How-to: Property search

Look up any US property to see its risk, insurability, and which carriers are binding — before you make a move.

Who this is for: everyone — this is the main entry point for every role. Where: the Search tab (/check, results at /search). Time: ~1 min.

Basic search (by address)

1. Click Search in the nav.
2. Type an address, ZIP, or parcel ID. As you type, autocomplete suggestions appear — pick one.
3. You're taken to the Record (or a results list for a broad query).

An address-shaped query goes straight through — no AI call, instant and free.

Reading a result card

Each card in the results list shows the property's facts plus a risk read at a glance:

• An assessed property shows its insurability band — Clear, Watch, Constrained, Hard-to-Place or Unplaceable — in the corner and again on a small strip underneath the facts, with an icon so the band reads without relying on colour. When a full Record has already been run, the strip also shows how many carriers are writing and the estimated annual premium from that Record.
• A property CoverGuard hasn't assessed at all shows a plain "Check risk" prompt — open the Record to get a real read.

What the band means, and what it doesn't

A card's band comes from hazard data alone, which is why the strip says so. When you open the property's Record you see a different kind of answer: the CoverGuard Score, a number out of 10 with its own band — Straightforward, Manageable, Workable, Difficult or Severe — which also weighs which carriers are actually writing in that market. The two use different words on purpose, because they answer different questions: the card tells you how exposed the property is, the Record tells you how hard it is to insure.

A card states a band, not a number. The CoverGuard Score — the 1-10 figure — lives on the Record, the PDF report and the embeddable badge, all of which have the carrier data behind it. A card doesn't, so it tells you the band it can stand behind rather than a number it would have to guess at.

Exploring a spot on the map

Click anywhere on the map to drop a pin there. CoverGuard looks up the address at that spot, and Pull a Record opens a search for it. If no address can be read there, the pin offers Search by address instead.

Using a keyboard? Tab into the map and use the arrow keys to move it, and + and - to zoom. A crosshair marks the center of the map. Press Shift+Tab to step back to Drop a pin at map center, then press Enter. The pin drops where the crosshair is, with the same address lookup as a clicked pin, and screen readers announce it. The map may then shift a little so the pin's details fit on screen. The control isn't available in the map's full-screen view: press Esc to leave full screen first.

Reading the map: this home against its area

Select a home on the map and the box in its top-right corner compares it with its area. It opens on the area average — the typical CoverGuard Score of other homes we've assessed in the same ZIP code over the last year, or in the same county when the ZIP doesn't have enough yet — and underneath tells you where this home stands against it, for example "This home: 4/10 · Difficult — 2 below the area". Tap This home to lead with the home's own Score instead. It's the same Score, with the same band, that the home's Record shows.

• Above the area means easier to insure than the typical nearby home; below means harder.
• The area average is context, not a quote. It's modeled from the homes we've assessed nearby, and we only show it once at least three have been assessed. When the ZIP has fewer, the box uses the county and says so; when the county has fewer too, it shows the home on its own.
• No figures, just bands? You're seeing the free preview. Unlock the Record to see the numbers behind them.
• "No Score published" means the home's Record doesn't publish one either, for the reason it gives. If every carrier checked declined the home, the area average is still shown so you can see the neighbourhood.

A property every carrier declined shows no band at all. Its hazard reading can look unremarkable, and showing it would suggest the property is easier to place than it is. You won't see a "Check risk" prompt on one either — it has already been checked.

"Older Record" means the carrier and cost figures beside it are dated. Those come from the last time someone opened that property's full Record, and nothing refreshes them on a schedule — so a card can be showing what the market looked like months ago. The band itself is current. Open the Record for a fresh read on carriers and cost.

Natural-language search

CoverGuard understands intent, not just addresses. Try:

• "flood-prone homes in Austin under $1M"
• "low-wildfire homes near 78737"
• "insurable homes in Tampa, cheapest to insure first"

When your query carries filter or location language, it's parsed into structured filters and the results are filtered and sorted server-side. You can also refine with the on-screen controls:

• Risk band — min/max overall risk, or a per-peril floor.
• Insurability — insurable-only, or difficult-only.
• Sort — by insurability, risk (asc/desc), carrier count, or price.

"Filters partially applied" notice. CoverGuard can only filter on properties it has already assessed (cached risk). If some candidates have no cached risk yet and a hard risk filter is active, they're excluded and you'll see this notice explaining the thin/empty set. Re-run in a moment as data warms, or loosen the filter.

Conversational questions

If your query is genuinely conversational — "which of my saved homes has the worst flood risk?" — CoverGuard escalates to the CoverGuard Advisor, which can use search, risk, and carrier tools to answer, rather than dead-ending in a plain search.

Screening many addresses at once (bulk)

Pros can screen a whole list. On a professional account (the "Bulk upload" tab is hidden for consumer Buyer / Seller accounts), open the tab on the Search page (to the right of "Search By Budget") and upload a CSV of addresses. Each row resolves to a property and queues a risk backfill. The per-upload row cap is tier-aware:

(Bulk screening is a gated feature; you'll be prompted to upgrade if your plan doesn't include it.)

Have thousands of addresses to screen at once — a whole portfolio, not a short list? See Screening a whole portfolio at once (Team plan) for the institutional-scale, asynchronous version of this tool.

Tips

• Use the CoverGuard Advisor to interpret results ("is this a hard market to place?").
• Save promising properties as you go — see Saving & comparing.
• Prefer a budget-first flow? Use Shop by budget instead of one address at a time.

Troubleshooting

• No results / can't find an address → try the full street address with city + state, or a ZIP. See Search & Records.
• Used up my free search → the free tier includes 1 lifetime property search (and 5 AI interactions); upgrade to keep searching. See Billing & plans.
• Empty filtered set → the "filters partially applied" case above — loosen filters or wait for risk data to warm.

Do this next

Open a result to read its full Record — that's where the risk, cost, carriers, and value impact come together.

• Reading a CoverGuard Record
• Saving & comparing properties
• Shop by budget — search by what you can afford instead