The pool is the place our customers can share their deed files with others. The deed files can be opened in DeedMapper where they can be viewed and edited. If you don’t own DeedMapper, you can still examine the deed text (the wording of the deeds) with your word processor, but you will not be able to see the plats of the deeds.
The Index files (see below) give summary information about the deeds in the corresponding deed file, so we recommend you take a look at them first before downloading the deed file. Use your browser’s Find command (under the Edit menu) to search for names of interest to you.
If you’d like to contribute your own deed file, you can e-mail us your MBL file with a brief explanation of where you got the deed data. We’ll copyright the material and give you full credit.
All files in the Deed Data Pool are copyright © 1995-2023 Direct Line Software, except as noted.
- You may use the data and its derivative forms for personal, non-commercial purposes.
- This information is provided as is. No warranty is implied.
Downloading Data Pool Files
The deed files in the pool are found under the column labeled “Deed File”, with names that end in .gz or .zip. They’re compressed with the ZIP utility.
Your browser might already be configured to automatically decompress the files. If you click on one of the compressed files you’ll either see something that’s readable, possibly with run-on sentences, or you’ll see utter gibberish.
- If it’s readable, use your browser’s File>>Save command to save the page, but change the file name so that it ends in .TXT, a format that your wordprocessor will be able to view. (DeedMapper customers should rename the file to end in .MBL, the DeedMapper format.)
- If it’s complete gibberish, you’ll need to decompress the file after downloading. Go to www.winzip.com and download the free evaluation version of their popular WinZip program. Once it is installed you’ll be able to view the deed files in your browser.
The deeds in a deed file may be ‘placed’, ‘neighborhooded’, or ‘unplaced’, according to the information in the rightmost column. Placed deeds are well fit together and located with some degree of accuracy on a map. Neighborhooded deeds have been grouped into some number of neighborhoods.