Type an address, get its government file
Property Passport
Look up one South Florida address: the tool checks available official records and flags what's verified, what needs attention, and what it couldn't get.
No email, No sign-up, No sales call
Sources cited, no score given
Each gap is labeled for what it is: no match, source down, or nothing published.
What this tool is
You get the address's official file on a page that also names, beside each fact, the office that issued it. Inside: parcel, government values, flood and evacuation zones, and federal storm history.
Where the data comes from
Ask for an address and the tool goes to the sources right then: county property appraisers, FEMA, the Florida Division of Emergency Management and other public offices. It keeps no copy and makes no estimates or guesses.
How to use it
Type the address and, for a condo, add the unit number. Then read the verified items. Before you rely on any of it, follow the gold links to the county's own pages and confirm taxes, permits and deeds there.
What the passport reads
Five kinds of official records
Start from a single address and see what the offices holding its records have on file, plus any registers for environmental, historic or coastal protection that apply to it. Not every county or city publishes the same data, so when nothing is available for your address, the report tells you plainly rather than guessing.
Identity
The address as matched by the U.S. Census geocoder and the county's parcel roll: parcel number, property type, lot and living area, year built, owner of record and recorded sales.
Values and taxes
For the roll year, you'll see the figures the county lists as just value, assessed value and taxable value, any exemptions applied (homestead, for instance) and the yearly tax on record. A link to the county lets you confirm the amount actually owed.
Water and wind
Here you'll find the property's FEMA flood zone and base flood elevation, the evacuation zone the county has assigned, how high the ground sits at the address point, and the county's history of federal disaster declarations.
Permits, code and zoning
Permits on the city's register, open code-compliance cases and the zoning code, where the office publishes them, each linked to the office's own register.
Condominium
Condo units come with more: the association's filing with the state, who manages it, how many units are registered and, if the association has reported them, its structural integrity reserve study and where its milestone inspection stands.
How to read it
Three kinds of answers
Verified
Each fact here came back from an official source, with the office and the retrieval time shown next to it. These are the items you can cite, once you've opened that office's page and checked them yourself.
Needs attention
These are items that can change cost or risk, such as a flood zone where insurance becomes mandatory, an unresolved code case or a condo filing with pieces missing. Every one comes with a link to the office able to verify it.
Could not be obtained
Something is missing because the source was offline, its coverage stops short of this address, or it simply doesn't release that kind of record. We never count missing data as a pass, since a site being down tells you nothing about whether a record exists.
Terms on the report
Five terms worth knowing
Tax values: just, assessed, taxable
Just value is the county's estimate of what the property would sell for on January 1, used for taxes. Apply limits such as the homestead cap and you get assessed value; subtract exemptions from that and what's left is taxable value. None of these numbers is a sale price.
F.S. §§192.042, 193.155
Special Flood Hazard Area
FEMA maps these areas as having a 1% chance of flooding in any given year, and their zone codes start with A or V. If your mortgage comes from a federally regulated lender, you'll need flood insurance there.
Source: FEMA, 42 U.S.C. §4012a
Base flood elevation
This is how high floodwater is expected to rise in a flood with a 1% chance of happening in a given year. An elevation certificate records the floor height, and the gap between that and this figure tells you how far the living space is above or below the expected water.
Evacuation zone
The sequence county emergency management would follow in asking areas to leave ahead of a storm. It is planning context, neither a flood zone nor a rating of the property.
Milestone inspection and SIRS
Florida requires these structural checks on any condo building with three or more habitable stories. A milestone inspection is due when the building reaches 30 years old, or 25 if it sits near salt water and the local official calls for the earlier date, and it must be repeated every 10 years after that. On top of that, a structural integrity reserve study has to be done every 10 years.
F.S. §553.899 · §718.112(2)(g)
When to run one
Three times a passport pays off
Before an offer
Don't start negotiating until you've reviewed the flood zone, the permit record and the taxes. Your tax bill won't match the seller's, because the county reassesses the home at just value as of the January 1 following your purchase.
F.S. §§193.155, 689.261
Before you list
Look at the property the way a buyer's research will: open permits, code cases, or a living area on the county record that differs from yours. Fixing a mismatch before listing is usually easier than having to explain it in a negotiation.
After you buy
File for the homestead exemption with the county property appraiser no later than March 1, then look for it on the following year's roll to make sure it was applied.
F.S. §196.011
Sources
Below are the original sources for each rule this guide mentions. In the report, every fact comes with the name of the office it came from.
Common questions
Is this report an appraisal?
No. What you see is the government's own property record, displayed unaltered, exactly as the office published it. For what a home would fetch in today's market, use a valuation tool or start a conversation.
Why do I have to enter a unit for a condo?
The county files every unit separately. Leave the unit off and a whole tower comes back, hundreds of records deep, so the passport asks for yours instead of picking one for you.
Where do the gold buttons under "What needs attention" lead?
The buttons open the county's own search pages for taxes, deeds, permits and inspections. Look the record up there yourself; a source beats anyone's say-so.
If a source is unavailable, did the record vanish?
No. Nothing was lost; the office simply couldn't be reached for a bit. Come back and run it again later. Being offline says nothing about whether the record exists.
Is it free, and do you keep my search?
It costs nothing, and you don't need an account. Your search isn't saved anywhere; the report is built live. Want a copy? Download the PDF.