For a manufactured home in Travis County, match the home in Texas’s Statement of Ownership records and then look for the recorded real-property election in the County Clerk’s real-property records. The state document identifies the home and its ownership record; the county filing is the land-record step when real-property treatment was elected. Join the two only when the home identifier and legal description agree; an address or parcel match is a starting point.
Find the home by its own identifiers
Start with the HUD label, Texas seal or full serial number rather than only the street address. The Texas Department of Housing and Community Affairs (TDHCA) tells buyers to check its homeownership records for current ownership and recorded mortgage or tax liens, and asks them to have the complete serial and label or seal number. Its Statement of Ownership FAQ explains how to find and print a certificate by label or serial number.
Record the home identifier, certificate number, owner, installation county and elected treatment shown in the state file. Older paperwork may say Certificate of Title or Statement of Ownership and Location; TDHCA explains that these are earlier terms in its ownership system. Keep an older document even when its heading differs from a current Statement of Ownership. If the identifier conflicts with a sales document, resolve the home identity with TDHCA before interpreting the land file.
Match a real-property election to the county recording
When the state file identifies a real-property election, locate the corresponding county recording. This is a records check for an existing filing. The Travis County Clerk maintains real-property records and provides a search and copy route. Follow the Clerk’s Public Records Search link, keeping the owner name, legal description and any known instrument reference ready. If the linked index fails to load, ask the County Clerk’s office for help with the search. If it remains unavailable, ask the Clerk for the search-and-copy route for the named document. Keep the returned instrument number, recording date and legal description with the state certificate. If these do not identify the same home and parcel, the mismatch remains open.
For the elected real-property status, TDHCA’s Manufactured Housing Division contact page asks for a copy of the Statement of Ownership recorded with the county clerk to perfect the election. That is a second custody check after the county filing. Read the actual recorded instrument and check what TDHCA’s record currently shows as well.
Consider an illustrative sale packet listing a manufactured home’s full serial number and a tract’s street address. The TDHCA certificate shows the home under that number, while the Clerk search returns a recorded document for the seller’s name on a neighboring tract. The shared name is only a start: compare the recorded legal description, home identification and instrument date. If the legal description points elsewhere, keep the state and county results separate until the Clerk or TDHCA can resolve the mismatch.
A parcel may also appear in a City of Austin property profile or zoning-letter file when it is within city jurisdiction. That planning record answers allowed-use questions; home ownership and a recorded real-property election come from TDHCA and the Clerk. Maintain one row for home ownership, one for the county instrument, and one for any local development permit.
If the state certificate or county recording is missing
- State result, no county instrument: verify the names, legal description and expected recording date with the Travis County Clerk. Ask TDHCA whether it has the recorded copy for the election.
- County instrument, no state match: recheck every home label or serial-number section; ask TDHCA to resolve an identifier or certificate discrepancy.
- Only an installation or building permit: keep that permit as a separate construction record. The County’s manufactured-home permit page concerns land outside corporate city limits and is labelled “Expired.” Confirm the current development-record route with its contact office; the ownership election record stays a separate item.
The City of Austin permit search may help with a different construction question if the site was inside city jurisdiction. Ownership questions still go to the Travis Clerk and TDHCA.
TDHCA and Travis County pages checked October 18, 2026.