How to prioritize farm research using public records

Public records can help an agent decide which properties deserve research first. They cannot reveal homeowner motivation or predict a future sale. A responsible workflow orders neutral property records, shows every input, and leaves the outreach decision to the agent and brokerage policy.

Four transparent ranking inputs

SENTINEL's published priority score uses only four disclosed property and ownership-record inputs. It is a research order, not an outcome model:

• Estimated equity. A modeled value based on assessment, recorded sale price, and an assumed mortgage path — never a verified payoff.
• Recorded tenure. Time since the last recorded sale, used as a neutral ordering input rather than a claim about life stage.
• Mailing-address difference. Whether the owner mailing address differs from the property address; it does not establish intent.
• Assessed-to-sale gap. The ratio between assessed value and last recorded price; neither figure is a current appraisal.

Where to get the data (for free)

It's all public in Washington. County assessors (King, Pierce, Snohomish) publish parcel records, assessed values, and ownership under the Public Records Act (RCW 42.56). Sale history and mailing addresses come from the same records. Market context — median price, days on market, months of supply — is available from Redfin's Data Center. You do not need a paid data broker to rank your farm.

Work the list ethically

Use only outreach channels and contact data your brokerage permits, honor suppression and opt-out requirements, and verify the rules that apply to the channel you choose. Never target residents by demographics or protected characteristics. SENTINEL excludes court and life-event records from the property-priority score; sensitive events are not prospecting shortcuts.

Why this beats a bought list

A transparent score lets you inspect the source fields and challenge the ranking. Purchased predictions often hide both the inputs and the validation. Whatever tool you use, verify its data rights, contact-data provenance, suppression controls, and current terms before using a record for outreach.

SENTINEL automates the research step for Western Washington agents: it orders farm properties by these published inputs, preserves the source context, and helps the agent choose the next review action. See the scoring methodology or browse your county.