DataTree TotalView: A Property Research Tool for Mortgage Note Investors

What Is DataTree TotalView?

DataTree TotalView is a property data report offered by First American through its DataTree platform. For approximately $10 per report, it delivers a consolidated snapshot of a property's ownership, valuation, open liens, tax status, transfers, comparable sales, and market trends. For mortgage note investors running due diligence on individual assets or small tapes, it is one of the most efficient ways to pull multiple research data points into a single view.

The TotalView report is not a replacement for a full title search or a boots-on-the-ground BPO. It is a screening tool -- a way to confirm or challenge the data on your tape before you commit to more expensive research steps. Used correctly, it accelerates the early stages of due diligence and catches red flags that would otherwise require visiting multiple county websites and data sources.

What Data Does the TotalView Report Include?

The report is organized into several sections, each serving a distinct purpose in your analysis.

Owner Name and Mailing Address

The first thing you see is the current property owner and their mailing address. This is immediately useful for two reasons. First, it confirms whether the borrower on your data tape still owns the property -- a critical check for determining whether your loan is secured by real collateral. If the owner name does not match the borrower on the tape, you may be looking at an unsecured obligation with a fraction of the value.

Second, the mailing address reveals occupancy status. If the mailing address matches the subject property address, the property is likely owner-occupied. If the mailing address is different, the property is non-owner occupied. You still need additional research -- skip tracing, credit reports, or a door knock -- to determine whether it is tenant-occupied or vacant, but this single data point gives you a fast initial read on occupancy.

Automated Valuation Model (AVM)

TotalView includes an AVM-generated value range for the property. On one report reviewed in the video, the range was $238,000 to $284,000. On another, it stretched from $367,000 to $605,000 -- a spread wide enough to be almost useless on its own.

The AVM is a starting point, not a conclusion. Automated models lack the nuance of a manual comparable sales analysis where you can adjust for lot size, square footage, condition, and recent renovation. Use the TotalView AVM as a sanity check against your own valuation work. If the AVM range and your manual comps are in the same neighborhood, you have reasonable confidence. If they diverge significantly, dig deeper.

Open Liens

This is the most valuable section of the report for note investors. The open liens section shows all recorded mortgages, deeds of trust, and other encumbrances currently on title. For each lien, you can see the origination date, the original loan amount, the lender, and the document type.

When you are buying a second lien position, this section tells you whether the first position mortgage matches the data you expected. Is the origination amount correct? Is the origination date consistent with the tape? Does the lender make sense? If the first lien on title is a $247,000 Bank of America mortgage originated in 2008 and your tape shows the same, you have confirmation that the senior is where you thought it was.

The open liens section also reveals the assignment chain. In the example from the video, a Bank of America first lien was transferred to Federal National Mortgage Association, then to Nationstar Mortgage LLC, with assignments recorded in 2014 and 2019. Tracing this chain confirms that the senior lien is properly documented in public records -- and that the chain of title for the mortgage ahead of you is intact.

How Does the Open Lien Data Help With Secured Status?

When the current owner on the TotalView report does not match your borrower, that is an immediate red flag. In one example from the video, the owner was listed as FHLM (Freddie Mac). That meant the property had been foreclosed by a senior entity and was now REO. The second lien being evaluated was unsecured -- wiped out by the senior foreclosure and the subsequent tax situation. The open liens section confirmed it: no active mortgages on the property because the new owner held it free and clear.

This kind of finding can save you from buying a worthless unsecured obligation. Without the TotalView report, you would need to visit the county recorder's website, search by APN, and manually piece together the same picture. The report consolidates that work into a few pages.

How Does TotalView Compare to Free County Research?

Everything in the TotalView report can, in theory, be found through free public records research. County assessor websites, recorder's offices, and tax portals all contain the underlying data. The question is whether the $10 cost is justified by the time savings.

For investors screening a handful of loans, the math favors TotalView. Pulling owner information, lien data, tax status, and comparable sales from four or five different county websites can take 30 to 60 minutes per property -- assuming the county has a functional online portal. Some counties have excellent digital records. Others require phone calls or in-person visits. TotalView normalizes that experience into a consistent, predictable format regardless of county.

For investors who want to build deeper familiarity with how individual counties present their data, doing the manual research is a worthwhile exercise. You learn the quirks of each county's system, which makes you faster and more confident when you need to verify something the report says. The recommended approach: do the free research yourself on your first several deals in each county, then layer in TotalView when you are comfortable enough to trust-but-verify rather than build-from-scratch.

One important caveat: the TotalView report is not always 100% accurate. Foreclosure status, listing data, and even document images can be incomplete or outdated. The report should be treated as a research accelerator, not a source of truth. Always verify critical findings against the county's own records.

What About the Property Tax Section?

The TotalView report includes a tax status section, but its reliability varies by county. In one example from the video, the tax status read "unknown" -- which provides no actionable insight. In counties where the data feeds are current, you will see whether taxes are paid, delinquent, or in a sale process. When the section works, it is a fast way to flag tax lien risk without navigating to a separate county tax portal.

Why Tax Monitoring Is Non-Negotiable

The video includes a cautionary case study that drives this point home. A first position loan had a property worth approximately $33,000 protecting an unpaid principal balance of just $7,000. The outstanding property taxes were only $450. A tax sale certificate was purchased at auction for that amount, and because the taxes were never redeemed, the tax deed was issued to the certificate holder. The lender lost all equity -- roughly $32,000 of potential value -- because $450 in taxes went unpaid.

The timeline of notices was clear: tax sale certificate issued, notice of right to redeem, petition for issuance of tax deed, and finally the order for issuance. Multiple opportunities existed to pay off the taxes and protect the lien position. In this case, the loan had a relatively low balance compared to other assets in the portfolio, and it fell through the cracks of a triage system that prioritized higher-balance accounts.

The lesson is direct: monitor property taxes on every first position loan you own, regardless of balance. If the borrower is deceased, the urgency increases dramatically because there is no one actively looking out for the property. A licensed servicer can advance tax payments as a corporate advance that gets added to the borrower's loan balance, but only if the situation is identified in time.

For second lien holders, the first position mortgage serves as a buffer. Most senior lenders escrow property taxes and pay them from the escrow account, which means the tax exposure is lower for junior lien investors. But "lower" is not "zero" -- always verify.

How Should You Use TotalView in Your Due Diligence Workflow?

TotalView fits best in the early-to-middle stages of due diligence, after you have completed your initial tape screening but before you order expensive reports like BPOs or full title searches.

Step 1: Screen the Tape

Use free AVMs and basic data tape analysis to eliminate obvious non-starters. Filter by geography, balance, lien position, and any other criteria specific to your investment thesis.

Step 2: Run TotalView on Your Short List

For the loans that survive your initial screen, order TotalView reports. Confirm owner name, check the AVM range against your own estimates, review open liens for consistency with the tape, and flag any tax issues.

Step 3: Verify and Expand

Anything in the TotalView report that raises a question should be verified against the county's own records. If the open liens look clean and the owner matches your borrower, you have increased confidence to move forward. If something does not line up -- an unexpected lien, an owner name mismatch, delinquent taxes -- you either dig deeper or move on.

Step 4: Order Higher-Cost Reports

For deals that clear the TotalView screen, proceed to BPOs, O&E reports, credit pulls, and other more expensive due diligence steps. By this point, you have already eliminated a significant portion of the duds, and the dollars you spend on deeper research are going toward loans with real potential.

What About the Comparable Sales and Market Data?

TotalView includes a comparable sales section and market trend charts. The comps show recently sold properties in the area with basic details like sale price, square footage, and sale date. The market charts display price trends with directional arrows.

These sections are useful for a quick gut check, but they are not where you should base your valuation. The comparable sales in the report lack the granularity you get from a manual review on Zillow or a similar platform, where you can filter by beds, baths, lot size, square footage, and year built. You can also toggle to the map view, see the geographic proximity of each comp to your subject property, and pull up Google Street View to assess condition.

The recommended workflow for property valuation remains a manual comparable sales analysis supplemented by the TotalView AVM as a directional reference. Use the report's comps to identify properties worth investigating further, then do the detailed comparison yourself.

What Can You Learn From the Assignment and Transfer History?

The transfers and conveyances section of the TotalView report shows the ownership history of the property -- who bought it, when, and for how much. This is useful for understanding the property's value trajectory and confirming that the chain of title makes sense.

In one example, a property was purchased for $315,000 in 2005, then sold for $324,000 in 2008. By the time of the report, the AVM suggested values well above those purchase prices. Tracking this progression gives you confidence (or concern) about the direction of the market in that specific location.

The assignment chain for the mortgages is equally important. In the video, a second position loan had a subordination agreement on record, which confirmed it was properly subordinated behind a refinanced first lien. The original first mortgage of $259,000 was released (satisfied) in 2012 when the borrower refinanced into a new $247,000 first lien. The second lien was subordinated to maintain its junior position behind the new first.

Understanding subordination is critical for junior lien investors. If a second lien was originated before a first lien and was never properly subordinated, it could technically hold priority -- a situation that sometimes leads to title claims against the original title company. These edge cases are rare, but the TotalView report gives you the document history to spot them.

How Does This Fit Into the Bigger Picture?

DataTree TotalView is one tool in a broader technology stack that makes the mortgage note business operable from anywhere with a computer and an internet connection. The video walks through a high-level overview of the tools and services that, combined, allow a note investor to source deals, perform due diligence, manage servicing, and execute resolutions.

The key takeaway is not that TotalView is the best or only tool for property research. It is that having a systematic approach to property data -- where each tool serves a specific purpose at a specific stage of your process -- is what separates efficient investors from those who either overspend on research or miss critical data points.

For roughly $10 per property, TotalView gives you a consolidated starting point that covers ownership, valuation, liens, taxes, transfers, and market context. It is not a substitute for county-level verification, manual comp analysis, or professional title work. But as a screening tool that accelerates the middle of your due diligence workflow, it earns its place in the toolkit.