Our Process
How an Easement Search Actually Runs
No database lookup returns a reliable easement report. The work is reading the county land records against the right parcel, following the references, and coming back with the recorded instruments in hand.
We identify the parcel
Before any records are read, the property has to be pinned down. We take the address and, where you have it, the APN and county, and match them to the parcel as the county identifies it. Street addresses repeat and get re-assigned; the parcel identifier and the legal description do not.
We establish the current owner and the deed
The search starts from the current vesting deed. That deed is the anchor for everything that follows, because easements are indexed against the owners in the chain, and knowing who held title in which years is what makes it possible to search them.
We read the records for your term
A certified abstractor works through the county land records over the 20, 30, or 50 year window you selected, looking for recorded easements, rights of way, and the plats that create them. Where an instrument references a plat or a prior document, we follow the reference.
We pull the instruments
Every easement we report gets its recording date, book, and page, and we retrieve a copy of the recorded document. You receive the grant itself, with its stated purpose and its described location, rather than a one-line summary of it.
We deliver the report
The completed report is emailed to the address on the order, typically in 2 to 3 business days. If a question comes back after you have read it, you can reach the team that produced it.
What we need from you
The street address, city, county, and state are usually enough to start. An APN removes any ambiguity about which parcel to search, and a prior deed or legal description helps most where a parcel has been split.
Order TodayDelivery performance
- Researching property records nationwide since 1995
- 1995Researching property records nationwide since 1995
- States covered, with abstractors searching records on the ground
- 50States covered, with abstractors searching records on the ground
- Business days for a standard easement search, rush service available
- 2–3Business days for a standard easement search, rush service available
- Year search terms, so the report reaches as far back as the matter needs
- 20–50Year search terms, so the report reaches as far back as the matter needs
Why It Matters
Searched where the records live
County land records are not one system. They are thousands of them, each with its own indexing conventions, its own digitization cutoff, and its own quirks about how a plat is referenced. A certified abstractor who works in that county knows where an easement from 1974 would be filed and how it would be indexed.
That is the difference between a report you can hand to a lender or an attorney and a list scraped from an aggregated dataset.
- Recording and indexing practice differs county to county, so the person searching needs to know the local system.
- Older easements often live on the subdivision plat or in a grantor/grantee index that is not fully digitized.
- A reference inside one instrument frequently points at another that has to be pulled to make sense of it.
- Records indexed under a misspelled name or an incorrect parcel do not surface in a naive keyword lookup.
What you receive
A report listing each easement found of record with its recording date, book, and page, and a copy of every recorded instrument behind those entries. Full customer support is included, so if something in the report raises a question you can reach the team that produced it.
Where the search stops
The report covers what was recorded in the term searched. It does not locate an easement physically on the ground, which is a surveyor's work, and it will not show an easement that was never recorded, such as a prescriptive claim or one implied by necessity. Whether a given easement is enforceable, and what it means for your plans, is a question for an attorney licensed in that state.
Which easements are usually recordedTurnaround
2 to 3 business days, with rush service available
That is the standard for a residential easement search. Some counties are faster and a few are slower, so if you are working to a closing date, call 877-848-5337 ext. 138 before ordering and we will confirm the timeline for that county.
Order Your Easement Search Today
Certified abstractors search the county land records against your parcel and report the easements found of record, with a copy of every recorded instrument attached. Order online in minutes, or tell us about the parcel and we will help you pick the search term.
Questions? Call 877-848-5337 ext. 138 or email info@afxllc.com