The do-it-yourself route works, and it takes an afternoon per parcel. Terranown runs the same checks against the same public sources for one property at a time and writes up what they found. This is what using it looks like, step by step.
Step 1: Find the parcel
Search an address or pan the map and click the land. Terranown resolves the click to the parcel boundary the county maintains, with its parcel number, so every check that follows is run against the actual shape of the land rather than a point. Check the outline on the map before going further; if it is the wrong lot, everything after it is too.
Coverage is assembled county by county, because there is no national parcel map. Where a county is not yet available, the map shows it grayed out.
Step 2: Run a Basic report to screen it
A Basic report checks the physical picture — flood, wetlands, soil, roads, utilities, water, environmental records, and terrain — and finishes in well under a minute. You get one card per finding with its status and source, and a short written overview.
Read it for deal-breakers. A flood zone across most of the land, a large mapped wetland on the only flat ground, no road anywhere near the boundary — any of these may end the search here, which is the point.
Step 3: Decide whether it deserves a Deep Dive
If the parcel survives the screen, promote the report to a Deep Dive. What the Basic report found is kept, and the deeper research is added: the county assessor record, zoning, satellite imagery, protected species, minerals and geology, and a search of public records about the property and its area. It takes a few minutes, and you can leave the page while it runs.
Step 4: Read the analysis, then the evidence
Start with the written summary. It reads every finding against the others and calls out what needs attention. Then open the sections behind anything that would change your decision — the flood detail if the house site is near the floodplain, the soils if you will need a septic system. Each names its source, so you can confirm it there.
If a section says its data could not be retrieved, treat it as an open question, not a clean result. Refreshing the report later gives it another try. The guide to reading a report explains the labels in full.
Step 5: Add what you know
On a Deep Dive you can attach documents — a survey, a title commitment, a soil report, the seller’s disclosure. They are read alongside the public record, and a disagreement between the two is exactly the kind of thing you want found before closing.
Step 6: Share it or take it with you
Share a read-only link with a partner, a lender, or your agent, or export the Deep Dive to PDF for the file. The person you send it to sees the report, not your account.
What it is not
A Terranown report is research, not a survey, a title search, or professional advice. It tells you what the public record says and where it is silent, so you know which of those expert checks to order. The last article in this series covers that: from report to decision.