What a Listing Can't Tell You: 7 Public Records to Check Before You Offer

A listing is written to sell a house. It is not incomplete by accident; it simply answers the seller's questions, not yours. The records that answer your questions are public, mostly free, and almost never attached to the listing. Here are the seven checks that matter most before you write an offer — each one illustrated by a real case from our first sample reports, because each one changed the story on a real house.

1. The certified flood determination

The listing at 5377 Gene Cir, West Palm Beach, displayed "Zone X — minimal risk." FEMA's official National Flood Hazard Layer said Zone AE at the address point — the high-risk Special Flood Hazard Area where flood insurance is mandatory for mortgaged buyers. The zone boundary ran within about 130 feet of the lot, which is exactly the situation a certified flood determination exists to settle. Never take the portal's zone label as the answer; the determination your lender orders is the answer, and you can order your own before you offer.

Sources: FEMA NFHL address-point query and listing display, November 2026; see our full breakdown in "How to Check If a House Is Really in a Flood Zone."

2. The sex-offender registry

Your agent cannot discuss this with you — Fair Housing law forbids steering — but the records are yours to read. Search your state registry (FDLE in Florida, DPSCS in Maryland) by the exact address. Context is ratios: ZIP 33415 carried 53 registrants, 1 per 956 residents, denser than Palm Beach County's 1 per 1,180; ZIP 21409 sat at 1 per 2,961. HUD's April 24, 2026 guidance points agents to share sourced third-party data exactly like this instead of opinions. Run it for every finalist address, and again before closing.

Sources: City-Data compilations of FDLE and Maryland DPSCS registry data, November 2026.

3. The assessor record — against the listing's square footage

Listings measure generously; counties measure by rule. At Gene Cir, the county's living-area figure was 1,176 sq ft — and the 162 sq ft sunroom added in 1990 was not counted as living area in the county record, whatever the marketing math implies. Price-per-square-foot comparisons built on the listing number quietly overstate what you are buying. Pull the property appraiser's record card for any house you are serious about: living area, year built, lot size, and parcel ID, in the county's own handwriting.

Sources: Palm Beach County Property Appraiser record for parcel 00-42-44-11-21-000-0922, November 2026.

4. The tax estimator — at your price, not the seller's bill

In Florida, the seller's bill reflects a Save Our Homes–capped assessment that dies at closing. At 354 Edmor Rd, the seller paid $2,162 a year on a $133,611 assessment; a buyer near the asking price should budget an estimated $18,000–$22,000 a year. County property appraisers publish free estimators — run yours at your offer price before the offer, not after the first tax bill. (Maryland buyers: no reset at sale, but confirm the Homestead Tax Credit application is filed.)

Sources: Palm Beach County records for 354 Edmor Rd; buyer estimate from combined local millage, November 2026.

5. The permit history

Permits tell you what work was done legally — and what was done without the record. A claimed "full renovation" with a thin permit file means unpermitted work you may have to insure, finance, or one day rip out. The reverse also speaks: at Edmor Rd, the property sold October 19, 2026 and was relisted October 20 — a price-history-plus-permit check confirms nothing material could have been renovated in between. Pull the county permit search for the parcel before you pay for improvements someone says happened.

6. Sold comps on the same street

Citywide medians blur; the same street testifies. At 1181 Neptune Pl in Annapolis (off-market, no listing to check), the value question was answered by its own street: 1179 Neptune Pl sold for $602,000 on December 23, 2025, and 1184 Neptune Pl sold for $560,000 on September 2, 2025 — the same floor plan, on the same road, within the past year. Public estimates for the house ranged from $605,500 to $634,502; the street's actual closings are the evidence an appraisal will weigh most. Before you offer anywhere, pull the last few sales on that street from county records.

Sources: Anne Arundel County / SDAT sales records for Neptune Pl, pulled November 2026.

7. Capital-project and development records

The biggest changes to a home's future are often already approved — and entirely absent from the listing. Neptune Pl's community sits along the US-50 corridor east of Annapolis. On December 18, 2025, the Maryland Transportation Authority approved Alternative C for the Chesapeake Bay Crossing: replace both Bay Bridge spans and widen US 50/301 to eight lanes from west of Oceanic Drive to east of Cox Creek — the segment serving that community — a $14.8–16 billion program, with the final environmental decision expected in November 2026 and construction anticipated from around 2032. A buyer in 2026 deserves to know what their road looks like in 2035. Transportation departments, county planning portals, and meeting minutes publish all of it — check what's approved within a mile of any address before you commit to decades there.

Sources: MDTA Chesapeake Bay Crossing Study records (Tier 2 NEPA), Alternative C approval December 18, 2025; project cost range and schedule as published by MDTA.

The pattern

None of these seven records is hidden, paywalled, or hard to find. They are simply scattered across seven different government systems, none of which is the listing. That gap — between what is disclosed and what is knowable — is where buyers lose money. It is also the entire reason CurbFacts exists: one report that pulls all seven, shows its sources, and tells you plainly what is left to verify before your money is committed.