How to find a property owner by address

1. Look the address up at the property appraiser

In Broward that's the Broward County Property Appraiser, BCPA. Its property search takes an owner's last name, an address, a subdivision or a property ID. Its map search asks for the street number and street name, and tells you to leave out the street direction, so search "212 Sample" rather than "212 N Sample".

Open the parcel and copy four things exactly as shown: the parcel ID, the owner line, the site address and the mailing address. The parcel ID is the key you'll use in the other office, so give it its own column and keep any leading zeros.

If the address brings back more than one parcel, as condos, units and split lots often do, choose by unit number or parcel ID. Don't take the first result.

Treat what you've copied as a starting record. BCPA is the source of the tax roll, and a tax-roll entry isn't a deed, a title search or a current contact address. Its FAQ also explains that the city in a mailing address follows Postal Service naming, which can differ from the city the property sits in. A city that doesn't match isn't a sign of the wrong parcel, and one that does match isn't proof of the right person.

2. Read the owner line before you trust it

The owner line is a short display field, not the full ownership. BCPA's FAQ says a listing that ends in ETAL may leave other owners out because of space. "EXAMPLE-REYES, DANA ETAL" tells you there's at least one more owner the line doesn't show.

Three other patterns change what you do next: a company name, the word trust or trustee, and an owner who has died. Each has its own branch in step 5. Whatever the line says, it names the owner of record, not whoever lives there. Tenants, relatives and property managers can all be at the address without owning it.

3. Confirm the owner on the recorded deed

Deeds aren't kept by the property appraiser. Broward's Records, Taxes and Treasury Division is the county's repository for official records, and the Clerk of Courts' records page sends people there for deeds and mortgages and to BCPA for property information. Two offices, two jobs.

The official records search lets you look up by party name, parcel ID, instrument number, book and page, case number or document type. Try the parcel ID first, then the owner's name with spelling variants. The site's own disclaimer warns that records can contain errors and suggests searching variations.

Then open the deed itself. A name in a results list isn't a conclusion about who owns the property. On the document, check:

• Grantee. Who received the property. If the tax roll said ETAL, this is usually where you'll find the other names, as of that deed.
• Grantor. Who conveyed it. If you know the previous owner, the names should line up.
• Instrument number and recording date. So the next person on your team can open the same document.
• Parcel ID or legal description. It has to match the parcel you started from.

Then check the parcel for anything recorded after that deed. A later conveyance changes who owns it now, and a deed only tells you who received the property on its date. If the deed is newer than what the tax roll shows, or names someone the tax roll doesn't, write both down and treat the recorded deed as the stronger evidence of who received the property. If you can't tell which document is current, stop. That's title work, and no contact search will settle it.

4. Keep three addresses apart

Mixing these up is how a letter or a call ends up with the wrong person. Two of them come off the county record, and each was kept there for its own purpose. The third is the one you actually need for outreach, and it has to be found and checked separately.

Keep each in its own column, with the parcel ID beside it, and don't let one overwrite another when you clean the list. A mailing address can still be the right one. If it matches the property, or a recent deed, that's useful evidence, but it doesn't make every person at the address the owner.

5. When the owner is a company, a trust, ETAL or an estate

An LLC or other company

Copy the company name exactly as the deed spells it, not the shortened tax-roll version, and look it up in the state's business registry. A company with the same name in another state, or a dissolved one with a similar name, isn't a match until a filing number, address or history ties it to this deed. The registered agent is the company's contact for legal papers. That role alone doesn't make someone an owner, though the same person can also be listed as a manager or member, so read every role on the filing. Our Florida LLC walkthrough covers that record step by step.

A trust

Read the whole deed. It may name a trustee as well as the trust. Who can act for the trust depends on the trust document, which may not be in the public record, so treat the trustee's name as a lead rather than as the owner.

ETAL

Take every grantee from the deed, then check for later deeds that move any of their shares. Co-owners can live at different addresses, so keep each as a separate row with the same parcel ID rather than picking one name and dropping the rest.

An owner who has died

An obituary is a clue, not proof of who inherits. In Florida, an estate is opened in the county where the owner was domiciled, or, for an owner with no Florida domicile, in a county where their property is. Our former-owner guide walks through the estate records and what they can and can't tell you.

6. Stop before you trace anyone if

• The address returns more than one parcel and you can't tell which unit or lot you need.
• The name is common and nothing ties your candidate to the deed or the mailing address.
• The tax roll and the latest deed name different owners and you can't tell which is current.
• The deed's parcel ID or legal description doesn't match the parcel you started from.
• The owner is a company, a trust or an estate and you haven't matched the entity or the person who can act for it.

None of these means the property can't be worked. They mean the next step is reading records, not searching for a phone number, and in the deed and trust cases it may mean bringing in a title professional.

7. Then look for a way to reach them

Once the owner is confirmed, you're looking for a contact, which is a different kind of evidence. A people search can return the owner, a relative, a former tenant and an unrelated namesake, all linked to the same house. Compare names, ages and address history against the deed and the mailing address before you choose one. Check each number's status and the outreach rules that apply to you. A Do Not Call result is a status with a date, not permission to call.

That's the step Locate is for. Upload a list with owner names and property addresses and it searches for people linked to each property, keeps your own IDs on every row, holds company owners back for LLC review and shows the most a search can cost before anything runs. It doesn't search deed records for you and it isn't a free owner lookup. It starts from the owner and address you've already checked. For more than a handful of properties, see bulk skip tracing.

Sources and limits

1. Broward County Property Appraiser, frequently asked questions. What the property search accepts, owner listings that end in ETAL, and mailing-city naming. Checked October 8, 2026.
2. BCPA property search and its disclaimer, which identifies the property appraiser as the source of the tax roll. Checked October 8, 2026.
3. BCPA web map. Parcel ID, owner and site address fields, and address search by street number and name without a direction. Checked October 8, 2026.
4. Broward County Official Records search. Its search types and its warning that records may contain errors. Checked October 8, 2026.
5. Broward County Records, Taxes and Treasury Division. The county's repository for official records. Checked October 8, 2026.
6. Broward Clerk of Courts, records requests. Which office holds deeds and mortgages, and which holds property information. Checked October 8, 2026.
7. 2026 Florida Statutes 733.101. Probate venue: the county of domicile under (1)(a), and for someone with no Florida domicile, a county where their property is under (1)(b). Checked October 8, 2026.

This is a Broward County, Florida example. Other counties name their offices and searches differently, and some keep tax and deed records in one place. It's a research method, not a title search, a legal opinion or a promise that any record is complete. The record in step 4 is invented and belongs to no real person or parcel.