The Recorder of Deeds, sometimes called the county clerk or another name, is the keeper of documents about real property and other official documents. In most jurisdictions, counties maintain these records, but in states such as Connecticut, towns maintain them. Search for recorded documents naming an individual in each of the jurisdictions where the individual has lived or worked. In some jurisdictions, there is no online access to official records. Use these records to find an individual’s counterparties in transactions, creditors and financial information. The following common types of records may be filed with the recorder of deeds or equivalent authority: Warranty Deed, documenting the sale of a property Quitclaim Deed, documenting the release of forfeiture of an ownership claim on a property Deed of Trust, or Mortgage, registering a lender’s security interest in a property to permit foreclosure in case of default Certificate of Release, or Notice of Satisfaction, documenting the full repayment of a loan and the release of a lender’s security interest in a property Mechanic’s Lien, documenting a contractor’s right to foreclose a property in case of nonpayment for work conducted on it Tax Lien, registering an unpaid tax debt Judgment, registering a judgment entered by a court Affidavit, in which an individual makes a factual declaration under oath, generally for the purpose of executing a contract that will be signed by the individual Marriage License – in some jurisdictions these will be recorded publicly with the County Clerk Oaths of Office – in some jurisdictions county employees publicly file sworn oaths of office Military Discharges – in some jurisdictions, veterans can choose to publicly file their military discharges

Redfin is a search engine for real estate listings that provides information about properties for sale or for rent in a specified geographic area. It also provides information about prior sales and transactions.

This is a video platform similar to YouTube, and it is owned by the same company that hosts Truth Social. It has less moderation than YouTube.

The Securities and Exchange Commission Edgar Full Text Search allows users to search the full text of SEC filings for public companies and some other entities dating back to 2001. You can search it for people, companies, and other information. One company’s filings may contain mention of another company, providing information on client and supplier relationships. Filings for public companies contain lists of directors, details of executive and board compensation and stock trades, professional bios details on company performance, summaries of significant litigation and more. Here are key filings to look for: Form 10-K, an annual report of a publicly traded company containing audited financial statements Form 10-Q, a quarterly report of a publicly traded company containing audited financial statements Form 8-K, a current report disclosing material information about a publicly traded company, such as a merger agreement Schedule 14A, a proxy statement disclosing information on a company’s corporate governance, including its board of directors, its executive compensation and any shareholder proposals scheduled for votes at the annual shareholder meeting Forms 3, 4 and 5, which disclose stock ownership and transactions for officers, directors, and significant shareholders of a publicly traded company Form D, disclosing a private offering of equity or debt, such as a venture capital funding round for a startup Form 13F, a quarterly snapshot of the publicly traded securities held by a fund manager, which are required for funds holding at least $100 million in publicly traded securities

Investment advisers are finance professionals who manage funds for investors. They are often called fund managers, and depending on the types of investments they make, they might call their funds hedge funds, private equity funds or venture capital funds. Fund managers with at least $150 million in assets under management must register with the Securities and Exchange Commission and file a Form ADV, which includes information on the names of the funds that they manage, the values of these funds and the officers and beneficial owners of the investment adviser. Use this site to search for registered investment advisers, disclosure events such as previous criminal convictions of officers, and associates of an individual who has been an investment adviser.

In most states, the secretary of state’s responsibilities include chartering companies and administering elections. Some states, such as Arizona, have a distinct agency to charter companies, the Arizona Corporate Commission. Others, such as New York, have a distinct agency to administer elections, the New York State Board of Elections. As the agency responsible for chartering companies, the secretary of state generally maintains a database of companies chartered in the jurisdiction. You can search some of these databases by company name, officer name and registered address, and retrieve all corporate filings for free, but others allow search only by company name and charge for access to filings. Secretaries of state also maintain databases of Universal Commercial Code financing statements. These statements allow lenders to record security interests in property held by debtors. UCC financing statements generally don’t cover real property but do cover accounts receivable, inventory, office equipment and financial accounts. UCC databases maintained by secretaries of state often allow users to search by the debtor or secured party’s name. As the administrator of elections, the secretary of state also often provides information on election results and candidate registrations for both state-level and federal races. For state-level candidates, the secretary of state also often maintains records of financial disclosures filed by state-level candidates and officeholders and campaign finance reports for state-level candidates. The secretary of state may also keep a database of disclosures filed by state government lobbyists.

The first link leads to a list of all secretary of state business searches. The others link to business searches in Delaware, Florida, Nevada and Texas, where many businesses from other states register because of business-friendly laws and other factors.

SignalHire draws from LinkedIn profiles (including cached information) and other data to provide a database of both professional histories and contact information.

Snapchat is a social media and ephemeral photo/video sharing platform. Images and videos are shared as “snaps,” or media with a limited lifespan. The platform also supports messaging, comments and user-following. Researchers can use the ‘snap map’ feature to see public stories on a heatmap around specific geographic locations.

State bar associations generally provide a publicly available member directory through which you can check an attorney’s license and see disciplinary actions associated with a license, and some provide attorneys’ business addresses and educational histories. State bar associations serve a public function but are private organizations not subject to state-level open records laws.

Many states offer websites that allow users to identify a candidate’s voter registration. Sites differ in the amount of information you must provide to check voter registration. States also differ in the accessibility of voter registration information for third parties. If a state voter registration website states that it is only intended for a voter seeking to verify his or her own voter registration information, you should not use it to check someone else’s registration. Election authorities in some jurisdictions may provide voter registration information by phone.

States, counties and municipal governments often provide publicly available information on government contracts, though these databases may be less user-friendly and less comprehensive than federal databases. Use these databases to find information in contracts involving individuals, an individual’s companies, campaign donors of a candidate, business associates and relatives.

Using an individual’s known address history as well as their professional and educational history, you should have a list of counties in which the individual has lived, worked, or studied. These should be the same counties where you search for any documents naming the individual at the local Recorder of Deeds. Consider including certain neighboring counties in your searches if they form part of a larger metropolitan area. For example, a candidate who lived and worked in Cambridge, Massachusetts, might be party to civil cases in Middlesex County, which includes Cambridge, or Suffolk County, which includes neighboring Boston. In some jurisdictions, there is no online access to state-level court records, and in these cases, you may need to order onsite research or visit the court yourself. The structure of the courts varies from state to state, and the nature and availability of court records also vary from state to state and often from county to county. Briefly familiarize yourself with the structure of the courts in any jurisdiction where the individual has lived, worked, or studied. Focus first on trial courts, or first-instance courts, as opposed to appeals courts. Some states have a single, unified level of trial courts which hear all cases. For example, in California the Superior Court is the first-instance court for all cases. In other states, there is a divided trial court structure, with courts of “general jurisdiction” hearing felony criminal cases and high-value civil cases and lower courts that hear misdemeanor criminal cases and small claims civil cases. For example, in New York the trial court of general jurisdiction is named the Supreme Court, and there are a number of lower-level trial courts that hear small claims cases, misdemeanor cases, and landlord-tenant cases.

Many states, but not all, provide a publicly accessible, statewide criminal history database. Other states only grant individuals access to their own criminal histories or require third parties to have the subject’s signed consent. Determine which of the jurisdictions where the individual has lived offer a statewide criminal history check and run these searches wherever possible.

Strava is a social media and fitness tracking website. It enables users to log and compare their fitness activity and to connect with other people sharing similar fitness information. Users can share data logged from fitness tracking devices. Because of this, Strava can be a fruitful resource when looking for GPS data from a given person. For example, if an individual is an avid user of Strava, you may be able to decipher where they live, at least within a mile from their home.