Chelan County Auditor

Search Guide

#1 Search Tip – Enter as little information as you can get by with and leave the other search fields at their defaults. You can filter your results later.

When your online search for a particular AFN or book/page does not yield an image: Email to Let us know  which document you are looking for. We will find a way to retrieve and email you the images.

Information you will need names!

Our AcclaimWeb document search provides the means to search for documents recorded in any prior era of Chelan County history. If you know at least one name and the instrument's approximate recording date you will probably find what you need with relative grace and ease.

Caution: Attempting to search by parcel number or legal description will yield extremely limited results, depending upon the year the document originally recorded.

Need help finding the current owner’s name? Visit the Assessor Parcel Search. Once you have located the parcel record, look at the section titled ‘Deed and Sales History’ to identify the last deed that transferred ownership. Take note of the names, recording numbers or volume/page entries listed. These will be handy items to have when searching our documents in AcclaimWeb.

  1. Current Era - Documents Recorded 1/27/1997 or later : Systems used in the current era have greater ability to perform a search on items other than names. Legislation effective January 1 of that year also requires that parcel numbers accompany legal descriptions. Between these two developments we can now offer expanded search capabilities independent of names for those documents recorded after this date.
     
  2. Early Electronics - Documents Recorded 1974 - 1996 : The index to documents of this era is electronically searchable, so document retrieval is as simple as typing a name into the AcclaimWeb search tool. Names are the best and only tool to use for an effective search prior to 1997. Legal description information appears as notes in our index prior to 1997, and was not typed in a formatted fashion that will yield reliable search results.
     
  3. Historic Manual Era - Documents Recorded prior to 1974: The index to these recordings was handwritten into books. These books have since been imaged and can be viewed using the ‘Non-indexed search’ in AcclaimWeb. You might need this guide to help with searching the historic index. Most historic documents have a record and image available in AcclaimWeb. Older records can be retrieved by performing a search on the AFN or book/page, even though the record might not be retrievable by performing a search on names. Once you locate a promising document using the non-indexed search, try doing a search on the book/volume and page listed for that entry.

To retrieve all the documents recorded for a property requires that you follow the instructions below for Reconstructing the chain of ownership. If you are looking for an alternative to performing a time-consuming title search, a local title company can provide information regarding easements, covenants, and agreements recorded over the decades for a given parcel. If you already possess a title report for the property, there will be one or more pages that list documents recorded in our records. Each entry will include an instrument or document number, and those numbers can be entered into an AFN search in AcclaimWeb.

 

Reconstructing the chain of ownership: You will need to trace the chain of ownership backward through time if you suspect that your target document was recorded prior to the current ownership. Locating any easement that recorded prior to the last purchase will require this process.

  1. Locate the current deed. Use the Assessor parcel search, if needed
  2. Note the name of the grantor/seller on the deed. This is the prior owner.
  3. Find the deed where that prior owner appears as the purchaser/grantee. Working backward in time through the index, search for that prior owner’s name from step 2. When looking at the old historical index (the Non-indexed search), you would search the Reverse index for the prior owner name.
  4. Make note of the ownership date range. Once you find the prior owner’s purchase deed, note the document’s recording date and bookend the ownership period with the date they sold or otherwise deeded the property to someone else.
  5. Search the ownership date range for documents recorded by this prior owner. When you find a promising document, verify that the legal description matches the property you are researching. It is common for the same individual to own neighboring parcels.
  6. To go further back in time, return to the deed you found in step #3. Cycle back to Step #2 and perform the same steps for that owner/seller/grantor from step #3.

 

You are performing this deed search to establish the beginning and end dates of an ownership period, then proceeding to search within that range of dates for documents associated with that owner name.

Posted: 12/16/2014 12:52 PM
Last Updated: 08/11/2020 07:55 AM

Chelan County Calendar

Upcoming events and schedules at the county!

  • 26
    Apr 2024
    09:30 AM - 10:30 AM

    Public Meeting: Public Canvassing Board Meetings

    Posted by: Chelan County Elections

    The Canvassing Board of Chelan County, pursuant to RCW 29A.60.160, will hold public meetings at the dates and times listed below. The meetings of the Canvassing Board are open, public meetings under the applicable provisions of chapter 42.30 RCW, and each meeting shall be continued until the activity for which the meeting is held has been completed.

    Chelan County Auditor’s Office
  • 24
    Apr 2024
    06:30 PM - 08:00 PM

    Planning Commission - April 24th, 2024

    Posted by: Community Development

    400 Douglas Street
  • 24
    Apr 2024
    07:00 PM - 08:00 PM

    Assessor's Office Community Meeting: Entiat and North Wenatchee

    Posted by: Chelan County Assessor

    Chelan County Assessor Wes Cornelius invites property owners and all interested parties to attend one of four community meetings scheduled this spring throughout the county.

    Wenatchee Valley Fire Station No. 11
  • 23
    Apr 2024
    09:00 AM - 08:00 PM

    Special Election Day - Manson Parks & Recreation District voters only

    Posted by: Chelan County Elections

    Election Day

  • 15
    Apr 2024
    08:00 AM - 08:00 PM

    Registration in person at our office

    Posted by: Chelan County Elections

    Registration Deadline in person at our office.