Where the Data Comes From
Every data point on the [Austin Signals dashboard](/) originates from a public record. We don't buy leads, we don't scrape private databases, and we don't guess. We collect, clean, enrich, and present data that is part of the public record — data that any person could theoretically access by visiting the Travis County Clerk's office or navigating a series of government websites.
The difference is that accessing this data manually would take hours per day, require navigating multiple disconnected systems, and still leave you with raw filing data that lacks the property details, owner information, and analytical context that make it actionable.
Austin Signals automates that entire process and delivers the result in a dashboard that you can search, filter, and act on in minutes.
Here's exactly how it works.
The Primary Sources
Source 1: Travis County Clerk — Real Property Records
The Travis County Clerk's office maintains records of all real property filings in the county. This includes deeds, liens, lis pendens, and — critically for our purposes — notices related to the foreclosure process.
We monitor the Clerk's recording system daily for new filings in the following categories:
Lis Pendens: A notice that a lawsuit affecting the property has been filed. In the foreclosure context, a lis pendens indicates that the lender has initiated legal proceedings. This is typically the earliest public signal that a property may be headed to foreclosure.
Notice of Default: A formal notice from the lender to the borrower that they're in breach of the mortgage agreement. Not all states require this filing, but when it appears in Texas, it's a strong signal.
Notice of Substitute Trustee: This filing appoints a substitute trustee to conduct the foreclosure sale. It's a procedural step, but its appearance means the foreclosure is progressing.
Notice of Trustee Sale: The final notice before auction. This document specifies the date, time, and location of the trustee sale. Texas law requires at least 21 days' notice.
When a new filing appears, we capture: the filing date, document type, property legal description, borrower name, lender name, and trustee information.
Source 2: Travis County Tax Assessor-Collector
The Tax Assessor-Collector maintains records of all property tax accounts in Travis County. We pull data on:
•Current tax status: Is the account current, delinquent, or under a payment plan?
•Delinquency history: How many years of back taxes are owed, and what's the total amount?
•Tax suit status: Has the county filed a suit to collect the delinquent taxes?
Tax delinquency data is updated regularly and cross-referenced with our foreclosure filing data. A property with both a lis pendens and multi-year tax delinquency receives a significantly higher [Intelligence Score](/blog/distress-score-explained) than one with either signal alone.
Source 3: City of Austin Code Department
The City of Austin Code Department maintains records of code complaints, violations, and enforcement actions. We track:
•Active violations: What violations are currently open on the property?
•Violation history: What violations have been opened and closed over the past several years?
•Violation type and severity: Is it a cosmetic issue (tall grass) or a structural issue (roof damage, foundation problems)?
Code violation data adds an important dimension to the Intelligence Score. A property with a foreclosure filing AND active code violations tells a very different story than one with a foreclosure filing alone — it suggests a property the owner has disengaged from at multiple levels. For more on this signal, see our guide on [code violations and motivated sellers](/blog/code-violations-motivated-sellers).
Source 4: City of Austin Development Services (Building Permits)
We pull building permit data from the City's development services records:
•Permit type: New construction, renovation, demolition, foundation repair, etc.
•Permit date: When was the permit filed?
•Permit status: Active, finaled, expired, or abandoned?
•Permit value: The estimated cost of the permitted work
Permit data feeds into what we call the "permit desert" analysis — properties with no permit activity in 10+ years, which correlates strongly with deferred maintenance and, often, owner distress. See our [building permits as investment signals](/blog/building-permits-investment-signals) guide for details.
Source 5: Travis County Appraisal District (TCAD)
TCAD provides the property details that make raw filing data useful:
•Property characteristics: Bedrooms, bathrooms, square footage, lot size, year built, property type
•Appraised value: The county's assessed value (note: this may differ significantly from market value)
•Owner information: Name, mailing address, homestead exemption status
•Improvement history: Assessed improvements and their values
This data is cross-referenced with every filing to create the enriched property profiles you see on the dashboard.
How We Process the Data
Step 1: Collection
Our systems check each data source daily — in some cases, multiple times per day. New records are captured and timestamped.
Step 2: Normalization
Raw government data is messy. Addresses are formatted inconsistently. Owner names have typos. Legal descriptions don't always map cleanly to street addresses. Our normalization process standardizes this data so that a property at "4521 Maplewood Dr" in the Clerk's records matches the same property at "4521 Maplewood Drive, Austin TX 78745" in the TCAD records.
Step 3: Cross-Referencing
This is where the real value is created. We connect records across all five data sources using property identifiers (TCAD property IDs, addresses, and legal descriptions). A single property on the dashboard might have data from the Clerk (foreclosure filing), the Tax Assessor (delinquency status), the Code Department (violations), Development Services (permits), and TCAD (property details).
No individual data source provides this cross-referenced view. That's the gap Austin Signals fills.
Step 4: Scoring
Once all data is connected, the Intelligence Score algorithm evaluates each property across the [six scoring categories](/blog/distress-score-explained): foreclosure filings, tax delinquency, code violations, permit history, ownership signals, and market context. The score is recalculated whenever new data comes in.
Step 5: Delivery
Processed, scored properties appear on the [Austin Signals dashboard](/) within hours of the underlying filing being recorded. Email alerts go out based on user-configured criteria. The entire pipeline — from county recording to your inbox — typically takes 4-12 hours.
Why This Matters: Speed Comparison
| Method | Typical Delay from Filing |
|--------|--------------------------|
| Austin Signals | 4-12 hours |
| National aggregator (RealtyTrac, PropStream) | 2-6 weeks |
| Manual courthouse research | 0 days (if you go daily) |
| County website manual search | 1-3 days |
The 2-6 week delay from national aggregators is the most important number on this table. If you're using a service that pulls data from national databases, you're likely seeing filings that other Austin investors have already been working for weeks. By the time you call the homeowner, they may have already received offers from multiple investors.
Austin Signals closes that gap to hours, not weeks. In a competitive market, that speed advantage is often the difference between winning a deal and missing it entirely.
Data Quality and Limitations
We're transparent about what the data does and doesn't include:
What we provide:
•Filing dates, types, and details for all foreclosure-related recordings
•Tax delinquency status and amounts
•Active and historical code violations
•Building permit history
•Property details from TCAD
•Owner name and mailing address
What we don't provide:
•Owner phone numbers (available for many but not all properties — we source these from public directories and skip tracing partners)
•Interior property condition (code violations provide some signal, but a physical inspection is always necessary before making an offer)
•Exact mortgage balance (we estimate based on original loan amount and standard amortization; the actual payoff amount may differ)
We believe transparency about our data sources and limitations builds trust. You should always verify critical details (especially mortgage payoff amounts) directly with the title company before finalizing any offer.
The Austin Signals Advantage
The combination of speed, cross-referencing, and scoring is what makes Austin Signals different from any other data source available to Travis County investors.
You could replicate what we do manually — visiting the Clerk's office, searching the Tax Assessor's website, browsing the Code Department portal, pulling TCAD records, and building your own scoring model. But it would take 3-4 hours per day, and you'd still miss the cross-referencing that makes the data actionable.
Or you could use a national aggregator and accept the 2-6 week delay.
We built Austin Signals because neither option was good enough. Investors need fast, enriched, cross-referenced data — and they need it delivered in a format that supports immediate action.
Ready to find your next deal? [Start your 7-day free trial](/trial) and access every distress signal in Travis County.