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Your report cites public records that use the government's vocabulary, not yours. These guides translate the parts that actually change what a property costs you.

Risk & insurance

What a FEMA flood zone actually means

AE, VE, X and the rest — plus base flood elevation, freeboard, when flood insurance is genuinely required, and how to challenge a map you think is wrong.

Site & build

What a regulatory floodway restricts

Stricter than the flood zone and frequently missed. Why no-rise certification stops most residential projects, and what to ask before you buy a floodway parcel.

Site & build

How to read a soil suitability rating

Why "very limited" isn't a no, what drainage class and seasonal water table cost you, and how corrosion, frost action and bedrock depth change a build budget.

Value & the deal

What an Opportunity Zone means for a buyer

A tax designation on a census tract, not a property feature. How the capital-gains benefit really works, and the traps buyers walk into.

Value & the deal

How to read a property's sale history

Why the last sale price can lie — foreclosures, family transfers and multi-parcel deeds — and how sale-qualification codes tell you which prices to trust.

Risk & insurance

How to read the FEMA National Risk Index

18 hazards scored at county level — wildfire, hurricane, wind, flood and more. What the ratings mean, and why they increasingly drive whether you can get insurance.

Site & build

What it means when your parcel shows wetlands

The National Wetlands Inventory is a screening map, not a legal ruling. How to read the Cowardin codes, and why a delineation before you close can save the deal.

Risk & insurance

What the EPA radon zone tells you

The zone is a county prediction, not a measurement of the house. What the 4 pCi/L action level means, and why a $20 test is the only real answer.

See all of this for a real address

Enter any US address and get flood, wetlands, soils, LiDAR terrain, hazards, values and sale history in one plain-English report. Free, no account, nothing stored.

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