About the Quay County Clerk
Quay County was created on February 28, 1903 and named for Matthew Quay, a Pennsylvania senator who championed New Mexico statehood, even though he never set foot in the territory. Tucumcari, the county seat, actually predates the county by two years: it began in 1901 as a rough construction camp for the Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific Railroad, earning the nickname "Six-Shooter Siding" for its gunfights before settling on the name Tucumcari around 1908, likely a Plains Indian word tied to nearby Tucumcari Mountain. Sitting on the plains of northeastern New Mexico near the Texas line, the county built its early economy on ranching, dryland farming, and rail traffic, then boomed again after Route 66 ran straight through Tucumcari in 1926, filling downtown with motor courts and diners that still draw road-trip nostalgia today. Interstate 40's construction in the 1960s bypassed much of that Route 66 commercial strip and sent the county's population into a long decline, from a mid-century peak down to under 9,000 residents by 2020. Ranching and highway logistics remain the backbone of the local economy, alongside a modest tourism trade built on Tucumcari's mid-century motel signs and murals.
Cities and Communities Served
Recording jurisdiction runs countywide, not by city limits — if the property sits anywhere within Quay County, this is the Quay County Clerk that will accept the deed. That includes:
Incorporated cities: Tucumcari (county seat), Logan, San Jon, House.
Unincorporated communities: Nara Visa, Montoya, McAlister, Quay, Endee, San Jon.
Office Details
Address: 300 South 3rd Street, Tucumcari, NM 88401
Phone: (575) 461-0510
Hours: Monday - Thursday, 7:00 AM - 6:00 PM (closed Fridays)
Recording Fee: New Mexico charges a flat, statute-set recording fee per document, with an added fee once a document runs past a set number of index entries -- not a percentage of the property's value. Contact the county clerk's office for current amounts.
E-recording: Quay County is part of the CSC eRecording network, so many deeds can be submitted electronically through a participating e-recording service in addition to in-person or mail submission.
Good to know before you go: The counter stays open straight through lunch here (7:00 AM to 6:00 PM, Monday through Thursday), which helps -- but there's no Friday hours at all, so a Friday trip to record a deed won't work.
How to File a Document
- Sign in Front of a Notary -- In Person or Remotely: New Mexico requires the grantor's signature to be acknowledged before a notary public before the Quay County Clerk will accept a deed for recording. New Mexico has permitted remote online notarization on a permanent basis since January 1, 2022, under the state's Revised Uniform Law on Notarial Acts (NMSA 1978, Sections 14-14A-1 to 14-14A-32) -- the notary handling it must be commissioned and physically located in New Mexico at the time, even if you're signing from somewhere else.
- Attach a Full Legal Description, Not Just an Address: A street address alone won't satisfy New Mexico's requirements -- the deed needs the property's actual legal description (a metes-and-bounds description, a government survey reference, or a platted lot and block, depending on how the parcel was originally surveyed and subdivided), plus a reference to the prior deed that brought the property into the grantor's name, to keep the chain of title intact. You can usually copy the legal description directly from the deed that transferred the property to you.
- Get Both Spouses to Sign if It's Community Property: New Mexico is a community property state, and state law (NMSA 1978, Section 40-3-13) generally requires both spouses to join in a deed transferring community real property -- even when only one spouse's name appears on the title. Skipping the second signature doesn't necessarily void the transfer outright, but it leaves the deed open to being challenged, so it's worth confirming with the Quay County Clerk or an attorney whether your specific situation calls for both signatures before you file.
- File a Real Property Transfer Declaration Affidavit With the Assessor: For most residential property transfers, New Mexico law (NMSA 1978, Section 7-38-12.1) also requires a separate Real Property Transfer Declaration Affidavit to be filed with the county assessor's office -- not the Quay County Clerk -- within thirty days of recording the deed. It's a distinct step from recording itself, used to keep the assessor's records current for property tax purposes, and the assessor's office can supply the current form.
- Record With the County Clerk: Bring, mail, or (where the county supports it) e-file the signed, notarized deed with the Quay County Clerk for the county where the property sits. New Mexico charges a flat, statute-set recording fee per document, with an added fee once a document runs past a set number of index entries -- never a percentage of the property's value -- and the state has no separate real estate transfer tax on top of it. The first page needs roughly an inch and a half of blank space at the top for the clerk's recording stamp, with the document's title placed just below it.
Still Have Questions About Filing With the Quay County Clerk?
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Other Counties in New Mexico
Filing somewhere else in the state? Here are a few other county pages:
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