Disclaimer: This post features sample scenarios that include addresses. The addresses used are fictional and used for illustrative purposes.
|
Key Takeaways:
|
Imagine this…
You're an investor looking for vacant land in a high-growth, short-term rental area—ideal for your next Airbnb complex. You run a search in your county but receive a list with only APNs and no addresses.
You hop on PropStream and plug in one of your APNs, and within seconds, you have a full property card, complete with an address, estimated value, tax information, demographics information, and so much more.
While studying the property card, you discover the land is in pre-probate (the owner passed away), and the heir lives out of state. Using PropStream, you skip-trace the heir’s contact information and start planning your pitch—focusing on how you can help them offload a troublesome property they likely can't maintain during an already challenging time.
While this is a classic example of how PropStream can be used from start to finish to find and obtain investment deals, we want to highlight a notable character in this scenario—the APN.
But what exactly is an APN? What are the benefits of an APN search? And how can you quickly perform APN searches? We answered these questions and more below.
Table of Contents |
What Is APN In Real Estate?
An APN (Assessor’s Parcel Number) is a unique identifier assigned to a parcel of land by the local tax assessor’s office. It helps track property ownership, assessments, and tax records within a county or jurisdiction.
Depending on the location, an APN is typically structured with a series of letters and numbers either in a simple, three-series format or a more complex format, including the block and lot numbers.
|
APN Examples: 123-456-789 (simple) 012-3456-789-00 (complex) |
Why Is It Helpful To Conduct an APN Search vs. an Address Search?
In some cases, vacant land doesn’t have an address, making it challenging to search for it online and learn about its potential.
However, there are several other reasons why searching by APN or having an APN handy is beneficial.
You Received a List with Only APNs—No Addresses
.png?width=1200&length=1200&name=apn%20(1).png)
%20(1).png?width=1200&length=1200&name=apn%20(3)%20(1).png)
Sometimes, when you get a lead list from your county clerk, they’ll give you APNs and no addresses. To determine an address and other details for the properties in question, you can plug one or several APNs into PropStream.
If you have an entire list of APNs in an Excel sheet (maybe it’s from the county clerk, or maybe you pulled it from another data platform), you can use List Automator to import the list into PropStream to easily find addresses and other vital information—saving you hours of time performing independent research.
PropStream will refresh this information with the most updated data and package it up for you in a convenient format, making it easy to click on each address individually and study in-depth property cards. This allows you to nail down the most promising leads before performing a skip trace or starting a marketing campaign.
Duplicate Addresses: Mistake or Coincidence?
When performing a property search, you may come across two addresses that are exactly the same. You may chalk this up to an internal mistake, or there may really be two addresses that are exactly the same with completely different designs, homeowners, selling motivations, etc.
By studying and searching with the APN, you can ensure that you are always searching for the correct property.
Everyone Makes Mistakes—Use the APN as an Extra Security Layer
When property data is submitted to a database, there can be mistakes regarding the address name. Maybe “1234 Greystone Rd” is actually supposed to be “1234 Graystone Rd,” and by searching with the incorrect spelling, you accidentally pulled the wrong address.
Using the APN, you can ensure your research and notes regarding motivated off-market leads match your saved properties.
Autofill Mishaps Can Get the Best of Us
If you search only by address, you may make mistakes when choosing from the autofill options if you’re in a hurry.
|
Example: There’s an off-market preforeclosure lead with the address “6789 Brownscreek Rd, Grand Rapids, MI 49501.” When you plug the address into a search bar, the autofill suggests “6789 Brownstone Rd, Grand Rapids, MI 49501.” You’ve been studying numbers and addresses all day, so your brain skips over the stone vs. creek discrepancy, and you accidentally save a property to your “preforeclosures in Grand Rapids” lead list with no indicators of selling motivation. Using the APN search method, you can ensure you pull up the desired property every time, or you can even just use it as an extra layer of security for address searches. |
Mixing Up Your Marketing Materials Can Cost You Valuable Time and Money
Even if you carefully read autofill options, you might mix up addresses if you have similar options while crafting your marketing campaign.
|
Example: You’ve saved a new marketing list titled “Driving for Dollars 3/31/2025.” Throughout this drive, you visited several neighborhoods and have two similar addresses on your list: 3456 Peacock Ln and 3456 Pigeon Ln (both starting with the letter “P” and notably named after a type of bird). Peacock Ln has a senior homeowner who may be interested in downsizing, while Pigeon Ln has a homeowner who may want to sell due to a divorce. While creating your marketing postcards, you accidentally mix up your situational pitches between the two addresses, which causes the homeowners to toss them in the trash. However, if you had used the APNs as extra protection, you may have remedied the mistake before sending out the materials and costing yourself two promising leads. |
This type of mistake can cost you valuable time, eat a significant portion of your marketing budget, and potentially thousands of dollars (or more) on lost revenue if your leads were genuinely motivated to sell and would have converted into a deal.
However, if you use APN search in your strategy, you can ensure you are using a unique number assigned to an exact property—allowing you to be more precise in your lead generation and communication efforts.
Efficiently Perform an APN Property Search With a Real Estate Data Software Like PropStream
Along with several other search options (e.g., exact address, zip code, county), PropStream allows users to search by assessor’s parcel numbers.
If you don’t already have a desired property’s APN, you can also find it using PropStream. All you have to do is search for the address, and you can see the APN on the property card. Or, if you have come across vacant land without an address while out in the field, use geolocation to pull the property card.
|
Once you have your APN, you can conduct your search with PropStream using the following steps: Step 1: Type “APN” at the beginning of your search, followed by “#.” Step 2: Insert the assessor parcel number. Step 3: Include the county and state in which the property is located. |
Example: APN# 123-456-789, Orange County, CA.
Search By APN and Enjoy 50 Complimentary Saves—PropStream It!
Find off-market leads in seconds, study the most in-depth datasets (some of which are powered by predictive AI), and create the most impactful marketing lists in one convenient location.
