Help / Frequently Asked Questions

► Account Setting

Can I add counties?

You can add counties to your monthly subscription at any time. If you have the Silver package, you can add a Day Pass for any county you do not already have access to. If you do not have a current monthly subscription, refer to the topic on Subscribing.

To add counties to your current monthly subscription:

1. Log in to your account.
   




2. Click on the My Account link on the navigation bar at the top of the screen. This will take you to your account page.
   




3. To the left of your Account Details, there is a "Purchase Service" link in the list of Options. Click this link and you should see your shopping cart and the following options:

   

   If there are any changes already listed in your shopping cart, you may either change them at the same time by adding a county or remove the items from the cart.




4. To add a county to your monthly subscription, select the county from the "Add a County" drop down. Click the "Add County" button to add the new county to the shopping cart.




5. The monthly cost of the additional county will be listed based on the package you currently have. This amount will be multiplied by the number of full months left in your subscription. The total amount will also include a prorated amount for the time remaining in the current month. Any applicable discounts will be applied and the total cost will be shown.

To add one or more Day Passes:

1. Log in to your account.
   




2. Click on the My Account link on the navigation bar at the top of the screen. This will take you to your account page.




3. To the left of your Account Details, there is a "Purchase Service" link in the list of Options. Click this link and you should see shopping cart and a series of drop down menus.




4. Click the "Day Pass" tab above the shopping cart drop-downs.






5. Use the drop-down list to select the county you want and click the "Add County" button.




6. The cost of a Day Pass has now been added to your cart.

If you wish to remove any items from the cart prior to checking out, click the "Remove" button next to item you wish to remove. Once you have added all the counties you wish to add, click the "Check Out" button to pay. When payment has been received, your list of counties should reflect the changes and you may begin searching the new counties.

If you need to Remove counties, add Day Passes, or extend your service, you may do all these things in the same cart prior to clicking the "Check Out" or "Request Refund" button.

How do I change my password?

First, log in to your account. If you do not know what your password is, you will need to click on the "Forgot Password" link below the login box on the homepage.

Once you have logged in to your account, click on the My Account link on the navigation bar at the top of the page. This will take your to your account page.

To the left of your account details, there is an option to "Change Password". Click this link. You will be asked to enter your current password and then to enter your new password twice.

Once you have done this, click the "Submit" button. Your password will be changed and you will be taken back to your account page. The next time you log in, you will need to use your new password.

How do I upgrade my Package?

To upgrade your package:

1. Log in to your account.
   




2. Click on the My Account link on the Navigation bar at the top of the screen. This will take you to your account page.
   




3. To the left of your contact information, there is a list of options. You will see a link that says "Upgrade Service". When you click on this link, you will be taken to the shopping cart page.
   




4. On the shopping cart page, all your upgrade options will be listed in a drop-down menu.
   
   
   
   If you currently have the Bronze package, you will be able to upgrade to either Silver or Gold. If you currently have the Silver package, you will be able to upgrade to the Gold package. When you click an upgrade option, the price of this upgrade will be calculated based on the length of time left in your subscription and any applicable discounts.
   




5. When you are ready, click the "Check Out" button. Once the upgrade has been paid for, the features you have access to will be changed to reflect the upgrade.

► Getting Started

Can I Try Before I Buy?

Yes! Day Passes are available that will allow 24 hour access at a rate of $10 per county. This is an excellent way to get a feel for the DataScoutPro services. During the 24 hours, you will have most of the features available in the Silver package, including the ability to search for general property information such as location, parcel number, and owner's name along with sales information such as sale date, sale price and book/page.

Day Passes can be purchased separately or added to a monthly Silver subscription. If you currently have a monthly Bronze subscription, you will need to either upgrade to the Silver Package or create a separate username before purchasing Day Passes.

How Do I Sign Up?

You can sign up on the Registration page. You will be asked for information such as your name, mailing address, email address, and password. Your email and password is what you will use in the future when logging in to the site. Once you have entered this information, you will click the Continue button found at the bottom of the page. If all the information has been entered correctly, your account will be set up and you can continue on to the Subscription page in order to select a package and choose which counties you would like to be able to access.

How Do I Subscribe?

In order to subscribe, you must first have an account. If you do not have an account, you should first go to the Registration page. After you successfully register, you will be taken directly to the Subscription page to select a package, length of subscription, and counties.

If you have already registered, but have not yet signed up for a subscription, you may do so by first signing into your account, then clicking on the My Account link on the navigation bar across the top of the screen Once you are on your account page, there will be a link to the left of your contact information that says "Purchase Service". Click this link to take you to the Subscription page.

On the Subscription page, there is a tab for Monthly Subscriptions and a tab for Day Passes. To move between tabs, click the tab you wish to view.

The Monthly Subscription tab contains the following options:

1. Choose Term of Subscription - This menu allows you to choose the length of subscription you would like to have. You can subscribe in increments of one month, three months, six months, or twelve months. Discounts are offered for three, six, and twelve month subscriptions.
   




2. Choose Your Package - This menu allows you to choose which package you would like. For more information on packages, click on the "See Packages" link to view a list of features for each package. If you are getting one or more Day Passes along with a monthly subscription, you must select the Silver package.
   




3. Choose Your Monthly Counties - This menu allows you to choose which counties you would like to subscribe to on a monthly basis. To add a county to your cart, choose the county from the drop down menu and click on the "Add County" button. The county will now be listed in your cart. If you are signing up for the Gold package, the cart will contain a single item for "All Counties".
   

If you wish to add a Day Pass to your cart, click the Day Pass tab. There you'll see a drop-down list showing all of the available counties.

A day pass gives you 24 hours of access to a county, including most of the features of the Silver package. To add a Day Pass, select the county from the drop down list and click "Add County".

As you add Monthly Subscriptions or Day Passes to your service, those counties will be listed in your shopping cart. A running total of the cost will be displayed, including any applicable discounts.

Each item in the shopping cart shows whether that county is currently selected as a monthly subscription or a Day Pass. If you need to remove any items from your cart prior to checking out, click the "Remove from Cart" button next to that item. Selecting the Gold package will cause a single "All Counties" item to be added to the cart.

Because the Gold package gives you access to all counties, any items in the cart at the time you select the Gold package will be removed since they are already included in the "All Counties" item. If the "All Counties" item is in your cart and you decide to go back to selecting individual counties, start by changing the package type. You will then be able to add individual counties again.

Once your cart contains all the services you wish to purchase, click on the "Check Out" button to proceed to the checkout.

What Services are Included in each Package?

All subscriptions on DataScoutPro are offered in three levels of service - Bronze, Silver, and Gold. A one day pass is available and includes most of the features of the silver package. To find out more please check out our "Package Details Page".

► Pricing

How Do I Pay for My Subscription?

All payments are processed securely through Paypal, but you do not need to have a Paypal account in order to make a payment. Anytime you use the DataScoutPro shopping cart for a new subscription or to edit your current subscription and a payment needs to be made, clicking on the "Check Out" button will send you to Paypal to make a payment.

If you have a Paypal account and would like to use it to make the payment, you will be able to sign in to your Paypal account and use any of your Paypal funding options to make the payment.

If you do not have a Paypal account, you will be able to use any major credit card. You can simply enter the credit card account information and a billing address to make the payment securely.

How Does the Pricing Work?

The Bronze and Silver packages available on DataScoutPro each have a base price and a price for additional counties. For example, the base price for the Silver package is $30 per month. This includes access to one county. Each additional county that is added to the package costs $15 a month. This means that if you subscribe to the Silver package with 2 counties, the total monthly cost will be $45. The Bronze package has a base price of $20 a month for one county with each additional county costing $10 per month.

The Gold package is available for $150 a month and includes all counties currently available on DataScoutPro. If a new county is added to the site, subscribers to the Gold package will receive access to the new county for no additional cost.

Discounts are available for all packages based on the length of service selected. A three month subscription receives a 5% discount, a six month subscription receives a 10% discount, and a twelve month subscription receives a 20% discount.

A Day Pass is available for $10 per county. Day Passes provide most of the features available in the Silver Package and are good for 24 hours. If you are currently a monthly subscriber, you must have the Silver package to add a Day Pass to your account.

There are no set-up fees.

All subscriptions to DataScoutPro.com allow unlimited access 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. You will not be charged extra for the amount of time spent logged on to the site or the number of searches performed.

For more details on pricing and features for each package, refer to the Features page.

► Reports

What Information is Included in each Report?

• Residential Property Listing Report - The Property listing report provides short summaries of each parcel in the search results along with a statistical summary of all parcels in the search results. Click here to see a Residential Property Listing report

  

• Commercial Property Listing Report - The Commercial Property listing report provides a one-line summary for each parcel along with building details for each card. Click here to see a Commercial Property Listing report

  




• Land Sales Report - The Land Sales report provides individual sales information for each parcel in the search results along with a statistical summary of all parcels in the search results. Click here to see a Land Sales report

  




• Property Details Report - The Property Details report shows all the details available for a property. This information will include transfers, acreage, assessed value, building sketch, and any available photos. Click here to see a Property Details report

  



• Residential Sales Report - The Residential Sales Report proved basic transfer information, along with living area, acreage, and calculated price per square foot. Click here to see a Residential Sales report

  




• Commercial Sales Report - The Commercial Sales Report provides basic transfer information, along with occupancy, floor area, and calculated price per square foot. This report also includes a statistical summary of all parcels in the search results. Click here to see a Property Details report

  

I can't run the Sales Report

The Sales Report and Land Sales report are available to users with either the Silver or Gold package or a Day Pass. If you currently have the Bronze package, you will need to upgrade your package to gain access to the Sales reports.

When a search is performed without anything entered into the Property Transfers Information fields, the search results won't necessarily have been involved in a transfer and therefore the Sales reports aren't available. When the Sales reports are unavailable, they will not appear in the list of available reports. All available reports for the current search results are listed on the left hand side of the search results page.

In order to make the Sales reports available, you must limit your search to sold properties by entering search criteria into the Transfers fields on the search page. If you wish to search for all sold properties without limiting the search to a sale price or sale date, simply enter a "0" in the minimum Sale Price field.

In order to make the Land Sales report available, you will need to limit your search to Land Sales Only by selecting that option in the Transfers section of the search page.

► Searching

Can I view my recent searches?

Yes! Once you are logged in, a Prev. Searches option will appear on the navigation bar at the top of the screen. Move the mouse over this option and a list of your 15 most recent searches will appear. Each item in the list will show when the search was performed, how many results were found, and a brief summary of the search criteria. Click on a previous search to view the results. The full search criteria will be displayed at the top of the search results page.

Can I Set Search Preferences?

Search preferences allow you to specify:

• whether search tips appear on the search page

• whether you usually search for residential or commercial properties

• whether you usually search for vacant or improved properties

• which counties are checked by default

In order to set your preferences, log in to your account and click on the My Account button on the left side of the page. From your account page, click on the "Edit My Options" link to the right of your account information. This will take you to the Options page. You can also reach the Option page by clicking the "Change Options" link above the list of counties on your search page.

On the options page, you will see several fields. Use the check boxes and drop-down menus to specify your search options. Once you have set your desired options, click the Update Preferences button to save any changes.

Available Options
Show Tips on Search Page	Next to most search items there is a blue circle with a question mark inside when the cursor hovers over this blue circle, searching tips appear. These tips can be helpful when learning the details of searching. If you would prefer that these tips not appear, remove the check mark from this option.
Default Property Type	If you usually limit your searches to Residential Only or Commercial Only, you may select that option here. Once you have done this, that property type will automatically be selected when performing a search. Setting a default property type will not keep you from changing the property type for a search, it will only determine what is automatically selected when you first access the search page.
	If you usually limit your searches to Vacant Only or Improved Only, you may select that option here. Once you have done this, that option will automatically be selected when performing a search. Setting a default option will not keep you from changing the option for a particular search, it only determine what is automatically selected when you first access the search page.
Counties auto-checked for searching	If you usually limit your searches to certain counties, you may select those counties here. Once you have done this, those counties will automatically be selected when performing a search. Setting default search counties will not keep you from changing the selected counties for a search, it will only determine which ones are automatically selected when you first access the search page.

How do I Perform a Search?

In order to perform a search, you must have registered and either purchased a Day Pass or signed up for a subscription to the DataScoutPro website.

Once you have a subscription and are logged in, click the "Search Data" option on the navigation bar at the top of the window.

This will take you to the Search page where you will see the following criteria:

• Property Type - On the left side of the search page, there are two drop-down menus that allow you to limit the search to Residential only or Commercial Only. The second drop down list is used to limit results to either Improved only or Vacant only.

  

  If you have the Silver or Gold package or a Day Pass, when you select Residential or Commercial only, the search fields unique to that property type will appear.

• Choose a County - On the left side of the search page, directly below the Property Type menus, you will see a list of all the counties you currently have access to.

  

  Beside each county's name is a check box. A search may be performed on as many or as few of your counties as you wish. To include a county in the search, be sure there is a check in the box next to the county's name. If you wish to search all counties, you may do this by selecting the "Search All" option.

• General Property Information - The ability to search by General Property information is available to all subscribers.

  

  When searching for a specific property, it is not necessary to enter information into all fields. It is often best to enter as little information as is necessary to uniquely identify the parcel. When a Parcel Number or Property ID is available, this is usually enough information to locate the parcel.

• Owner Mailing Address Information - Searching Mailing Address information is available to all subscribers.

  

• Property Transfers Information - These search fields are available to subscribers with the Silver or Gold package or a Day Pass.

  

  If you wish to include all sold properties, you can enter a "0" in the minimum sale price field.

• Residential / Commercial Property Information - These search fields are available to subscribers with the Silver or Gold package or a Day Pass. These search fields are specific to either Residential or Commercial properties and will only appear once the search has been limited to either Residential Only or Commercial Only.

Residential Property Information

Commercial Property Information

Once you have entered all applicable criteria, click the "View Results" button. If no results are returned, or if too many results were returned, a message will appear on the screen. Otherwise, you will be taken to the results page where you can scan through the list of results, view property details, or run reports.

How do I search in Multiple Counties?

On the right side of the Search page, you will see a list of all the counties you currently have access to.

Beside each county name is a check box. A search may be performed on as many or as few of your counties as you wish. To include a county in the search, be sure there is a check in the box next to the county's name. If you wish to search all counties, select the "Search All" option.

To see when a county's data was last updated, hover your mouse over the county's name.

What Information Can I Search On?

Search Criteria available to ALL subscribers:

• General Property Information - The ability to search by General Property information is available to all subscribers.

  

• Owner Mailing Address Information - Searching Mailing Address information is available to all subscribers.

  

  Search Criteria available to subscribers with Silver, or Gold package:

• Property Transfers Information - These search fields are available to subscribers with either the Silver or Gold Package or a Day Pass.

  

• Residential / Commercial Property Information - These search fields are available to subscribers with either the Silver or Gold Package or a Day Pass. These search fields are specific to either Residential or Commercial properties and will only appear once the search has been limited to either Residential Only or Commercial Only.

Residential Property Information

Commercial Property Information

To learn more about performing searches, click here.

Why are My Exempt Properties Not Coming Up?

By default exempt properties are excluded when running a search. If you would like to include exempt properties in your search you will need to check the "Include Exempts?" checkbox which is located in the "Search On General Property Information" section of the Search page.

► Troubleshooting

I can't find what I'm looking for.

Often, entering too much information can keep you from finding the parcel you're looking for. When searching for a specific property, it is not necessary to enter information into all fields. It is best to enter as little information as is necessary to uniquely identify the parcel.

When either a Parcel Number or Property ID is available, this is usually enough information to locate the parcel. When entering a parcel number, you should include any dashes that appear in the number. Most, although not all, parcel numbers are formatted as 000-00000-000. If you're entering a parcel number in this format (including the dashes), and you're still unable to locate the parcel, you can try searching for the middle five digits. This may cause the search to have multiple results, but a quick scan of the search results should be enough to locate what you're looking for. If you are still unable to locate a record by parcel number, verify that the parcel number is correct and has been entered as it appears.

Additional Search Tips:

• If you have the name, address, subdivision, and acreage for a property and you want to find out more information, it is not necessary to enter in all of this information on the search page. In many cases, searching by name only or address only will allow you to find the property you're looking for.




• If you can't find a property based on the owner's first and last name, try searching by last name and first initial. For example, John Doe may be listed in the county records as "Jonathan Doe". Searching by Last name = "Doe" and First name ="Jo" might be more effective.




• If you are having trouble locating a property by address, make sure you are entering only the name of the street and not the "St.", "Dr", "Ave", etc.
  
  

I signed up, but I can't search.

In order to perform searches, you must register for an account and pay for either a monthly subscription or a Day Pass. Day Passes are available for $10. When you register for an account, you will automatically be taken to the shopping cart where you can select the counties you would like to be able to search.

If you are already registered, but have not yet subscribed, refer to the help topic "How Do I Subscribe?" for more information.

If you need help registering for an account, refer to the help section on Signing Up.

I can't search by property details.

The ability to search property details is available to users with either the Silver or Gold packages or a Day Pass. Because the property detail search fields are specific to either Residential or Commercial properties, those fields will only appear once the search has been limited to either Residential Only or Commercial Only.

If you currently have either the Silver or Gold package or a Day Pass, you can search on property details by limiting the property type to either Residential Only or Commercial Only on the left side of the search page. Once you have done this, the applicable Property detail search fields will appear at the bottom of the page.

Residential Property Information

Commercial Property Information