49 places to check something
before you take our word for it

What the current owner paid, when, and what is still borrowed against the property. Search by address or by block and lot. This is the first place to look before you offer.

The actual tax bill on a specific unit. For a condo, add this to the common charges to get the real monthly carrying cost.

Open violations, permits, complaints and elevator records for a building. An open facade violation is a coming assessment.

Which cycle a building is in and whether its facade filed as safe, unsafe, or safe with a repair programme. The most common source of a surprise assessment in New York.

Housing maintenance violations, registration and complaint history. Mostly relevant to rentals and small multifamily.

What can be built next door, and whether your light and view are protected. Check air rights before paying for a view.

The underlying datasets, including the condo expense filings this site uses for its running-cost figures. Free API, no key needed.

The official US price index, quarterly, by state and metro. Repeat-sales method, so it is not distorted by which houses happened to sell.

US house prices back to 1987, charted and downloadable, hosted by the St. Louis Fed. The fastest way to see whether the present is unusual or normal.

Starts, permits and completions. Supply arriving in eighteen months, which is what tells you where rents go next.

Income, tenure, rent burden and vacancy down to tract level. The demographic base under any rental thesis.

ZHVI and ZORI as free CSV downloads, by metro, city and ZIP. What this site's state pages are built on.

Weekly and monthly market data, including inventory and days on market. Faster than the official series and directionally reliable.

Existing home sales and affordability. Also publishes the annual survey of international buyers, which is the only national data on foreign purchasers.

Shelter inflation, which lags market rents by about a year. Useful for arguing about where rents already went.

The weekly 30-year fixed rate everyone quotes. Prime borrowers with US credit; expect a premium on a foreign national loan.

Where a loan stops being conforming and becomes jumbo, by county. In New York and California this line matters on ordinary apartments.

The federal consumer regulator's plain explanation of the loan estimate and closing disclosure, with the forms annotated.

Low-deposit federal programmes and their residency conditions. Most are closed to non-resident buyers; the conditions are stated here.

Application volumes and credit availability. Credit availability is the leading indicator of whether your file gets approved.

The rule that holds back 15% of the gross price when a foreign person sells. The exemptions and the withholding certificate process are both on this page.

The full withholding rules including treaty rates. Dense, and the only complete source.

Resident versus non-resident status, the substantial presence test, and which one you are. Everything else follows from this.

Depreciation, deductible expenses and the passive loss rules. What actually reduces the tax on rental income.

The taxpayer number a foreign owner needs in order to file. Apply early; it is the item that most often delays a closing.

Form 8824 and its instructions, which state the 45-day and 180-day deadlines in the government's own words. Neither can be extended.

The $60,000 exemption on US-situs assets for non-resident decedents. The reason holding structure is decided before the contract, not after.

For US persons with accounts abroad. Separate from the tax return, separate penalty regime, frequently missed.

The actual treaty text. Whether your country has one, and what it does to withholding on rent and gains.

Department of State register of brokers and salespersons. Shows the licence, the sponsoring brokerage and any disciplinary history.

The equivalent for California, including corporate licences.

Florida's register, covering brokers, appraisers and community association managers.

Texas Real Estate Commission register, with disciplinary actions listed separately on the same site.

The national register for mortgage originators. If your loan officer is not in here, stop.

Verify a CPA or enrolled agent's credential. Cross-border property work should not go to an unenrolled preparer.

The official flood zone for an address. A zone A or V designation makes flood insurance a condition of any federally backed loan.

New York's own mapper, including future projections. Relevant across the waterfront in Brooklyn, Queens and Lower Manhattan.

Projected inundation by scenario, along the whole US coast. A thirty-year hold on a waterfront property should be checked against this.

Contamination, superfund sites and regulated facilities near an address. Matters most on land and on conversions.

Water risk in the southwest, which is now a real input in Arizona and Nevada land value.

Zoned school for an address, and the enrolment rules. Zoning is by address, not by neighbourhood name.

Federal data on every public school in the country: enrolment, staffing, and district boundaries.

The subway and commuter rail maps, plus planned service changes. Commute time is the variable most often guessed at.

Who is eligible and what to bring. A US credit file cannot begin without this or an ITIN.

Confirms the official form of an address and its ZIP+4. Useful because listing addresses and legal addresses often differ.

The protected classes under federal law and how to file a complaint. Worth reading before you ask an agent about an area.

New York's additional protected classes, which go beyond the federal list, and the state complaint process.

Reviews condo and co-op offering plans in New York. Where to check that a plan was accepted for filing.

Searchable complaints against lenders and servicers. Look up a lender before you commit to a rate lock.