An Essex County home inspector has built a free website that lets anyone look up the public records behind a New Jersey property &mdash; building permits, flood zones, fire history, oil tanks and contamination sites, property taxes, and more &mdash; by typing in an address.
The site, <a href="https://oprasearch.app/" rel="noopener nofollow" target="_blank">Permit &amp; Parcel</a>, covers all 564 New Jersey municipalities and brings together records from official sources, including state and county databases, FEMA flood maps, and the towns&rsquo; own municipal codes. No account or email is required, and there&rsquo;s no cost. Since launching this spring it has handled more than 18,000 searches from every county in the state.
&ldquo;I kept watching buyers fall in love with a house before anyone checked the paper trail &mdash; the open permits, the flood zone, what the town actually requires when a home changes hands,&rdquo; said Leo Betancor, a Certified Master Inspector based in Cedar Grove and the founder of the site. &ldquo;All of that is public record. It just wasn&rsquo;t in one place anyone could actually use.&rdquo;
&ldquo;And it isn&rsquo;t only for buyers,&rdquo; Betancor added. &ldquo;With rates where they are, a lot of people are staying put. The house you already own has a paper trail too &mdash; an old oil tank, a flood zone change, a lead service line &mdash; and most owners have never seen it.&rdquo;
Alongside the main lookup, the site includes free single-purpose tools: a <a href="https://oprasearch.app/tools/contamination/" rel="noopener nofollow" target="_blank">contamination and tank lookup</a> showing known spill sites and registered tanks near any address, a <a href="https://oprasearch.app/tools/lead-pipes/" rel="noopener nofollow" target="_blank">lead water pipe check</a>, a <a href="https://oprasearch.app/tools/lead-safe/" rel="noopener nofollow" target="_blank">lead-safe inspection lookup</a> showing which of the two state-required inspection methods each town uses under New Jersey&rsquo;s lead paint law, a searchable <a href="https://oprasearch.app/lead-contractors/" rel="noopener nofollow" target="_blank">directory of DCA-certified lead evaluation and abatement contractors</a> sorted by distance, a <a href="https://oprasearch.app/tools/fire/" rel="noopener nofollow" target="_blank">fire-incident map</a> built from more than 40 years of state fire records, and a <a href="https://oprasearch.app/tools/radon/" rel="noopener nofollow" target="_blank">radon map</a> covering every municipality.
Homeowners can also <a href="https://oprasearch.app/tools/tax/" rel="noopener nofollow" target="_blank">look up property taxes and assessments</a>, <a href="https://oprasearch.app/tools/hvac-age/" rel="noopener nofollow" target="_blank">check the age of a furnace, air conditioner or water heater</a>using its serial number, and <a href="https://oprasearch.app/tools/co/" rel="noopener nofollow" target="_blank">find their town&rsquo;s certificate-of-occupancy requirements</a> before selling or renting a home.
A companion site, <a href="https://njflood.zone/" rel="noopener nofollow" target="_blank">njflood.zone</a>, gives instant FEMA flood-zone answers for any New Jersey address &mdash; built after the federal government shutdown left FEMA&rsquo;s own map site unreliable &mdash; running on the site&rsquo;s own servers with the complete flood map data for the state loaded locally.
Permit &amp; Parcel carries no advertising and is funded entirely by Smart Choice Inspections, Betancor&rsquo;s Cedar Grove home inspection company. Readers who find the site useful and need an inspection can claim <a href="https://callsmartchoice.com/patch" rel="noopener nofollow" target="_blank">$100 off a qualifying home inspection</a>, or learn more on <a href="https://callsmartchoice.com/leobetancor/?gift=credit100&amp;campaign=patch" rel="noopener nofollow" target="_blank">Betancor&rsquo;s page</a>.
The project was recently featured in <a href="https://www.tapinto.net/towns/east-hanover-slash-florham-park/columns/at-home-with-holly/articles/deep-dive-conversations-what-the-house-won-t-tell-you" rel="noopener nofollow" target="_blank">TAPinto</a>. Both sites are free at <a href="https://oprasearch.app/" rel="noopener nofollow" target="_blank">oprasearch.app</a> and <a href="https://njflood.zone/" rel="noopener nofollow" target="_blank">njflood.zone</a>.

Essex County

Eric Kiefer

New York City Metropolitan Area

Montclair

New Jersey

Cedar Grove Home Inspector Builds Free Property...

An Essex County home inspector has built a free website that lets anyone look up the public records behind a New Jersey property — building permits...

Cedar Grove Home Inspector Builds Free Property-Records Lookup for Every NJ Town

Musical Halloween fun, free and open to the public!

Union County

Jamie Gatlin

New Providence-Berkeley Heights

Sing Along!!

Musical Halloween fun, free and open to the public!

Alexis Tarrazi

Westfield

Springfield

Summit

Scotch Plains-Fanwood

Cranford

Clark-Garwood

Morris County

Chatham

Millburn-Short Hills

Somerset County

Watchung-Green Brook

Maplewood

Tremendous Office Furniture & Soft Seating Warehouse Liquidation Sale

“Morris Music Men to Present “Hot Brass ~ Cool Harmonies” November 1

HOPE Fest!

Enjoy a fun, fruitful evening at 2nd annual Friends of Music GALA on Sat, Nov. 7

33rd Annual Oak Knoll Royal Boutique

Jersey Sports Finder

Marlen Elite Dental Wellness

Habitat for Humanity of Greater Newark ReStore

WalkWell Shoes

Insurcomm Restoration

Home Concepts Construction

PSE&G

Lawn-Gevity Landscaping 

Picatinny Federal Credit Union

The Uncommon Thread

The Pool Boss

Somerset Cosmetic & Reconstructive Surgery

🌱 Patch AM: New Providence Police Increase...

Make time for Tremendous Office Furniture & Soft Seating Warehouse Liquidation Sale on the New Providence Patch calendar

🌱 Patch AM: New Providence Police Increase Halloween Patrols, Target Speeding And DWI

Community Corner

Cape May County

Ocean City

NJ Elementary School Teacher Who Had Student's...

Laura Caron is accused of sexually assaulting her student and having a child with him when he was 13 and she was 28.

NJ Elementary School Teacher Who Had Student's Baby Pleads Guilty 

Crime & Safety

New Providence Police Increase Halloween...

Police will increase patrols for pedestrian safety and impaired driving as part of New Jersey's Goal Zero Halloween initiative.

New Providence Police Increase Halloween Patrols, Target Speeding And DWI

Gloucester County

West Deptford

NJ Cop Sexually Assaulted Woman, Altered...

The lieutenant adjusted confidential records, officials said.

NJ Cop Sexually Assaulted Woman, Altered Records To Cover It Up, Lawsuit Says

🌱 Patch AM: What New Providence council just...

Make time for "Morris Music Men to Present "Hot Brass ~ Cool Harmonies" November 1 on the New Providence Patch calendar

🌱 Patch AM: What New Providence council just changed about leaf pickup and roads

Nearby Communities

State Edition

National Edition

Discover more in New Providence-Berkeley Heights

Find and sell treasures, hire and offer services. All in your community

Montclair, NJ|Local Classified|Announcement|5d

Cedar Grove Home Inspector Builds Free Property-Records Lookup for Every NJ Town

New Providence-Berkeley Heights, NJ|Local Classified|Announcement|Oct 10

Sing Along!!

Tremendous Office Furniture & Soft Seating Warehouse Liquidation Sale

“Morris Music Men to Present “Hot Brass ~ Cool Harmonies” November 1

HOPE Fest!

Enjoy a fun, fruitful evening at 2nd annual Friends of Music GALA on Sat, Nov. 7

33rd Annual Oak Knoll Royal Boutique

33rd Annual Oak Knoll Royal Boutique

33rd Annual Oak Knoll Royal Boutique

Jersey Sports Finder

Marlen Elite Dental Wellness

Habitat for Humanity of Greater Newark ReStore

WalkWell Shoes

Insurcomm Restoration

Home Concepts Construction

PSE&G

Lawn-Gevity Landscaping

Picatinny Federal Credit Union

The Uncommon Thread

The Pool Boss

Somerset Cosmetic & Reconstructive Surgery