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

If you are researching property in San Juan County, everything runs through Friday Harbor, the county’s only incorporated town. The County Auditor records deeds, deeds of trust, and plats. The County Assessor values every parcel, and the County Treasurer bills and collects the taxes. Together, they cover an archipelago of 175 named islands, with the records for all of them centralized on San Juan Island.

Ferries define this market, and so does scarcity. Homes range from Friday Harbor in-town lots to Orcas, Lopez, and Shaw farmsteads and some of Washington’s most valuable waterfront. Prices rank among the highest of any rural county in the state. Island parcels reward careful map work, which the county’s tools handle well.

Recent records reveal the underlying factors influencing the local real estate market, with a median home value of $695,700 and median rent of $1,281, alongside a median household income of $73,077 and a median real estate tax rate of 0.64 as a percentage of the property’s assessed value.

How to Look Up San Juan County Property Records

The county collects its resources in one Parcel Search and Maps. This portal stores the parcel search with owner details, taxes, valuations, and deed and sales records. It also connects to the Polaris web mapping portal and GIS downloads, as well as the online search for recorded documents, plats, surveys, and condominiums. The parcel number ties everything together.

Who Keeps San Juan County Property Records

The county manages property records under the Public Records Act, which requires the information to be accessible to the public. The county has divided the responsibilities among three elected officials:

• The San Juan County Auditor's Office, Recording Division, records and indexes deeds, plats, and surveys for reference. The original Mylar maps are stored in the Auditor’s Vault, while digital copies are archived in the Department of Natural Resources.

• The San Juan County Assessor’s Office is responsible for valuing all taxable real and personal property and overseeing exemptions. The Assessor’s website provides the line between tax delinquency, which is the responsibility of the Treasurer, and the recorded documents, which belong to the Auditor.

• San Juan County Treasurer’s Office collects property taxes, including the administration of autopay, and collects the state’s Real Estate Excise Tax on sales. Contact them at (360) 378-2171 or by visiting their office.

How to Search San Juan County Property Records Online

• Start with the parcel search on the Parcel Search and Maps hub. Look up the property by ID, parcel number, owner name, or address, and review the values, assessment history, and deed and sales history.

• Open Polaris to cross-reference the Parcel Search and Maps hub and its location on the island, which is especially important for shorelines, tidelands, or easements.

• Use the online document search with the owner’s name to review recorded plats, surveys, and condominiums, if any.

• Establish the current owner by reviewing the latest deed and working backward to ensure each owner appears in the grantee column before consulting the deed of trust, liens, and easements.

• Confirm the property’s tax status with the Treasurer at (360) 378-2171 to ensure there are no delinquencies that would incur penalties or county foreclosure after prolonged delinquency.

County Auditor: Deeds, Deeds of Trust, and Plats

The San Juan County Auditor is an elected public servant responsible for recording documents in the city of Friday Harbor and on all the islands. The state utilizes deeds of trust instead of mortgages, so any financed purchase will feature this security instrument. RCW 65.08 governs deeds of trust.

Document types recorded include:

• Warranty deeds, quitclaim deeds, and bargain-and-sale deeds

• Deeds of trust, reconveyances, and assignments

• Liens, land divisions, and boundary line modifications

• Surveys, short plats, long plats, and condominiums

• Legal name changes and county-generated documents

Records date back to the county’s formation in 1873, when it was split off from Whatcom County. The division observes a four-day public holiday schedule, so check before planning a trip to the islands.

County Assessor: Ownership, Values, and Parcel Data

The Assessor’s Office is responsible for valuing all parcels at 100 percent of the true and fair market value as mandated by Title 84 RCW. The Assessor's Office makes assessments annually, with field inspections conducted on a state-determined six-year cycle.

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 values with roll value history year by year

• Property images, characteristics, and sales history

• Current-use enrollment and exemption status

Open-space and farm enrollment under Chapter 84.34 RCW shapes many island parcels, taxing them on current use rather than market value.

County Treasurer: Taxes, Bills, and Payments

The Treasurer collects assessments for the county and all districts within its jurisdiction. The State of Washington allows the Treasurer to levy first-half taxes due on April 30 and second half on October 31, with delinquency resulting in interest and penalties under RCW 84.56.

The islands have some peculiar logistics that make paying taxes easier. Mail payments to the USPS box; carriers deliver to the street address. A secure drop box is available at the courthouse entrance on Second Street, and autopay automatically deducts second-half tax payments on October 27.

Property Tax in San Juan County: Levies, Exemptions, and Appeals

The 1 Percent Levy Limit and How Bills Are Set

The State of Washington allows regular levies up to an assessed value of 1 percent or $10 per $1,000, with an option for voter-approved excess levies for the school and other districts. The state also uses a 101 percent rule, which limits each district's revenue growth to 1 percent over the previous year, plus new construction.

This is not a levy cap but a revenue growth limitation. On the islands, the values can appreciate quickly, so parcels with higher growth than the district average will feature a bigger levy even though the district’s overall revenue growth is within the 1 percent.

Senior, Disabled, and Veteran Relief

The State of Washington offers one of the most considerable relief programs in the country, administered by the Assessor’s Office. Washington’s seniors, people with disabilities, and veterans may qualify for exemptions from excess levies and/or a freeze on the home's assessed value.

Specifically, a veteran with a 100 percent service-connected disability is entitled to the same homeowner’s exemption, and qualifying owners may receive a deferment of taxes as a lien at the interest rate. Refer to the Department of Revenue and the Assessor under RCW 84.36

Appealing Your Value

To appeal, contact the county Board of Equalization by July 1 or the date in the valuation notice, whichever is later, and have the State Board of Tax Appeals review the case. The owner must demonstrate the value based on comparable sales.

GIS Maps and Parcel Viewer

The county’s Polaris mapping portal is available to the public for all the islands, with GIS data available for download on the same portal. The State of Washington has digitized approximately 23,000 assessor field sheets and 20,000 historical deed records for the county for reference in the Washington State Digital Archives, available to the public.

Details available include:

• Parcel boundaries with ownership details for all the islands

• Assessment details tied to the parcel search records

• Shoreline, tidelands, and island reference layers

• GIS data for download by analysts

• Historical fieldsheets with assessment and permit detail for structures built before 2009

The parcel’s boundaries should be reviewed with the recorded plats, surveys, and/or a licensed surveyor.

Foreclosure and Tax Sales

Washington handles the two kinds of foreclosure very differently, and both matter for property research.

Trustee Foreclosure on Deeds of Trust

Washington uses deeds of trust rather than mortgages for secured loans, meaning home foreclosures are a matter of private law. After the default, the trustee initiates the sale under the Deed of Trust Act, RCW 61.24, without judicial intervention, announcing the sale details by recording the Notice of Default and Election to Sell with the Auditor’s Office. The trustee conducts the auction at a public location.

Judicial Tax Foreclosure by the Treasurer

The County Treasurer is authorized to initiate a tax foreclosure in the Superior Court under RCW 84.64 on parcels with delinquencies of three or more years, and the property is auctioned to satisfy the delinquency. Washington is not a tax-lien certificate state, meaning the county does not sell tax liens to investors; instead, the Treasurer initiates the foreclosure and puts the property up for auction.

Costs to Access Property Records

Cost to record a deed or access property records

RCW 82.45 establishes the state excise tax. The buyer-paid land bank tax is a local tax specific to San Juan County, Washington; therefore, if purchasing on an island, budget for this additional expense.

How to Record a Document

Recording procedures are governed by RCW 65.08, while deeds follow the requirements of RCW 64.04.020. Any Washington deed must be in writing, feature the signature of the grantor, be notarized, contain a legal description of the parcel, and the process consists of four steps:

• Formatting the document in accordance with the state rules, including the title at the top of the first page and the names of the grantor and grantee, an abbreviated version of the legal description, and the parcel number stated separately.

• Completing the REET affidavit and paying the land bank tax; the Treasurer must approve the excise taxes before the Auditor’s Office can record the conveyance of the property.

• Submitting the document for recording either at the public counter or by mail, along with the recording fees.

• Upon recording, the time-of-recordation stamp closes escrow on a sale. At the same time, the image becomes part of the permanent public record, and the original is returned to the address stated on the document.

FAQs

Quick Reference: Your San Juan County Property Records Checklist

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