Distressed property
How to find distressed properties in public records, and which office keeps each sign
Updated September 2026. The free method first, the paid shortcut second.
Distressed properties leave records, each in a different office. Code violations are with the city’s code enforcement department, unpaid property tax with the county treasurer, liens and foreclosure notices with the county recorder, and evictions with the court where they are public. Vacancy has no single public source, so you confirm it from the street. Pull each list, combine them by parcel number, and start with the properties that show several signs.
- You need
- The city’s and county’s record sites
- You get
- Properties showing one or several signs of distress
- Cost
- $0 to search. Some records requests carry fees
- Varies by
- City and state: what is online, what is public
Step by step, for nothing
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Pull open code violations from the city
The city or county code enforcement department cites owners for the condition of a property: overgrown lots, unsafe structures, open buildings. Larger cities often publish open cases on an open data portal. Elsewhere, ask for them under your state’s public records law.
What you come away with Addresses where the city has cited the owner for the property’s condition.
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Pull the delinquent tax list from the county
The county treasurer or tax collector publishes parcels with unpaid property tax, usually before a tax sale. The delinquent tax guide covers where to find it and what the sale means for the owner.
What you come away with Owners behind on their property tax, with the amounts owed.
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Search the recorder for liens and foreclosure notices
The county recorder’s index holds mechanic’s liens, judgment liens, homeowners association liens and tax liens, along with notices of default and lis pendens. Search by document type and recording date. The pre-foreclosure guide covers the foreclosure notices step by step.
What you come away with Owners with debts recorded against the property.
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Check the court for evictions
Where eviction filings are public, the county court’s case index shows landlords who have gone to court against a tenant. Some states restrict or seal eviction records, so check what your state allows before you rely on them.
What you come away with Landlords with a problem tenancy, who may be ready to stop renting.
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Confirm vacancy on the ground
Drive the neighborhood or look at recent street imagery for overgrown yards, boarded windows and piled-up mail. Some cities require owners to register vacant buildings and publish the register. Note what you see, with the date.
What you come away with Properties you have seen for yourself, with notes on their condition.
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Combine the lists and look up the owners
Put the lists in one sheet, match them on parcel number, and count how many lists each property is on. The list stacking guide shows how. Then take each owner’s mailing address from the assessor record.
What you come away with One list, with the properties showing several signs at the top.
Where the free method stops
Each sign lives in a different office, with its own website, its own search and its own format. Pulling five sources for one city is a project before you contact anyone, and the lists start to age the day you pull them.
Vacancy is the sign the free method struggles with. No public list covers it, so it takes driving or street imagery, which is slow, and the imagery can be years old.
Tools that filter for distress
Each tool below describes distress filters or signals on its own pages. Prices from each pricing page, September 2026.
| Tool | What their pages list | Entry price | Pricing |
|---|---|---|---|
 Propwire |
Vacant and pre-foreclosure free. Code violations and liens on Premium | Free, Premium $99 a month | Try Propwire free |
 DealMachine |
Scores each property on equity, liens, vacancy, pre-foreclosure and other signals | $99 a seat | See DealMachine pricing |
 PropStream |
165+ search filters by its count, including liens and pre-foreclosure | $99 a month | See PropStream pricing |
 PropertyRadar |
Preforeclosure, probate, vacant and tax delinquent among its lead plays | $119 a month | See PropertyRadar pricing |
 REsimpli |
Pre-foreclosure, distressed and high equity filters | $299 a month, with the CRM and dialer | See REsimpli pricing |
Combining signals is where the tools earn their price. A property that is vacant, behind on tax and carrying a lien turns up in one filtered search instead of three offices.
Vacancy in these tools comes from data, not from anyone looking at the house. One BatchLeads reviewer found its app and its website disagreeing about whether the same houses were vacant. Drive the ones you plan to make offers on.
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Distressed properties: questions people ask
What counts as a distressed property?
A property whose owner is under pressure or whose building is in poor condition: behind on the mortgage or the taxes, cited by the city, carrying liens, vacant, or tied up in an estate. That pressure can make an owner open to an offer.
How do I find distressed properties for free?
Pull code violations from the city, the delinquent tax list from the county treasurer, liens and foreclosure notices from the recorder, and evictions from the court where they are public. Then confirm vacancy from the street.
How do I find vacant houses?
Drive the neighborhood or look at street imagery for overgrown yards, boarded windows and piled-up mail. Some cities require owners to register vacant buildings and publish the register. Tools flag vacancy from data, which is worth checking in person.
Where are code violations recorded?
With the city or county code enforcement department. Larger cities often publish open cases on an open data portal. Elsewhere, ask for them under your state’s public records law.
Is it legal to contact owners of distressed properties?
Yes, the records are public. The calling rules apply as with any owner, and some states regulate buying from owners in foreclosure. The pre-foreclosure guide covers both.
What is list stacking?
Combining lists of different signs and working first the properties that appear on several. The premise is that an owner facing two problems is more open to an offer than one facing one. The list stacking guide shows how to do it in a spreadsheet.
Where else do distressed properties show up?
Once they reach the market: at foreclosure auctions, as bank-owned (REO) properties the lender sells after an auction, and on listing sites as short sales or homes sold as-is. Those are already for sale, so every buyer sees them, while the county records on this page find owners before they list.
How do I find distressed properties on Zillow?
Zillow’s listing type filter includes pre-foreclosures and foreclosures. Its own help article says pre-foreclosure information is free after you register, and that a home in that category is not necessarily for sale, so confirm each one at the county recorder.
How we put this together
| Line | Source | What we read |
|---|---|---|
| 01 | Public records | City code enforcement and open data portals, for what a violation record contains |
| 02 | Public records | County treasurer, recorder and court websites, for the records each keeps |
| 03 | Pricing | The feature and pricing pages of every tool in the table, read September 2026 |
What we did not do. We have not compared any tool’s distress flags with county records. Access to court and code records differs by state and city.