Owners investing before a listing, and land moving toward development.
A major remodel or ADU permit, renovation reliably precedes a listing, or a rezoning decision that just changed what a parcel is worth.
2,641 filings across 5 metros mention this trade's work.
One counted query per city against its own permit descriptions, run when this page was last rebuilt. It is the size of the pool, not the size of your feed: scoring and per-rule exclusions cut it down from here.
| Metro | All permits | Mention this trade | Share |
|---|---|---|---|
| New York City | 17,502 | 914 | 5% |
| Austin | 7,980 | 590 | 7% |
| Los Angeles | 15,060 | 506 | 3% |
| Seattle | 1,477 | 499 | 34% |
| Chicago | 6,358 | 132 | 2% |
6 filings worth a call, and the weight each one carries.
These are the rules, not a summary of them. A filing has to match one of them on its own text before it costs anything to score, which is why the feed is short enough to work through and why a rep is not paid to read a fence permit.
Rezoning hearing scheduled
The earliest signal that exists. A case set for hearing means an owner has already filed and paid, weeks before the decision, months before a permit, and before any competitor reading permit data can see it.
matches: rezon · zoning · variance · conditional use · land use · neighborhood plan amendment
Rezoning / variance approved
Pre-permit entitlement. Development intent is now on the public record, months before any permit exists.
matches: rezon · variance · zoning · conditional use · planning board · entitlement
New construction
Ground-up construction means a transaction on both ends, land in, finished product out.
matches: new construction · new building · new sfd · new single family · ground up
Teardown / rebuild
Demolition is the clearest teardown-rebuild tell, and the owner is nearly always working with capital.
matches: demolition · demolish · demo permit · raze
ADU / second unit
ADUs signal an owner optimizing for yield, usually an investor, or an owner about to become one.
matches: adu · accessory dwelling · second unit · granny flat · in-law unit · junior adu
Addition / major remodel
Renovation precedes listing far more often than not, the pre-sale improvement window is roughly 6 to 18 months.
matches: addition · additions alterations · major remodel · remodel · renovation · alteration
Context the filing alone does not carry.
The same permit is worth different amounts depending on what else has happened at that address. Every record is resolved to a property first, by assessor parcel number where the county publishes one, so the history is real rather than a string match on an address.
Investment-grade spend
Pre-permit tier
Hearing not yet held
Repeat permit activity at address
Job value at or above $500,000. Smaller bands score proportionally.
What the number tells a rep to do.
80 and above
Call today. The window on this one closes in days, usually because a contractor is already booking the follow-on work.
65 to 79
Work it this week. Real intent, but nothing about the record says it is about to be decided.
50 to 64
Sequence it. Worth an email and a follow-up, not worth a rep's afternoon.
Below 50
Monitor. Held in the index so a second filing at the same property can lift it later.
What kind of filings become real estate leads?
Rezoning hearing scheduled, Rezoning / variance approved, New construction, Teardown / rebuild, ADU / second unit, Addition / major remodel. Each is matched against the filing's own text, and a record matching none of them is dropped before any model sees it, so you are never charged for volume you would not have called.
How early do these arrive?
Permits are read from the city feed the morning they post, a median of a few hours after filing. Where a city legislates land use parcel by parcel, a scheduled hearing arrives weeks before the decision and months before any permit exists, which is the earliest a buying intention becomes public at all.
What makes one lead score higher than another?
Rule weight sets the floor, then the property's own history and the job value move it. A major remodel or ADU permit, renovation reliably precedes a listing, or a rezoning decision that just changed what a parcel is worth. A score of 65 is the line we call worth calling; 80 and above is worth calling today.
Is this the same list my competitors are buying?
No. Aggregators sell the same homeowner to three or four contractors and charge each of you per lead. Here a territory is a fixed monthly cost, and on Pro and above your segment in your geography is exclusive, enforced by a unique index in the database rather than by a promise in a contract.
Where does the data come from?
Municipal open-data APIs and council agenda systems, read directly. New York City, Austin, Los Angeles, Seattle, Chicago are live today. No scraping, no purchased lists, and no data broker between the city and your feed.
What if a filing has no owner contact?
Most do not, out of the box. Owner phone and email are bought per property on demand and cached forever after, so a property costs credits once no matter how many times your team opens it. Numbers flagged on a do-not-call or litigator list are struck through in the product and excluded from exports and webhooks entirely.
See what is filed in your ZIP today.
Live city data, scored for real estate. No account, about ten seconds.