How do you check if a property owner has died?
Should you check a list you already have, or watch a county?
Two jobs get mixed together in this search. One is checking names you already collected. The other is learning who passed today in the counties where you buy, with the family named, before a weekly file arrives.
The Death Verification API takes a name and the place you know, and returns found, possible_match, or not_found. A match includes the obituary URL, the publisher, a confidence band, and survivors when the notice names them. A not_found result includes not_proof_of_life. There is no public per-lookup price. Read the API reference, including sandbox keys, or talk to sales.
Daily County Intelligence is the discovery product: every county in one state, obituaries the day they are posted, relatives named when the obituary includes them. It is $249 a month after a 5-day trial of that state. Credit card required. Possible property matches, in select states, are a research lead. Start on the investor page. Try one state free for 5 days.
What does a useful result let you do next?
We monitor 17,565+ funeral-home and newspaper sources. For Florida, open the live Florida feed.
Swipe sideways to see all columns.
| You receive | You can | You still have to |
|---|---|---|
| The obituary and its publisher | Open the source and read it yourself | Decide whether it is the same person as the owner on your list |
| County and timing | See whether the notice is in a market you buy | Pull the parcel in your property tool |
| Relatives named in the notice | Know who the family mentioned, the day they mentioned them | Treat the names as clues, not legal heirs, and not phone numbers |
| A possible property match, in select states | Start ownership research from a candidate | Confirm the deed before anyone calls it an opportunity |
How does this compare with a weekly deceased-owner file?
A weekly lead list is a good way to scrub a portfolio you already service. It is a poor way to find an owner who died this week. Feeds that arrive weeks later answer a later question: someone has tried to attach the death to a house. If your work is the first look, you want the obituary.
The explainers are what pre-probate leads from obituaries are, how to find inherited property leads before probate, and how to find heirs from an obituary.
Where are these obituaries published, and what if there is no notice?
Funeral homes and newspapers publish the notices. There is no single national death database an investor can query instead. See where obituaries are published, is there a database of deaths, and the funeral home directory.
A missing obituary is not proof of life. That limit is explained in what happens if there is no obituary and how to know if someone died without an obituary. Skip tracers who are checking subjects, not buying houses, should start at for skip tracers. The county feed product is the state subscription; the national feed is a sales conversation, the same as Verify API volume.
Frequently asked questions
Can I upload a list of owners and see who has died?
Yes. That is the Death Verification API: you send names you already have and receive found, possible_match, or not_found, with the obituary URL when there is a match. Volume pricing is quoted by sales. You can build against sandbox keys before that conversation.
What if I do not have a list yet?
Use Daily County Intelligence. It shows new obituaries in every county of a state the day they are posted, with the relatives named in the notice. It is $249 a month per state after a 5-day trial of one state. A credit card is required.
Does a match mean the person owned the property?
No. An obituary confirms a public notice of a death. Property matching, in select states, suggests a candidate parcel. Your team still confirms the owner of record before anyone treats it as an opportunity.
Does not_found mean the owner is alive?
No. not_found means no qualifying obituary appeared in the searched scope. The response includes not_proof_of_life so the gap is not read as proof of life.
How is this different from a weekly deceased-owner file?
Weekly lead lists tell you about names after the notice has circulated. Feeds that arrive weeks later try to attach a death to a house. A county feed is for discovery the day the obituary is posted. A list check is for names you already collected.