Frequently Asked Questions

The Listing Score starts at 100 and subtracts weighted penalty points based on each hazard check result. Higher-severity risks carry larger deductions than lower-severity ones. The weighting is designed so that catastrophic risks — like being inside a FEMA 100-year flood zone or a major storm surge zone — have a proportionally larger impact on the score than proximity nuisances like a railroad a quarter mile away.

For graded risks (flood zone, seismic risk, wildfire hazard, radon), the deduction varies based on whether the result is HIGH, MODERATE, or LOW. For binary risks (airport noise, superfund site, correctional facility), the deduction is applied only if the property falls within the specified radius of concern.

The score is calculated entirely from official federal, state, and local geographic datasets — no subjective judgment is applied. Two properties analyzed on the same day with the same data will always produce the same score.

No. The Listing Score is an informational research tool for homebuyers — not a legally required disclosure, a professional inspection report, or a guarantee of any kind. It is designed to help buyers identify risk factors worth investigating further, not to replace the advice of licensed inspectors, real estate attorneys, or environmental consultants.

In some states, sellers are required to provide natural hazard disclosures (such as California's NHD Statement). The Listing Score may overlap with information in those disclosures but is a separate product and should not be treated as equivalent to any state-mandated disclosure document.

Many listing platforms are designed to help buyers find properties and connect with agents — not to provide comprehensive risk analysis. They show photos, square footage, and price. What they don't show is whether a home sits in an airport flight path, a FEMA flood zone, or a federal Superfund cleanup area.

That information exists in federal, state, and local geographic databases — FEMA flood maps, EPA environmental registries, USGS seismic data, the National Risk Index for tornadoes and hurricanes, and more. But it's scattered across dozens of sources, written in technical language, and practically inaccessible to the average buyer without specialist knowledge.

The Listing Score solves this by pulling all of that data together, analyzing it against the specific coordinates of the property, and delivering a clear, actionable result in seconds.

The financial exposure from hidden hazards is significant and often underestimated at the time of purchase:

• Flood damage: FEMA estimates that just 1 inch of floodwater causes roughly $25,000 in damage to an average home. Properties in a 100-year flood zone that carry a federally backed mortgage are required to purchase flood insurance, which can cost $1,000—$5,000+ per year depending on the property's elevation and zone designation.
• Wildfire insurance: In high-risk fire zones, standard homeowners insurance may be unavailable or may exclude fire damage entirely. California's FAIR Plan — the insurer of last resort — can cost $3,000—$10,000+ per year.
• Storm surge: Coastal properties in surge zones face the risk of total structural loss in a major hurricane event. Flood insurance policies cap at $250,000 for structure, leaving many buyers significantly underinsured.
• Environmental contamination: Properties near Superfund sites, leaking underground storage tanks (LUST), or hazardous waste facilities can experience reduced property values, difficulty reselling, and in some cases potential health liability.

When you're choosing between homes in a similar price range, square footage and bedroom count tell you about the home. The Listing Score tells you about the risk and cost of owning that home.

A property with a score of 82 and a property with a score of 41 may look identical on a listing sheet. But the 41-score property might be in a FEMA flood zone, near a toxic release site, and in a high-risk wildfire area — adding thousands of dollars per year to insurance and potentially creating barriers to resale down the road.

The compare feature lets you add up to four properties to a side-by-side view so you can evaluate which home offers the best combination of price, features, and risk profile. That's the kind of decision-making that professional real estate investors have always had access to — the Listing Score makes it available to every buyer.

Sometimes — but not always, and not comprehensively. Real estate agents are trained in the transaction process: pricing, negotiation, contracts, and local market conditions. They are generally not environmental scientists, flood plain analysts, or insurance specialists.

Disclosure requirements vary dramatically by state. In some states sellers are required to disclose known flood or fire hazards. In others, disclosure obligations are minimal. Even where disclosures are required, they typically rely on the seller's knowledge — not on independent data analysis of the property coordinates.

The Listing Score is not a replacement for your agent. It's a tool that makes you a more informed buyer so that the conversations you have with your agent, inspector, and lender are more productive and targeted at the right questions.

The Listing Score is designed for anyone buying, renting, or investing in residential property in the United States. In practice, the most common users are:

• Active homebuyers who are touring multiple properties and want a fast, objective risk screen before investing time and money in a full inspection.
• First-time buyers who may not know what questions to ask about flood zones, fire hazards, or environmental risks — and want the data in plain language.
• Real estate investors who are evaluating multiple properties at scale and need a consistent, comparable risk metric across a portfolio.
• Renters who want to understand the risk environment of a home or neighborhood before signing a long-term lease.
• Real estate professionals who want to provide clients with comprehensive research as a value-added service.

The 18 checks are organized across five risk categories. Together they cover every major environmental, natural disaster, health, and financial risk factor that affects residential property in the United States.

The Insurance & Financial Impact section of the report uses the data from the checks above to analyze flood, storm surge, wildfire, and seismic insurance exposure — so the same data delivers both a hazard assessment and a financial impact analysis.

Yes. Unlike some property risk tools that focus exclusively on California disclosures, GetListingScore.com is designed for any residential property in the United States. The datasets used — FEMA flood maps, the FEMA National Risk Index for tornadoes and hurricanes, EPA environmental registries, USGS seismic data, and others — are all national in scope.

Whether you're buying in Miami, Phoenix, Chicago, or Seattle, the same 18 checks run against the property's exact coordinates and return results specific to that location. A property in Oklahoma will receive a meaningful tornado risk assessment. A property in coastal Florida will receive a detailed storm surge and flood analysis.

For proximity-based checks — such as Superfund sites, hazardous waste facilities, toxic release sites, major roads, and railyards — the report shows the distance in miles from the property to the nearest flagged facility or feature. This gives you context beyond the simple YES/NO flag.

For example, a property that is 0.9 miles from a Superfund site has meaningfully different exposure than one that is within 250 feet of the same type of site. The distance label helps you calibrate how seriously to weight each flag in your decision.

Distance thresholds are based on established proximity standards used by environmental researchers and federal agencies when assessing community exposure risk.

Radon is a naturally occurring radioactive gas produced by the decay of uranium in soil and rock. It is colorless, odorless, and tasteless — completely undetectable without testing. It seeps into homes through foundation cracks, gaps around service pipes, and construction joints, accumulating to dangerous levels in enclosed spaces.

The EPA estimates that radon causes approximately 21,000 lung cancer deaths in the United States every year, making it the second-leading cause of lung cancer after smoking. It is the leading cause of lung cancer among non-smokers.

The Listing Score checks the property's location against EPA radon zone data, which classifies areas by their geological radon potential. A HIGH or MODERATE radon potential flag should prompt you to include a radon test in your home inspection and budget for mitigation if levels are elevated (typically $800—$2,500 for a mitigation system).

Standard homeowners insurance does not cover flood damage, storm surge, earthquake damage, or in many high-risk areas, wildfire damage. These require separate policies — and in some risk zones, those policies are legally required as a condition of getting a federally backed mortgage.

This means a property's true cost of ownership is not just the mortgage payment. It includes mandatory insurance premiums that can add thousands of dollars per year and that are not always disclosed prominently in the listing process.

The Insurance & Financial Impact section translates the hazard data into plain-language insurance implications so buyers understand which policies they are likely to need and what level of financial exposure each risk represents — before they make an offer.

Flood risk (FEMA flood zones) refers primarily to inland flooding caused by river overflow, heavy rainfall, or drainage failure. FEMA flood maps are the primary tool lenders use to determine flood insurance requirements for mortgages.

Storm surge is different. It refers to the wall of ocean water pushed onshore by a hurricane's winds. Storm surge is typically the deadliest and most destructive element of a hurricane — it can inundate coastal properties with 5, 10, even 20 feet of water with little warning.

A property can be outside a FEMA 100-year flood zone and still be at significant risk from storm surge. The Listing Score checks both independently using NOAA storm surge modeling data for Category 4 hurricane scenarios. The report shows the estimated inundation depth in feet above ground level, giving coastal buyers a concrete sense of their exposure.

Both flood and storm surge risks affect flood insurance requirements and pricing. Properties with significant storm surge exposure may face flood insurance premiums well above average.

Many properties that sit behind levees are designated as being in a reduced-risk flood zone because the levee provides protection. However, levees are not infallible — they can be overtopped or fail during extreme flood events, as happened during Hurricane Katrina in 2005.

FEMA's Levee Analysis and Mapping Procedures assess the condition and adequacy of levee systems. Properties in leveed areas may be in a zone that appears lower-risk on standard flood maps but actually carries residual flood risk from levee failure or overtopping.

From an insurance standpoint, properties in leveed areas may still be required to purchase flood insurance by their lender, and the actual risk of catastrophic flooding may be higher than the flood zone designation suggests. The Listing Score flags leveed areas so buyers can investigate the specific levee's condition and insurance requirements with their lender and insurance agent.

No. The Listing Score provides a risk-level assessment (HIGH / MODERATE / LOW) for each insurance-relevant hazard, not a precise insurance premium quote. Actual insurance premiums depend on many factors specific to the property and the insurer: the home's age, construction type, elevation certificate, claims history, coverage limits, and the specific policies available in that market.

What the Listing Score does tell you is:

• Whether the property is in a flood zone that requires flood insurance for federally backed mortgages
• Whether the property is in a storm surge zone that will affect flood insurance pricing
• Whether the property is in a high wildfire risk area where standard homeowners insurance may be unavailable or significantly more expensive
• Whether the property's seismic risk level warrants considering earthquake insurance

Armed with this information, you can get accurate quotes from insurance agents before making an offer — rather than being surprised by insurance costs after you're already under contract.

No credit card is required to get started. Create a free account at GetListingScore.com/register and you'll receive 3 free property lookups immediately. No payment information is collected at registration.

Simply create your account, enter any US residential address in the lookup box, and your full 18-point hazard report and Listing Score will be returned within about 15–30 seconds.

Once your 3 free lookups are used, you can purchase additional lookup credits from the pricing page. Plans are available as one-time credit packs or a monthly unlimited subscription:

• Starter — $9.99: 10 lookup credits. Best for occasional use or a short home search.
• Buyer — $19.99: 25 lookup credits. Best for active buyers touring multiple properties.
• Investor — $49.99/month: Unlimited lookups. Best for real estate investors and professionals analyzing properties at scale.

Lookup credits never expire (valid for 12 months from purchase for Starter and Buyer packs). Your report history is saved in your dashboard so you can revisit any previously analyzed property at any time without using an additional credit.

Yes. Every report you generate is saved to your dashboard history. You can return to any previously analyzed property and view the full report without using another lookup credit. Your dashboard shows the Listing Score for each property alongside the date analyzed, making it easy to track properties you're actively comparing.

Buyer and Investor plan holders can also export reports as PDF for sharing with a partner, financial advisor, or real estate agent.

Yes. After running a lookup on a property, tap or click "Add to Compare" on the results page. You can add up to 4 properties to your compare list. The compare view shows all properties side by side with their Listing Scores, flag counts, and individual hazard check results so you can quickly identify which property carries the lowest overall risk.

The compare feature is available to all account holders, including free plan users. You do not need to use additional lookup credits to view the compare screen for properties you've already analyzed.

We offer refunds on unused lookup credits within 14 days of purchase. If you purchased a credit pack and haven't used the credits, contact us at support@getlistingscore.com with your order details and we'll process a refund promptly.

Because each lookup generates a real-time data query, credits that have already been used are not refundable. Investor monthly subscriptions can be cancelled at any time and will not renew for the following month.

All hazard data is sourced from official federal and state geographic databases. Key sources include:

• FEMA National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP): Flood zone designations and Special Flood Hazard Area boundaries
• NOAA National Hurricane Center: Storm surge modeling for Category 4 hurricane scenarios
• FEMA National Risk Index (NRI): Tornado and hurricane risk ratings by census tract
• USGS / State Geological Surveys: Seismic hazard zones and earthquake fault lines
• EPA ECHO / EnviroStor: Superfund sites, RCRA hazardous waste facilities, and toxic release inventory
• EPA Radon Zone Maps: Geological radon potential by county
• State Water Resources Control Board: Leaking underground storage tank (LUST) databases
• FAA Airport Data: Airport locations and flight path noise contours
• US Army Corps of Engineers: Levee system locations and assessments

All data is stored in a PostGIS spatial database and queried against the geocoded coordinates of each property, enabling precise boundary-level analysis rather than county or ZIP-code level approximations.

Data update frequency varies by source. FEMA flood maps, for example, are updated on a rolling basis as communities complete map revision projects — some areas have maps that are decades old, while others have been recently revised. EPA environmental databases are updated as new sites are added or existing sites change status.

We update our underlying data layers when new official releases are available from the source agencies. The date of the data underlying any specific check is disclosed in the full report. Buyers in areas that have experienced recent natural disasters or development should verify current FEMA flood map status directly at msc.fema.gov.

Address recognition depends on the geocoding system being able to match your input to a specific set of geographic coordinates. If your address isn't recognized, try these steps:

• Use the full street address including city and state (e.g., 456 Oak Ave, Austin, TX 78701)
• Avoid abbreviations that might confuse the geocoder — spell out "Street," "Avenue," "Boulevard" if the abbreviated version doesn't match
• For rural properties or newly constructed homes, the address may not yet be in geocoding databases — try entering the nearest intersection or use the GPS lookup feature if you're physically at the property

If results seem inconsistent with what you know about the property — for example, if you believe the property is in a flood zone but the report shows LOW — this could indicate that FEMA maps for that area have not been recently updated, or that the property is near but not inside a zone boundary. In that case, verify directly with FEMA's Flood Map Service Center.

If you believe there is a technical error, contact us at support@getlistingscore.com and we will investigate. Lookups that result in a confirmed technical error are not charged against your credit balance.

Yes. The addresses you search and the reports you generate are associated with your account and are not shared with third parties, real estate agents, sellers, or listing platforms. Your search history is visible only to you through your dashboard.

We do not sell user data to advertisers or data brokers. GetListingScore.com does not display advertising. For full details on how we collect and use data, see our Privacy Policy.