Find every deceased-owner and title-issue property in your county.
We match owners against death records and read county records, then score each property every week.
7,641
leads in our database (Franklin County)
Our database · Our math · Delta database, leads not screened out, 2026-09-30 · as of 2026-09-30
Up to 6
up to six public-record sources per county; five live in production (Clerk disabled)
Delta pipeline configuration (config/franklin.yaml), Franklin reference setup
580,371
properties identified as heirs’ property, 0.6% of 94,201,062 residential properties
Housing Assistance Council for Fannie Mae (Dec 2023, corrected Mar 2024) · page 23
Counts of residential properties identified, 44 states + DC; excludes vacant land and farmland; a minimum estimate.
Finding these deals breaks in three places.
Each break is why a list built from one source misses properties. Delta reads across all of them.
01
Records are scattered.
Ownership, tax, probate, foreclosure and deed records sit in separate county systems.
02
Death rarely reaches the deed.
Title can stay in the decedent’s name until an heir acts.
“the deceased owner’s name remains on a property’s title, even though the property’s ownership has passed to multiple subsequent generations of the deceased’s heirs”
USDA ERS, Burnett & Winters-Michaud (2025) · page 618
03
Delinquency lists miss most of them.
32% vs 9%
of tangled-title properties are tax-delinquent, vs of residential properties citywide
City study · Pew Charitable Trusts, “How ‘Tangled Titles’ Affect Philadelphia” (2021)
Counts of tangled-title properties vs of all residential properties in Philadelphia.
What Delta does.
Scored leads from public records and death-record matching, worked in one dashboard.
01
Lead finder
Match owners against death records and open a lead record with owners and deed type.
Lead recordSample data - Parcel
- 010-882045-00
- Owner of record
- Sample Owner (fictional)
- Death-record match
- Matched
- Deed type
- Survivorship deed, checked
02
Indicators and scoring
Indicators for ownership, tax, probate and foreclosure, scored and kept in saved views.
IndicatorsSample data - Ownership
- Owner of record matched to a death record
- Tax
- Balance due
- Probate
- Open
- Foreclosure
- None filed
- Saved view
- Sample saved view
03
Weekly monitoring
Each lead shows Updated and Last monitored. Changes are flagged for review, and manual edits are never overwritten.
MonitoringSample data - Updated
- Shown per lead
- Last monitored
- Shown per lead
- Change flagged
- Probate case opened: review
- Manual edit
- Kept, never overwritten
04
Outreach prep
Next-of-kin skip tracing after deed-type checks (TOD, survivorship), then a CSV export.
Outreach prepSample data - Deed-type check
- TOD, survivorship
- Next of kin
- Sample Relative (fictional)
- Export
- CSV
Watch a county get scanned.
A county’s parcels, read against public records and scored. This is an illustration, not a live county.
14 sample leads
Select a marker to open a sample record.
77,462 parcels
heirs’ parcels identified in Texas
State figure · Dobbs & Johnson Gaither (2023) · Table 2 · parcel data: LightBox, supplied via USDA Forest Service, Nov 2021
Counts of parcels in Texas; name-based identification.
Results differ between studies.
$8.47 billion
market value of the identified heirs’ parcels in Texas
State figure · Dobbs & Johnson Gaither (2023) · Table 2 · parcel data: LightBox, supplied via USDA Forest Service, Nov 2021
Counts of identified heirs’ parcels in Texas.
Results differ between studies.
Fits how you already work.
Delta is a dashboard you log in to, with a CSV export. It does not replace your tools.
Dashboard and CSV export
Filter, sort and open a full record, then export what you need.
Map view
See leads on a map of the county.
Saved views
Keep your own ranking and filters, or share one with your team.
Two studies, shown separately.
They define and count heirs’ property differently, so their figures are never added together.
Block B · Housing Assistance Council for Fannie Mae (Dec 2023, corrected Mar 2024)
580,371
properties identified as heirs’ property, 0.6% of 94,201,062 residential properties
Housing Assistance Council for Fannie Mae (Dec 2023, corrected Mar 2024) · page 23
Counts of residential properties identified, 44 states + DC; excludes vacant land and farmland; a minimum estimate.
$32.3 billion
total assessed value of identified heirs’ properties
Housing Assistance Council for Fannie Mae (Dec 2023, corrected Mar 2024) · page 31 (also p.5)
Counts same 44 states + DC; a minimum estimate; some counties had no assessed values reported.
$84 trillion
HAC cites research estimating $84 trillion will transfer from Baby Boomers by 2045
Housing Assistance Council for Fannie Mae (Dec 2023, corrected Mar 2024) · page 8 (footnote 7)
Counts background statement citing other research; not a finding of this study.
Block A · Dobbs & Johnson Gaither (2023)
444,172 parcels; 9,247,452 acres
heirs’ parcels, and the acres they cover
Dobbs & Johnson Gaither (2023) · PDF p.12–13 (Table 2 totals; Results text) · parcel data: LightBox, supplied via USDA Forest Service, Nov 2021
Counts of parcels, all 50 states + DC; name-based identification; the authors say aggregated data may severely undercount.
$41.3 billion
total market value of identified heirs’ parcels
Dobbs & Johnson Gaither (2023) · PDF p.12–13 (Table 2 total, in $ thousands) · parcel data: LightBox, supplied via USDA Forest Service, Nov 2021
Counts of identified heirs’ parcels.
Market values were not populated for 8 states (CA, CT, ME, MA, NH, RI, SD, VT).
These counts are a floor
“a lower bound on the actual number of such properties”
USDA ERS, Burnett & Winters-Michaud (2025) · page 629
Where it’s concentrated.
Each rate is a share of residential properties identified as heirs’ property.
64.5% vs 30%
of identified heirs’ properties are in rural census tracts, which hold 30% of all residential properties
Housing Assistance Council for Fannie Mae (Dec 2023, corrected Mar 2024) · page 27
Counts of identified heirs’ properties vs of all residential properties; FHFA Duty to Serve 2022 rural definition.
1.2% vs 0.6%
heirs’ property rate in persistent-poverty counties vs elsewhere
Housing Assistance Council for Fannie Mae (Dec 2023, corrected Mar 2024) · page 28
Counts of residential properties identified as heirs’ property.
1.6% vs 0.4%
heirs’ property rate in counties that lost population (2010–2020) vs counties that did not
Housing Assistance Council for Fannie Mae (Dec 2023, corrected Mar 2024) · page 29
Counts of residential properties identified as heirs’ property.
The study says results may vary at state or regional level.
Built on public records.
County records and death-record matching, compiled and scored. Not a credit report.
Every datum has a source.
We capture the source URL for every datum, so any field can be traced.
US-based hosting.
Hosted in the United States.
Your edits stay yours.
Weekly monitoring never overwrites a manual edit; it flags real changes for review.
Questions
The data
What counts as a deceased-owner lead?
A property whose owner of record appears in death-data sources, or that carries one of the title problems we filter for. Delta finds every property in your county with deceased owners and title issues — not a shortlist someone else picked.
Where does the data come from, and how often does it update?
Individual owners in your county are matched against a commercial death-record feed. Ownership, tax, probate and foreclosure records are pulled directly from the county and re-checked every week, so you see each new deal as it appears.
How are leads ranked?
Every deal in your county is ranked by opportunity, using information pulled directly from county records and re-checked every week. The point is to keep you first to the best deals and put your time where the upside is.
Why do I get more deals than a tax-delinquent list gives me?
You get every deal, not just the ones on a tax-delinquent list. A Pew Charitable Trusts study (August 2021) found tax delinquency of 32% vs 9% in Philadelphia, tangled-title properties against residential properties citywide, so a delinquency list would miss most of them there. City study, not a national figure.
Deal types
Which title problems can I filter for?
Deceased owners, with title transferred without probate where your state allows; Medicaid liens; liens and judgments you can negotiate; encumbrances past their statute; and more.
What do TOD and survivorship mean, and why check the deed type first?
They are two ways a property can already sit with someone other than the deceased owner's probate estate: a transfer-on-death deed names a beneficiary who takes the property, and survivorship leaves it with the surviving joint owner. The deed type decides who actually holds title, so Next of Kin Skip Tracing reads it first — then it identifies the heirs under your state's intestate laws, so you market to the people who can sign.
What is a “curative” investor?
Someone who buys a property whose title carries a defect and cures that defect so it can be sold — a deceased owner, title that passed without probate, an old lien, an encumbrance past its statute. Delta is built by curative investors, for curative investors: we buy these properties ourselves, and Delta is how we find our own deals.
Marketing
What is Next of Kin Skip Tracing?
Next of Kin Skip Tracing™ checks the deed type first, then identifies the heirs under your state's intestate laws. It lets you bulk market to the people who hold title, with no manual research.
How does bulk marketing to heirs work?
Delta allows bulk marketing directly to the next of kin with no research on your side. Skip tracing identifies who the heirs are, and you market to the people who hold title in bulk — no manual lookup per property.
Who can I target?
Living owners, next of kin, surviving spouses — or all of them. You choose who hears each campaign.
How are campaigns built?
Build campaigns by deceased status and time since death, probate status, surviving spouse, foreclosure, lien type, signs of neglect and more.
Coverage and trust
Which counties do you cover, and how do I ask for mine?
Counties are set up one at a time — the footer of this page lists today's coverage and the counties in progress. Tell us where you buy when you request access, and we will take it from there.
Is Delta built by investors who use it?
Yes. Delta is built by curative investors, for curative investors — we buy these properties ourselves, and Delta is how we find our own deals. Now it can find yours.
How do I book a demo?
Request access and we will take it from there: we read every request and reply by email with current terms.
Skip tracing and marketing must follow applicable state and federal law. See the Terms of service.
Request a demo.
Tell us who you are and where you buy. We read every request and reply by email with current terms.
heirs’ property noun Real estate left by an owner who has died, held by their heirs without a formal transfer of title.
Read more
- The problem →
How heirs’ property titles tangle, and what an owner can’t do without clear title.
- Market size →
Two national studies, shown separately, and why both are floors.
- Where it happens →
Rural areas, persistent poverty and population loss.
- How it works →
Public county records to scored leads, with weekly monitoring.
- Pricing →
Pricing is being finalized.
- Sources →
Every figure and quote with its study, page and method.
Sources
- 1Housing Assistance Council for Fannie Mae (Dec 2023, corrected Mar 2024)
- 2Dobbs & Johnson Gaither (2023)
- 3Pew Charitable Trusts, “How ‘Tangled Titles’ Affect Philadelphia” (2021) (City study)
- 4USDA ERS, Burnett & Winters-Michaud (2025)