diff --git a/aws/resource_aws_route53_record.go b/aws/resource_aws_route53_record.go
index b9f507d47a9..345e1d777b6 100644
--- a/aws/resource_aws_route53_record.go
+++ b/aws/resource_aws_route53_record.go
@@ -6,6 +6,7 @@ import (
 	"fmt"
 	"log"
 	"regexp"
+	"strconv"
 	"strings"
 	"time"
 
@@ -20,8 +21,8 @@ import (
 	"github.com/aws/aws-sdk-go/service/route53"
 )
 
-var r53NoRecordsFound = errors.New("No matching Hosted Zone found")
-var r53NoHostedZoneFound = errors.New("No matching records found")
+var r53NoRecordsFound = errors.New("No matching records found")
+var r53NoHostedZoneFound = errors.New("No matching Hosted Zone found")
 var r53ValidRecordTypes = regexp.MustCompile("^(A|AAAA|CAA|CNAME|MX|NAPTR|NS|PTR|SOA|SPF|SRV|TXT)$")
 
 func resourceAwsRoute53Record() *schema.Resource {
@@ -374,7 +375,8 @@ func resourceAwsRoute53RecordUpdate(d *schema.ResourceData, meta interface{}) er
 		return err
 	}
 
-	return resourceAwsRoute53RecordRead(d, meta)
+	_, err = findRecord(d, meta)
+	return err
 }
 
 func resourceAwsRoute53RecordCreate(d *schema.ResourceData, meta interface{}) error {
@@ -451,7 +453,8 @@ func resourceAwsRoute53RecordCreate(d *schema.ResourceData, meta interface{}) er
 		return err
 	}
 
-	return resourceAwsRoute53RecordRead(d, meta)
+	_, err = findRecord(d, meta)
+	return err
 }
 
 func changeRoute53RecordSet(conn *route53.Route53, input *route53.ChangeResourceRecordSetsInput) (interface{}, error) {
@@ -630,27 +633,49 @@ func findRecord(d *schema.ResourceData, meta interface{}) (*route53.ResourceReco
 	log.Printf("[DEBUG] Expanded record name: %s", en)
 	d.Set("fqdn", en)
 
+	recordName := FQDN(strings.ToLower(en))
+	recordType := d.Get("type").(string)
+	recordSetIdentifier := d.Get("set_identifier")
+
+	// If this isn't a Weighted, Latency, Geo, or Failover resource with
+	// a SetIdentifier we only need to look at the first record in the response since there can be
+	// only one
+	maxItems := "1"
+	if recordSetIdentifier != "" {
+		maxItems = "100"
+	}
+
 	lopts := &route53.ListResourceRecordSetsInput{
 		HostedZoneId:    aws.String(cleanZoneID(zone)),
-		StartRecordName: aws.String(en),
-		StartRecordType: aws.String(d.Get("type").(string)),
+		StartRecordName: aws.String(recordName),
+		StartRecordType: aws.String(recordType),
+		MaxItems:        aws.String(maxItems),
 	}
 
 	log.Printf("[DEBUG] List resource records sets for zone: %s, opts: %s",
 		zone, lopts)
 
 	var record *route53.ResourceRecordSet
+
+	// We need to loop over all records starting from the record we are looking for because
+	// Weighted, Latency, Geo, and Failover resource record sets have a special option
+	// called SetIdentifier which allows multiple entries with the same name and type but
+	// a different SetIdentifier
+	// For all other records we are setting the maxItems to 1 so that we don't return extra
+	// unneeded records
 	err = conn.ListResourceRecordSetsPages(lopts, func(resp *route53.ListResourceRecordSetsOutput, lastPage bool) bool {
 		for _, recordSet := range resp.ResourceRecordSets {
-			name := cleanRecordName(*recordSet.Name)
-			if FQDN(strings.ToLower(name)) != FQDN(strings.ToLower(*lopts.StartRecordName)) {
+
+			responseName := strings.ToLower(cleanRecordName(*recordSet.Name))
+			responseType := strings.ToUpper(*recordSet.Type)
+
+			if recordName != responseName {
 				continue
 			}
-			if strings.ToUpper(*recordSet.Type) != strings.ToUpper(*lopts.StartRecordType) {
+			if recordType != responseType {
 				continue
 			}
-
-			if recordSet.SetIdentifier != nil && *recordSet.SetIdentifier != d.Get("set_identifier") {
+			if recordSet.SetIdentifier != nil && *recordSet.SetIdentifier != recordSetIdentifier {
 				continue
 			}
 
@@ -883,16 +908,17 @@ func FQDN(name string) string {
 	}
 }
 
-// Route 53 stores the "*" wildcard indicator as ASCII 42 and returns the
-// octal equivalent, "\\052". Here we look for that, and convert back to "*"
-// as needed.
+// Route 53 stores certain characters with the octal equivalent in ASCII format.
+// This function converts all of these characters back into the original character
+// E.g. "*" is stored as "\\052" and "@" as "\\100"
+
 func cleanRecordName(name string) string {
 	str := name
-	if strings.HasPrefix(name, "\\052") {
-		str = strings.Replace(name, "\\052", "*", 1)
-		log.Printf("[DEBUG] Replacing octal \\052 for * in: %s", name)
+	s, err := strconv.Unquote(`"` + str + `"`)
+	if err != nil {
+		return str
 	}
-	return str
+	return s
 }
 
 // Check if the current record name contains the zone suffix.
diff --git a/aws/resource_aws_route53_record_test.go b/aws/resource_aws_route53_record_test.go
index 72bb533d25a..550d732cd03 100644
--- a/aws/resource_aws_route53_record_test.go
+++ b/aws/resource_aws_route53_record_test.go
@@ -22,6 +22,8 @@ func TestCleanRecordName(t *testing.T) {
 	}{
 		{"www.nonexample.com", "www.nonexample.com"},
 		{"\\052.nonexample.com", "*.nonexample.com"},
+		{"\\100.nonexample.com", "@.nonexample.com"},
+		{"\\043.nonexample.com", "#.nonexample.com"},
 		{"nonexample.com", "nonexample.com"},
 	}