How the CondoScore works

The CondoScore is a number from 0 to 100 with a letter grade. It adds up 9 signals we can read from public records. Nothing is hand-tuned per building, and nothing is guessed.

The CondoScore is an automated summary of public-record signals. It is not a rating of building safety, not an appraisal, and not a lending or insurance decision.

The 9 signals and their weights

Each signal scores from 0 to 1, is multiplied by its weight, and the results are added. The weights total 100, so a perfect record scores 100.

Signal	Weight	What it measures	Source
FEMA flood zone Flood exposure	16	The flood zone FEMA maps for this building. Zones starting with V or A are Special Flood Hazard Areas, where flood insurance is normally required.	FEMA flood zones
Flood claims nearby Flood exposure	14	What federal flood insurance has actually paid out in this ZIP code since 1978, and whether any of it went to condo-association policies.	OpenFEMA NFIP claims
Building age Structure & age	14	How old the building is. In Florida a milestone structural inspection is required at 30 years, so age is a direct financing and repair signal there.	Fla. Stat. s. 553.899
Reserve study (SIRS) Structure & age	14	Whether a structural integrity reserve study is reported. Florida requires one for buildings three stories and up. Collected in Florida only.	Fla. Stat. s. 718.112
County hazard rating Hazards & cost	12	FEMA's overall natural-hazard rating for this county, compared with every other U.S. county.	FEMA National Risk Index
Insurance cost Hazards & cost	12	What a typical HO-6 unit-owner policy costs in this county or state, measured against the national average of $572 a year.	FLOIR / NAIC filings
Milestone inspection Structure & age	8	Whether a milestone inspection deadline is recorded for this building, and whether that date has already passed. Collected in Florida only.	Fla. Stat. s. 553.899
Records on file Record depth	6	How complete the public record is: type, homes, stories, year built, county, management contact, and street address.	state corporate & association filings
Recorded sales depth Record depth	4	How many recorded sales we hold for this building. This measures how verifiable the record is, not whether the building is a good buy.	county official records

What happens when a record is blank

A blank is not a penalty and not a bonus. An unmeasured signal is scored at the exact midpoint, so a missing record cannot push a building up or down. What it does change is confidence: every badge prints how many signals it was actually able to read, like “Based on 6 of 9 public-record signals.”

Some signals only exist in some states. Florida publishes structural inspection and reserve-study status; most states do not. In those states those two signals stay unmeasured and the confidence line says so.

What the tiers mean

Score	What we call it
80–100	Strong public-record profile
60–79	Solid, with items to review
40–59	Mixed signals — review carefully
Below 40	Multiple caution signals

Under the tier we print one plain sentence naming the single biggest thing pulling the score down, using the real finding — the FEMA zone, the paid claims in the ZIP, the building's age.

Why a list page can show a different number

A directory row or a map pin holds fewer facts than a full building page, so the same rubric can read fewer signals there and land on a different number. We do not hide that:

Below 4 readable signals, no score is shown at all.
A partial score is drawn as a hollow chip, and its signal count is in the tooltip.
The building page is always the fullest reading. Trust that one.

What the score does not measure

Safety. We hold no engineering reports. A high score is not a statement that a building is sound.
Value. It is not an appraisal and does not price a unit.
Lending or insurance decisions. No lender or carrier uses this number. Only they can tell you what they will do.
The association's finances. Budgets, reserves, dues history, and pending special assessments are not public records. Ask the board for them.
Anything a record does not say. Coverage varies by state and county. The confidence line is the honest measure of how much we could see.

Where the data comes from

Government sources only: state corporate and condominium filings, FEMA's National Flood Hazard Layer and National Risk Index, OpenFEMA's NFIP claims file, the federal school directory, and NAIC and state insurance filings. Each figure on a building page links to the source that produced it. We do not buy data from listing aggregators.

Corrections

If a record is wrong, the fix belongs at the source, and we will update as soon as the source does. Board members and managers can complete a building's profile at any time — start here, free.