Editorial Policy

1. Editorial Mission

countycadpropertysearch.org/ exists to make Texas CAD property-search portals usable by non-experts. The audience is broad: a Texas homeowner trying to figure out why their NOAV market value jumped; a buyer running last-minute due diligence under contract; a senior verifying over-65 exemption status; a disabled veteran confirming the 100% disabled veteran exemption applied; a rancher checking whether 1-d-1 open-space valuation is still active; a property tax consultant pulling client data for ARB protest preparation. Every property-search walkthrough is written so a non-expert can find the right CAD, search by address or owner or property ID, read the result, and decide what to do next.

2. The Manual-Verification Standard

Every Texas CAD, every property-search URL, every search-method walkthrough, every result-field explanation, every exemption procedure, every ARB protest deadline on countycadpropertysearch.org/ is verified by a human editor against the CAD's own published portal and cross-checked against the Texas Comptroller PTAD reference. We do not auto-scrape. We do not pull from third-party data brokers. Every detail is human-verified before publication and re-verified on a quarterly cycle.

3. Independence

We are not affiliated with any Texas Central Appraisal District, the Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts Property Tax Assistance Division (PTAD), the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation (TDLR), the Texas Association of Appraisal Districts (TAAD), the Texas Association of Assessing Officers (TAAO), the Texas Appraiser Licensing and Certification Board (TALCB), the International Association of Assessing Officers (IAAO), the Appraisal Foundation (administering USPAP), or any commercial property-records aggregator, title company, Texas property tax consulting firm, or real estate platform.

Our publication is privately operated and editorially independent. Decisions about what to cover, how to describe CAD search procedures, and what to link to are made by editorial staff, not by advertisers, agencies, or commercial partners.

4. Six-Tier Source Hierarchy

Every Texas CAD property-search walkthrough is built using a tested source hierarchy. Higher-tier sources govern when sources conflict.

5. Eight-Step Verification Process

1. Identify the right authoritative source. The CAD’s official portal, plus the Texas Comptroller PTAD, plus the relevant section of the Texas Property Tax Code.
2. Verify URLs are live. A human editor clicks every link before publication.
3. Walk through the property search. An editor performs a real property search on the CAD’s portal — by address, by owner, by property ID — to confirm every step matches the current interface.
4. Document the identifier format. Record how the CAD’s property ID / account number / geographic ID is formatted, where to find it on common documents, how to enter it correctly.
5. Document the result-page fields. Every value and status field on the search result, with the Texas Property Tax Code citation that defines it.
6. Cross-check exemption procedures. Against the CAD’s published exemption forms and Texas Comptroller PTAD reference.
7. Cross-check ARB protest procedure and deadline. Against the CAD’s protest forms, Tex. Tax Code §41.41–§41.71, and the current PTAD ARB Manual.
8. Editor sign-off. A second editor reviews end-to-end, including a fresh check on the FCRA non-CRA notice and the “verify with CAD before relying” caveat.

6. Texas Legislative Cycle & Code Revisions

The Texas Legislature meets biennially in odd-numbered years. Property tax legislation passed during a session typically takes effect on September 1 of the same year, or for major reforms the next tax year. The Texas Property Tax Code is amended every session. Major recent reforms include the 2023 increases to the residence homestead exemption ($100,000 school district exemption) and related circuit-breaker style limits. We track Texas property-tax legislation each session:

• Pre-session tracking of major property-tax bills filed
• Mid-session monitoring of property-tax bills moving through committee
• Post-session full review and content update for all enacted property-tax legislation
• Coordination with Texas Comptroller PTAD’s post-session guidance
• Watching for emergency rules or implementation guidance from the Comptroller

Even with this discipline, we cannot guarantee every detail is current at every moment. The CAD’s published page and the current Texas Property Tax Code are always the authoritative current reference.

7. Corrections

• Acknowledge within 1 business day. Every correction email gets a human acknowledgement.
• Verify within 7 business days. We re-check against the CAD’s own page and respond.
• Expedited path for actively-broken CAD portal URLs. Portal URLs that don’t work get a 48-hour target.
• Material corrections are noted. Where a substantive fact has changed, the page is updated and the next review timestamp is reset.
• We do not retroactively edit history. If a page is materially wrong, we fix the current version and note the correction at the bottom for at least 30 days.

8. FCRA Editorial Line

Editorial content on countycadpropertysearch.org/ is structured around the FCRA non-CRA position. We do not write content that frames Texas CAD property records as a substitute for a CRA-issued consumer report. We do not describe Texas property data as suitable for tenant screening, employment background checks, credit decisions, or insurance underwriting. We do not link to or partner with operations that market Texas property data for FCRA-permissible-purpose decisions. Every CAD guide includes the FCRA reminder.

9. Conflicts of Interest

Editorial staff do not hold financial interests in: any third-party property-records aggregator, “people search” operation, tenant-screening service, title insurance company, or Texas property tax consulting firm whose listing or services we describe. Editorial staff currently employed by a Texas CAD, the Texas Comptroller PTAD, or TDLR are recused from editing pages covering that office.

10. No Paid Placement, No “Preferred Listings”

The order in which CADs, professional services, or related organisations appear in any guide on the site is editorial — alphabetical, geographic, or by category — and does not imply quality, recommendation, or preference. We do not accept payment for inclusion. We do not accept payment for higher placement. We do not accept “sponsored” content on CAD walkthroughs. We specifically do not accept advertising from operations that market Texas property records for FCRA-permissible-purpose decisions, or from unlicensed property tax representation services operating in violation of Tex. Occ. Code Ch. 1152.

11. AI & Automation Policy

We use software tools for spell-check, grammar review, and routine drafting assistance. However, no editorial fact, URL, exemption deadline, ARB procedure, address, phone number, walkthrough step, or result-field explanation on countycadpropertysearch.org/ is published from AI without human verification against the CAD's own published page. Every page passes through human editorial review, including the eight-step verification process. We do not auto-generate or auto-publish CAD guides.

12. Commercial Position

The site is funded by display advertising. The official CAD link always comes first on every page, before any commercial reference. We do not take advertising from:

• Operations marketing Texas property records for FCRA-permissible-purpose decisions
• “People search” operations that aggregate public records into searchable consumer profiles
• Operations charging for access to records that the CAD provides free
• Operations misrepresenting themselves as official CADs or Texas authorities
• Unlicensed property tax representation services (Texas requires TDLR licensure under Tex. Occ. Code Ch. 1152)
• Title-insurance or title-search operations not licensed in Texas
• Foreclosure-list and tax-sale-list aggregators that misrepresent the official Texas tax-sale process

13. Editorial Staff & Bylines

countycadpropertysearch.org/ operates under a unified editorial byline ("countycadpropertysearch.org/ Editorial") because CAD walkthroughs are produced and reviewed by multiple editors. For specific source attribution on any factual statement, see the page's footnotes or contact us.