read November 5, 2026.
Prices and plan terms on vendor sites change often, so confirm them on the vendor's site before paying. County formats and fees vary. Nothing here is legal advice.