Mason County, WA Property Records: Search Deeds, Owners, Tax Records, and Maps

If you are researching property in Mason County, you can find what you need with the Mason County Auditor's Office, which records deeds, deeds of trust, and plats. The County Assessor values each parcel, and the County Treasurer bills and collects the taxes. They span 959 acres and 92 acres of water from Hood Canal shellfish beaches to the Olympic foothills.

Almost 10 percent of the county is Puget Sound inlets and Hood Canal. From Shelton, the sole incorporated city and "Christmastown USA," to canal-front towns such as Hoodsport and Union, and commuter towns such as Belfair and Allyn. Timber and shellfish continue to work the land and tidelands.

Recent records reveal the underlying factors influencing the local real estate market, with a median home value of $351,000 and median rent of $1,268.5, alongside a median household income of $69,489 and a median real estate tax rate of 0.69 as a percentage of the property’s assessed value.

How to Look Up Mason County Property Records

Three main county agencies deal with property records. First, the Assessor's page links to a parcel search with values and descriptions. Second, the Treasurer's webpage has a parcel search tool that allows online tax payments. Third, the Auditor's recording office holds the actual recorded documents. You need the parcel number to search any of the databases, and it connects the information from each office.

Who Keeps Mason County Property Records

Washington property records sit at the county level, and the Public Records Act makes them public. Mason County splits the work among three elected offices:

• The mission statement of the Mason County Auditor's Office is, “To serve the public by providing excellence in election services, financial reporting, licensing, and recording of official documents by maintaining deeds, surveys, plats, short plats, large lot subdivisions, and liens (RCW 36.22.010).”

• The Mason County Assessor values each parcel and prides itself on one of the state's most transparent inspection programs. The fields indicate what area, if any, inspectors are currently working, what they're driving, and what they're checking.

• The Mason County Treasurer, on the same campus at(360) 427-9670, bills and collects property taxes and offers the online parcel search and payment tool. It also collects the state Real Estate Excise Tax (REET) on sales.

How to Search Mason County Property Records Online

• Start with a parcel search through the Assessor’s page. Look up the parcel by owner name or address, and note the parcel number, values, and characteristics.

• Take the owner name to the Auditor’s recorded documents page, and search the index by name, document type, or date.

• Check the latest deed with the current owner of the property, then check the deed from before the current owner, making sure all grantors match grantees in each one. Run the same index for all deeds of trust, liens, and easements.

• On canal and inlet properties, read for tideland conveyances and shellfish rights, which are listed in the same indexes and have a huge impact on this shoreline.

• Complete your search with the Treasurer at (360) 427-9670 to verify your tax status. Unpaid taxes build up interest, and penalties and long delinquency can result in a county foreclosure.

County Auditor: Deeds, Deeds of Trust, and Plats

The Mason County Auditor is an elected officer and acts as the recorder for Belfair and all unincorporated communities between Belfair and Hoodsport. Washington does not use mortgages; it uses deeds of trust.

Document types recorded include:

• Warranty deeds, quitclaim deeds, and real estate contracts

• Deeds of trust, reconveyances, and assignments

• Liens, lis pendens, and easements

• Surveys, plats, short plats, and large-lot subdivisions

• Military discharges and marriage records

The books began in 1854, when the county was formed from Thurston County as Sawamish County, and adopted its present name in 1864. Be advised of the practicalities: the public counter is open 9 to 4. The licensing and recording counters close for lunch on certain days, so check before heading there in the afternoon.

County Assessor: Ownership, Values, and Parcel Data

As required by Title 84 RCW, the Assessor determines the value of each parcel at 100% of true and fair market value. Values change year by year and are checked at least every six years by WAC 458-07-015. The office publishes its inspection program by area. Field appraisers drive marked white county vehicles, wear reflective vests and county ID, and perform exterior-only evaluations, which may include measuring and photographing.

Use the parcel search or contact the office to find:

• The current legal owner of any parcel

• The parcel number that links county record systems

• Assessed land, improvement, and total values

• Property characteristics, acreage, and inspection area

• Current-use and designated forest land status

The county has a long history of enrolling lands in Current-use and Designated Forest Land under Chapter 84.34 RCW, and the office conducts periodic compliance audits. The office sends correspondence to landowners about new timber management plans or income reports based on their location.

County Treasurer: Taxes, Bills, and Payments

The Treasurer collects and bills for the county and each district. The year is divided in half, with taxes due 4/30/2013 and 10/31/2013; delinquency charges interest and penalties as per RCW 84.56.

Property Tax in Mason County: Levies, Exemptions, and Appeals

The 1 Percent Levy Limit and How Bills Are Set

The Washington Constitution limits general levies to 1 percent of the property's assessed value, or $10 per $1,000. Voters can further increase this assessment through approved excess levies for various improvement districts. In addition, there is an overall levy limit: Each district can levy only 1.01 percent more than its revenues were in the previous year.

This is a revenue limit, not an assessment limit. Your assessment can increase with the reappraisal of waterfront property, and if your parcel increases more than the district average, it will take a larger share of the total levy.

Senior, Disabled, and Veteran Relief

Washington offers some of the most extensive relief programs for seniors, people with disabilities, and veterans. Tax exemptions for excess levies are available for persons age 61 or older, or who are disabled, with income below a certain percentage of median income for the county, as determined by the Assessor.

Veterans with a 100 percent service-connected disability are eligible for the same exemptions as seniors and disabled persons under the state constitution. In addition, a deferment program allows qualifying owners to defer tax payments as a lien against the property, with interest.

Information is available from the Department of Revenue and the Assessor, under RCW 84.36.

Appealing Your Value

Contact the Assessor's office at (360) 427-9670, Ext. 491, for information on how to understand the annual notice of value. Submit a formal appeal by July 1 or as indicated on the valuation notice to the county Board of Equalization. A further appeal is to the State Board of Tax Appeals, and the burden is on the owner to present comparable sales.

GIS Maps and Parcel Viewer

The county’s interactive mapping system and parcel layers are available at masoncountywa.gov and are linked to assessment records. For historical information, the state of Washington’s Digital Archives is the county repository, and the Department of Revenue maintains a directory of links to all counties’ sites.

Details available include:

• Parcel boundaries with ownership and acreage

• Assessment data tied to the parcel search

• Hood Canal and inlet shoreline reference layers

• Identify appraisal-area boundaries for the inspection cycle

• The State Archives digital copy of the county records

Here, shoreline and tidelands boundaries are particularly important and should be checked against plats, surveys, and a licensed survey before use.

Foreclosure and Tax Sales

Trustee Foreclosure on Deeds of Trust

Because Washington utilizes deeds of trust, most home foreclosures are non-judicial. Following a default, the trustee identified in the deed of trust initiates a trustee foreclosure sale by the Deed of Trust Act, RCW 61.24, rather than through the court system. The trustee also records notice of default and any sale with the auditor and conducts the sale at a public auction.

Judicial Tax Foreclosure by the Treasurer

The Mason County Treasurer can foreclose on properties delinquent on taxes for 3 or more years with the Superior Court under RCW 84.64, resulting in a public auction of the property (itself, not tax liens, as in some states).

Washington is not a tax-lien-certificate state, so the county does not sell liens; it sells the land itself if it remains delinquent.

Costs to Access Property Records

How to Record a Document

In writing, signed by the grantor, notarized, and containing a full legal description. The four-step process:

• Use Washington style format, with a 3” top margin on the 1st page, 1” margins on all other pages, and the parcel number above the legal description.

• Fill out the REET affidavit. The Treasurer must verify the excise tax is paid, or note the exemption, before the Auditor can record the conveyance.

• Submit in person or by mail (the office encourages this).

• When the image is recorded, it becomes part of the permanent indexed record and the original is sent back to the instrument's address.

FAQs

Quick Reference: Your Mason County Property Records Checklist

Key Contacts and Official Portals