Hillsborough County FL Property Search MCP Server

Hillsborough County FL Property Search MCP server

An MCP server that exposes the Hillsborough County, Florida Property Appraiser's public GIS property search — gis.hcpafl.org/PropertySearch — as tools an AI agent can call directly: Basic Search, Advanced Search, Sales Search, and full parcel detail lookup. Runs on the Apify platform in Standby mode, so it behaves like a normal always-on API endpoint rather than a one-shot batch job — with Apify handling scaling, monitoring, and pay-per-event billing for you.

Why use this?

• Owner/address/folio lookup for title research, due diligence, or lead generation.
• Advanced filtering (year built, square footage, value ranges, subdivision, zoning) for market analysis and comps.
• Sales history search by date/price range and qualified/unqualified status for appraisal and investment research.
• Full parcel detail — legal description, building characteristics, land lines, extra features, sales history, permits, and current/certified tax values — in one call.

Tools

basic_search

Search by exactly one of: owner, folio, pin, address. Optional page / pagesize.

advanced_search

Combine filters (all optional, AND-combined): address, zip_code, year_built_low/high, heated_sqft_low/high, bedrooms_low/high, bathrooms_low/high, land_value_low/high, market_value_low/high, acreage_low/high, subdivision, neighborhood, market_area, zoning. Plus page / pagesize.

sales_search

Search sales from the last 10 years. sale_type: q (Qualified, default), u (Unqualified), or a (All Sales). Optional sale_date_low/high (YYYY-MM-DD), sale_price_low/high, and the same property filters as advanced_search. Plus page / pagesize.

get_parcel_detail

Full parcel record for a single property. Takes pin (get it from any search result). Each entry in salesHistory includes a documentUrl linking directly to the scanned deed image on the Hillsborough County Clerk's Official Records Public Search (publicaccess.hillsclerk.com) — a separate government site from the Property Appraiser. Only sales with a recorded instrument/document number get a link (documentUrl is null for book/page-only records, since that site has no direct-link-by-book/page option).

Input

This actor takes no run input — all configuration happens per MCP tool call. .actor/input_schema.json is empty on purpose; it exists only to satisfy the platform's Actor spec.

Output

Each tool returns its result inline over MCP (structuredContent), not to a dataset — this is a live query server, not a batch scraper. Example basic_search result shape:

{
  "results": [
    {
      "address": "123 MAIN ST",
      "displayFolio": "012345-0000",
      "folio": "0123450000",
      "owner": "SMITH JOHN",
      "pin": "012345.0000",
      "saleDate": "2019-06-01",
      "salePrice": 250000,
      "totalCount": 1
    }
  ]
}

How to connect

1. Deploy this actor (apify push) and let it start in Standby mode.
2. Export your own Apify API token (console.apify.com/settings/integrations) — not the actor owner's, it's what authenticates and meters your usage of the endpoint — then connect with the Claude Code CLI over Streamable HTTP (swap rl1987 for the actual owning account's username, if different):

export APIFY_TOKEN="<YOUR_APIFY_API_TOKEN>"
claude mcp add --transport http hillsborough-fl-property-search \
  https://rl1987--hillsborough-fl-mcp-server.apify.actor/mcp \
  --header "Authorization: Bearer $APIFY_TOKEN"

3. Verify the connection:

$claude mcp list

or inside a Claude Code session, run /mcp — you should see hillsborough-fl-property-search connected with 4 tools (basic_search, advanced_search, sales_search, get_parcel_detail).

To remove the connection later:

$claude mcp remove hillsborough-fl-property-search

Sharing a connection with a team

Commit an .mcp.json with just the URL (no token), and have each teammate run the same claude mcp add command once with their own token, scoped locally so it isn't committed:

export APIFY_TOKEN="<THEIR_OWN_APIFY_API_TOKEN>"
claude mcp add --scope local --transport http hillsborough-fl-property-search \
  https://rl1987--hillsborough-fl-mcp-server.apify.actor/mcp \
  --header "Authorization: Bearer $APIFY_TOKEN"

Verify the connection with claude mcp list or /mcp inside Claude Code — you should see 4 tools listed (basic_search, advanced_search, sales_search, get_parcel_detail).

Pay per event

This actor uses Pay Per Event billing: every completed tool call charges one tool-call event (see .actor/pay_per_event.json for the live price). Failed calls are not charged.

Data source and disclaimer

Data comes from the Hillsborough County Property Appraiser's public GIS system (gis.hcpafl.org), which serves public real-estate records. This actor calls the same JSON API the official web app uses. Note: gis.hcpafl.org/robots.txt disallows automated crawling of the site (Disallow: /) — this actor accesses a small, fixed set of documented JSON endpoints directly (not a broad crawl), but you are responsible for confirming your use complies with the county's terms/disclaimer and applicable law before relying on this data for legal, financial, or official purposes. Always verify critical figures against the official county record.

Resources

• Apify MCP server documentation
• Model Context Protocol
• HCPA Property Search