Why are real estate transaction records public?

Historically, real estate transactions are recorded by government agencies in the jurisdiction where the property is located. Keeping an official public record of any sale or change in ownership is crucial for verifying the history of a property. For example, these records can help to resolve any disputes between parties with competing claims to a property.

What is recorded?

Every state and county has different regulations on what must be recorded. Many different types of documents can be recorded depending on the property and type of real estate transaction. The most common documents are ones related to deeds, mortgages, easements, foreclosures, fees, etc. Previously, you had to view such documents in person. These days many are electronically filed and then publicly shared online. Take New York City, the Automated City Register Information System (ACRIS) records and maintains property documents. However, ACRIS only provides online access to property documents and data dating back to 1966. If you wanted to view documents recorded prior to 1966, you’d need to personally visit the City Register’s office in each borough to view them!

How to redact?

The real estate industry utilizes public real estate property transactions in many different useful ways. On RealtyHop, we’ve created a tool for users of the site to access real estate transaction records across the country. However, we understand that not everybody feels comfortable with their mortgage information publicly displayed. RealtyHop remains committed to protecting your privacy in compliance with each State’s privacy laws. To request the redaction of your public mortgage information from our website, please complete our Redaction Forms. Instructions for how to access the Redaction Forms are listed below. To move forward with this redaction process, please follow the instructions below in both Part A and Part B.

Redaction of Mortgage Information

For those looking to redact their mortgage information from the property record.

1. On the Building/Property with the mortgage information you wish to redact, click on “Request mortgage information redaction”. You can utilize CTRL+F to search for the term “Request mortgage information redaction” to make it easier to find the link.

2. A new page will open in your browser. Follow the instructions on that page to complete the CAPTCHA that appears. Once completed, make sure to hit the red “Submit Request” button. You have now successfully redacted your mortgage information from one transaction!

After redaction

Redaction requests remain effective indefinitely. Please note that redaction requests do not automatically transfer to new properties or addresses. A new and separate request must be submitted for each updated address. Please note that even after the redaction process is complete, it may take up to several business days before search engines such as Google, Bing, Yahoo, etc. recrawl and remove the now outdated RealtyHop page from their list of search results.

To comply with New Jersey’s Daniel’s Law (N.J.S.A. 47:1-17) and the New Jersey Data Protection Act (NJDPA, P.L. 2023, c. 266), names from the public records in New Jersey are not displayed.