How to find out if a property in Philadelphia, PA has a mortgage
A home loan in Pennsylvania is usually secured by a mortgage, recorded with the Philadelphia Department of Records; it stays a lien of record until a satisfaction or release is recorded. A HeritageDeed report does this for one address in Philadelphia: $49, usually within minutes, with the source of every finding.
Search a Philadelphia property, $49
Step by step in Philadelphia
- 1
Find each mortgage
Search the Philadelphia Department of Records index under each owner's name for mortgages recorded since they took title.
- 2
Match the satisfaction or release
For each one, look for a recorded satisfaction or release that refers to it by document number or book and page.
- 3
Treat the unmatched as open
A mortgage with no satisfaction or release of record is still a lien until the lender records one, even when the loan was paid.
- 4
Or order the report
A HeritageDeed report runs these searches for one Philadelphia address and lists every finding with its source, $49, usually within minutes.
What Philadelphia records show
Philadelphia's real estate documents are recorded by the city's Department of Records, whose records cover deeds, mortgages, satisfactions and sheriff's deeds.
A sheriff's deed records a property sold at a sheriff's sale, usually after a mortgage foreclosure or for unpaid taxes.
Philadelphia recordings, Oct 30, 2025 to Aug 11, 2026
- 25,924deeds recorded
- 41,101mortgages recorded
- 26,555satisfactions recorded
- 10,674assignments recorded
Counted from official records, refreshed nightly.
What the report checks in Philadelphia
- Deeds, mortgages, satisfactions and sheriff's deeds recorded with the Department of Records
Not covered here
- Satisfactions in Philadelphia are not cross-referenced to the mortgage they release, so the report says when a pairing is uncertain.
Questions
What does a HeritageDeed search in Philadelphia not cover?
Satisfactions in Philadelphia are not cross-referenced to the mortgage they release, so the report says when a pairing is uncertain.
Is this title insurance?
No. It is a search of the public record for one Philadelphia property. A lender closing a loan will still require a title insurance commitment from a licensed insurer.
More about Philadelphia property records
Check the title of a Philadelphia property
AI title search, $49 per report. Usually ready in about a minute. Full refund if we can't deliver.