Free guides
Every guide on this page is free, in plain English, and written from the same rule as the directory: say what the service actually does, name the source, and never oversell. Start with the explainer that matches your situation — or jump straight to your state's page.
How a house gets “stolen” on paper: the forged deed, the open recording system, who gets targeted, and why time is the whole game.
The machineryWhat county alerts actually do under the hood — name matching, per-county enrollment, and the four honest limitations.
The honest math$227.40 a year per property vs. $0. Verified prices, what the subscription really includes, and what regulators say.
EmergencyThe first moves, in order: pull the document, classify it, call the recorder — and exactly where the lawyer line is.
DIYThe self-check routine: search by name and parcel, read the record like an auditor, spot the red flags, repeat yearly.
SetupExact-name matching is the #1 reason alerts silently fail. The full list of name forms a complete enrollment covers.
Know what you ownYour owner's policy is the legal defense; the alert is the alarm bell. What each does — and why the county's bell is free.
Every one of the 67 counties, by law, since July 2024. The 5-name rule, the exact-name catch, and the snowbird problem.
CaliforniaThe 2027 program is a mailed notice, not an email alert — plus the counties (and LA) that offer the real thing.
ArizonaRecorder Title Alerts, the new ERAS pending-sale alerts, and assessor systems coming in 2027. Which to join.
Every state has a page: who keeps land records there, what programs exist, and every county we have verified — with the official signup links. The badge shows how many counties (or recording districts) are verified in our directory so far. No badge trickery: zero means we have not verified one yet, and the page says what to do instead.
Enrollment walkthroughs for every platform in the directory, the name-variant worksheet, the multi-property tracker, the deed self-check, and the 72-hour playbook — one $39 payment, every property you own.