Guides

Plain answers to the questions people ask before they buy, invest, design or build: where a house’s history is kept, what the zoning lets you do with a lot, how the numbers are measured, and what to confirm with the city. Each example uses an invented lot.

• What can I build on my lot?

  Find your lot’s zoning district, read its setbacks, height and coverage limits, and work out the largest building allowed. A worked example and what to confirm with the city.

• How to look up a house’s history by address

  Year built, past sales, permits, flood zone, tax values and insurance claims: where each part of a house’s history is kept, how to look it up by address, and what stays private.

• What to check before you buy a house or a lot

  A buyer’s checklist: the county record, zoning and nonconforming buildings, flood zone, easements and HOA rules, taxes after the sale, the neighborhood, and the checks only professionals make.

• How to research a neighborhood before you buy or rent

  Map the places your days run through: the zoned schools, childcare, parks, groceries, doctors and transit, how long the walk to each takes, and what could change nearby. A checklist for families.

• How to find a lot’s hidden development potential

  For investors, flippers and owners: compare what stands with what the zoning allows, and check the room for an addition, a second unit, a rebuild or a lot split before you buy.

• Home values and rents by ZIP code: reading the numbers

  What the Census median home value and rent for a ZIP code mean, why they carry a margin of error, how FHFA’s price index measures change, and why neither is the value of one house.

• How walkable is your neighborhood? The 15-minute test

  How to measure walkability for an address: which everyday places count, why 5 and 15 minutes on foot matter, how to read a score from 0 to 100, and what a score leaves out.

• What are setbacks? Front, side and rear yards explained

  Setbacks are the distances a building must keep from the property lines. How they are measured, typical values, what may stand in them, and what else can push a building back.

• Can I build an ADU on my lot?

  Whether a backyard cottage, garage apartment or in-law unit is allowed depends on state law, the city’s ADU rules and room on the lot. How to check each, with California, Washington and Texas.

• Lot coverage and floor-area ratio (FAR), explained

  Lot coverage limits how much of a lot buildings cover; floor-area ratio limits the total floor area. How each is calculated, what counts, and how they combine with setbacks and height.

• Corner lot setbacks: which side is the front?

  A corner lot faces two streets, and most codes give the second street side a larger setback than an interior side. How the front is chosen, street side yards, through lots and sight triangles.

• How to make a paper model of your house

  Build a card model of your own house: the tools, the right scale, printing at actual size, scoring, cutting and folding, and how LotLens Model makes the kit from lidar and street views.

• Texas SB 15: what the small-lot law changes for a lot

  Texas’s 2025 small-lot law lets unplatted land be divided into 3,000 sq ft lots and caps what a city may require of lots of 4,000 sq ft or less. It reaches tracts of five acres or more with no recorded plat, not an existing lot. What the statute says, read in its own text.