Questions with a yes or a no at the end
Screening questions. The answer is a value read off a published record, and the useful part is usually what the record does not settle.
How many acres is this property?
County offices often carry two acreage numbers for the same parcel and they disagree. What each one is, where it comes from, and why neither settles a boundary.
Is this property in a flood zone?
A flood zone answer is a letter read off a specific FEMA map panel with an effective date. What each zone means, and why outside a zone is not the same as safe.
Are there wetlands on this property?
The national wetlands inventory is a map layer compiled from imagery, not a jurisdictional determination. What the classification codes mean and where the layer stops.
Is this property in a wildfire risk area?
There is no national wildfire zone the way there is a flood zone. What the modeled risk metrics at a point actually describe, and what decides one house.
Is there a dam near this property?
Listed dams near a point with hazard class and condition rating. Hazard class describes consequence, not likelihood, and proximity to a dam is not inundation risk.
Have earthquakes been recorded near this site?
The published earthquake catalog around a coordinate, with magnitude, depth, and date. Why a quiet catalog is a statement about the instrument record, not about hazard.
Is this land in designated critical habitat?
Critical habitat is a boundary designated per species by rule. What the designation applies to, why final and proposed differ, and what it does not prohibit.
Has a spill been reported near this address?
Oil, chemical, and hazmat releases called into the national hotline, by county and calendar year. These are initial, unverified caller reports, not confirmed releases.
Which utility serves this property?
Texas publishes certificated water and sewer service areas, so a coordinate resolves to the obligated provider. Elsewhere the answer is area level context, and why.
What water system serves this address, and has it been in violation?
Public water systems reporting service to a county, with each system’s violation history. Why this is a candidate list rather than a parcel level answer.
Is there a pipeline near this property?
Mapped hazardous liquid and gas transmission lines near a coordinate with the operator on each, plus county mileage. Why the public map is generalized on purpose.
Which internet providers reported service at this address?
Provider reported fixed broadband by census block, as reported in the June 2021 FCC filing round, not current buildout. What reported availability has always meant.
Who runs the grid at this site?
Balancing authority, nearby plants and generators with fuel and retirement dates, and live Texas system data. What a public grid record can and cannot tell a site selector.
Is this property near a military installation?
Published installation, range, and training area boundaries with measured distance, plus the foreign investment flag. Boundaries only, not noise or easement findings.
Is this company on a federal exclusion list?
Screening a name against consolidated federal export restriction lists and active exclusions in the contractor registry, with the source record behind every match.
Are there oil and gas wells near this property?
Well level records near a coordinate for California and Colorado, including idle, orphaned, and plugged status, plus Texas operator standing. Where each state stops.
Questions about what the record actually says
History and inventory questions, where the answer is a set of rows with a publisher and a date on each one.
Who owns this property?
The owner name on a property comes from the county tax record, not from title. What that record says, who publishes it, and how far behind a sale it runs.
What has this property been assessed at over time?
Assessment records are annual, so the answer is a series with a year on every value. What the taxing office carries, how far back, and why it is not a price.
What did this property sell for?
Sale prices are only as public as the state makes them. Texas is a non-disclosure state, so no source can publish a parcel level price there. What is available instead.
What disasters have been declared in this county?
Federal disaster declarations are made at county level. The declaration history, the flood insurance claim pattern, and what a declaration does and does not say about one address.
What are the soils under this site?
Soil survey map units under a parcel with the published interpretations for building, septic, and farming. What survey scale means and when a field test is the real answer.
What is the elevation of this property?
Ground elevation at a coordinate from the national elevation model. Why it is bare earth rather than a finished floor, and why it does not answer a flood question on its own.
What environmental records exist for this site?
Federal environmental records are organized around regulated facilities, not parcels. Permits, inspections, violations, and emissions near an address, tied together by identifier.
What transport infrastructure is near this site?
Rail, ports, locks and dams, airports, and intermodal facilities from the national atlas, plus bridge condition, load posting, and inspection records nearby.
How much sun does this site get?
Modeled irradiance and photovoltaic yield at a point for a tilt and azimuth you choose, plus long run temperature, wind, and humidity. Modeled, not measured on site.
Who is behind the company that owns this property?
When the tax roll names an entity, the next step is public filings across registries that share no identifier. What each registry holds and where the trail goes cold.
What hospitals and nursing homes are near this property?
Medicare enrolled facilities with published ratings. Nursing homes carry coordinates so distance is real; hospitals do not, so that side is a city, zip, or state list.
What building permits have been pulled near this property?
Permits are municipal records, so there is no national file. Normalized permit and violation events in covered markets, county level counts everywhere else.
Can I research a property outside the United States?
Address search, building footprints, climate, and earthquake history work worldwide. Parcel boundaries and ownership mostly do not, and this says exactly where.
What federal rule applies to this property question?
Three federal records answer three versions of this: the current regulation text, what an agency published, and what is open for comment. Plus what none of them cover.
What are farmland values in this county?
Published agricultural land value statistics by state, county, and year, plus Texas agricultural and wildlife use rules and productivity values by county.
Questions about a program boundary
Designation questions. A location screen is one input, and the agency still decides.
Is this address in an opportunity zone?
Opportunity zones were designated by census tract and the list has not changed since. How the screen works, and why being in a zone is not the same as qualifying.
Is this address in a qualified census tract or difficult development area?
Housing credit designations are annual, so the answer needs a year attached. What a designation changes in a deal, and who actually decides an award.
Is this address eligible for USDA rural programs?
Rural eligibility is a mapped boundary the agency redraws, and one address can be eligible for one program and not another. What the screen returns and who decides.
Questions asked before doing something
The work that comes before a dig, a filing, or a design decision.
What census tract is this address in?
Federal program designations are published by census tract, not by address. How to resolve an address to its state, county, tract, and block codes, and why the vintage matters.
Who do I call before digging?
Call 811 before you dig, in every state, free. What a public record screen can show you before that call, and why marks on the ground only come from a locate.
Will a tall structure here need FAA review?
Screen a coordinate and a proposed height against published airports, runways, obstacles, and class airspace. Why a clear screen is not a determination.
By the kind of work instead.
A lane page reads the catalog from the other direction: every source a kind of property work runs on, and where that whole lane stops.
Ask one of these about a real address.
The free plan includes 50 tool calls for the life of the account. They never expire and never refill, and there is no credit card.