Resources
Frequently asked questions
The questions that come up before an order, grouped by what you are actually trying to decide. If yours is not here, call — the phone is answered by someone who writes these reports.
Choosing a report
Which of the eight is the one your file needs.
- For a commercial loan, almost always the Zoning Conformance Report (V) — it carries the documents of record and the exhibit set a credit file expects. Life-company and agency lenders often accept the Zoning Conformance Summary (VI). If the loan documents are silent, ask your underwriter before ordering; a summary cannot be upgraded to a full report at the difference in price.
- A parcel report answers questions about one property. A jurisdiction report (VII and VIII) answers them about every zoning district in a city at once — it is a screening tool, bought before you have chosen a site. They are complements, not alternatives.
- Only if you genuinely need one half. The Use Allowance Report is the use question and the Property Requirements Report is the dimensional envelope. The Zoning Conformance Report covers both for a single property, with the documents of record and the exhibit set — most lender files that want both should start there.
- One to four units on a residential parcel is the Residential Zoning Report (I). Five and up, or anything sitting in a commercial or mixed-use district, belongs on the commercial track.
Price and turnaround
What it costs, what is included, and what the clock is actually measuring.
- Yes. Every report on the catalog carries a fixed price and we quote to it. Scope changes — additional uses, additional parcels, additional jurisdictions — are quoted before we open the file, never invoiced after.
- Records offices charge for copies, and most of this industry passes those fees through as a line item after delivery. We absorb the first $200 per report. Above that we tell you before we spend it, and anything past the cap is itemized at cost with no markup.
- From documents in hand — the point where the records office has returned what we requested. That is the part we control. Retrieval time varies by jurisdiction from same-day to several weeks, and we give you a target date with the jurisdiction caveat when we open the file.
- Sometimes, and we will tell you honestly whether it is our queue or the records office standing in the way. If it is our queue, we can usually move. If it is a county clerk, no amount of money changes the answer and we will not pretend otherwise.
The work itself
How the reports are researched, cited, and relied on.
- A zoning analyst, not a model and not a database query. We maintain a structured record of six hundred jurisdictions because it makes the analyst faster, but the determination is a person reading an ordinance against a set of retrieved documents. The same person who opens a file usually signs it.
- Our reports carry professional liability coverage extended to the named relying party. It is included on every report at no additional charge. If your lender has specific reliance language they require, send it before we open the file and we will tell you whether we can sign it.
- We work from the ordinance in effect on the date the file opens, and the report carries that date. Our six hundred maintained jurisdictions are re-checked against the clerk on a rolling cycle rather than annually, so the working text is rarely more than a cycle behind.
- We say so, cite both readings, and report any written interpretation the zoning administrator has issued. An ambiguity reported honestly is worth more to your file than a confident answer that does not survive a challenge.
- Six hundred jurisdictions are actively maintained and twenty million addresses are indexed. If your property is outside coverage we will tell you within the hour, and we can usually scope an out-of-coverage report on request.
Still deciding which report you need?
Tell us the property and what the file is for. We will tell you which report answers it — including when the answer is a cheaper one.