RE LOOKUP

About RE Lookup

RE Lookup is a property risk intelligence tool. Enter any US address and get a consolidated report covering building permits, code complaints, violations, natural hazard zones, and neighborhood crime — all from public sources, in one place.

Most of this information is technically public but scattered across dozens of city portals, state GIS databases, and federal APIs — each with its own interface and quirks. RE Lookup pulls it together so buyers, renters, investors, and curious neighbors can get a quick read on a property without spending hours hunting down records.

Each search geocodes your address with Google Maps, then queries the relevant city connector for permits and complaints. Hazard layers (fire, flood, seismic, fault) are fetched from state and federal datasets and apply nationally. Results are cached for 24 hours to keep lookups fast.

Risk flags are generated automatically from the data — expired permits, open violations, high-severity hazard zones, and elevated crime nearby each contribute to the overall score.

Building permits
City open data portals (Socrata, Accela, ArcGIS), updated daily
Code complaints
City 311 and code enforcement datasets where available
Fire hazard severity
CAL FIRE / OSFM State Responsibility Area maps (PostGIS)
Flood zones
FEMA National Flood Hazard Layer (NFHL), queried live
Seismic hazard
California CGS liquefaction and landslide zone maps (PostGIS)
Fault zones
California Alquist-Priolo Earthquake Fault Zones (PostGIS)
Crime
SFPD, Chicago CPD, NYPD, Denver PD incident datasets
Geocoding
Google Maps Geocoding API

Data coverage varies by city — not all municipalities publish permit records publicly or via accessible APIs. See the Coverage page for the current list of supported cities.

RE Lookup surfaces public records and is not a substitute for a professional inspection, title search, or legal advice. Records may be incomplete, delayed, or contain errors — always verify directly with the relevant government agency before making a decision.

Found a bug or a city you'd like to see added? Open an issue on GitHub.