Title Research & Heir Tracing Specialist (Real Estate)

About the role We're a real estate investment firm that acquires properties with clouded or defective title — often properties whose owner has passed away and left ownership unresolved. Before we can move on a property, someone has to establish the chain of title: who legally owns it now, who the last deed owner was, and — when that owner is deceased — who the rightful heirs are. This is primarily a title research role. The core of the job is working through county records — deed records, appraisal district data, tax records, and probate filings — to reconstruct ownership and confirm the current title holder. When the record owner is deceased, the second half of the job kicks in: mapping the family and determining the legal heirs under intestate succession. We can train you on our exact report format and the specifics of our process. What we need you to already have is the ability to navigate county records systems confidently and read a title chain — that's the skill that's hard to teach and that everything else depends on. What you'll actually do For each property assigned, you'll: - Reconstruct the chain of title by pulling and reading county deed records — identify the last recorded deed, the current title owner, and how ownership transferred over time. - Confirm current ownership against appraisal district / assessor and tax records, and reconcile any discrepancies between sources. - Locate and interpret key documents in county and court records — deeds, probate filings, affidavits of heirship — and clearly note what exists and what's missing ("no find"). When the owner is deceased: confirm the death, build the family tree (parents, spouse, children, grandchildren; living vs. deceased), and determine the legal heirs and each one's fractional ownership share under intestate succession (e.g. 1/3, 1/9, life estates, distribution "by representation"). - Identify the legal heirs and clearly document each one's relationship, status (living/deceased), and fractional ownership share. - Write it all up in our standardized research report format — clean, organized, and ready for the team to act on. - Flag open questions and escalation items — unconfirmed title gaps, missing documents, and likely wrong-person matches that need a second look. What we're looking for Required: - Hands-on title / county-records research experience — you can pull deeds, read a title chain, and confirm the current owner and last deed holder without hand-holding. - Comfort navigating U.S. county records systems (deed/clerk records, appraisal district / assessor sites, tax offices, court/probate records) — including counties with clunky or non-standard online access. - Excellent attention to detail — this work lives and dies on getting names, dates, and ownership transfers exactly right. - Clear, organized written English. Reports need to be readable and consistent. Strongly preferred / a big plus: - Background as a title examiner, abstractor, paralegal, or real estate/legal researcher. - Familiarity with intestate succession, probate, and affidavits of heirship (U.S., Texas especially). -Genealogy / family-history research skills — reconstructing a family across 3+ generations from obituaries and public records to establish heirship. This is a real part of the job, just secondary to the title work. -Experience with tax-delinquent, heir-property, or distressed-title deals. Mindset that fits: methodical, resourceful, skeptical (you double-check the record instead of assuming), and genuinely interested in solving the puzzle. How to apply Please include: A short note on your title / county-records research experience — which records systems and counties/states you've worked in, and how you go about confirming a current owner and last deed. Any experience with probate, affidavits of heirship, or heir/genealogy research. Which research tools, databases, or county systems you rely on.