Check any land before you buy it

Search the address above. The report reads FEMA’s National Flood Hazard Layer at that exact point and tells you the zone in plain English. For the official map panel to show a lender, use the FEMA Flood Map Service Center at msc.fema.gov.

Zone X is outside FEMA’s high-risk area. Shaded Zone X is the 0.2 percent annual chance (500-year) floodplain, and unshaded Zone X is minimal risk. Zones that start with A or V are Special Flood Hazard Areas, where lenders require flood insurance.

Many rural counties have no digital flood map. That means the risk was never studied, not that there is none. Walk the property for creeks, washes and low ground, and ask the county floodplain manager.

Only a perc test answers that, but the USDA soil survey gives a good first read. The report shows the soil’s rating for a septic drain field (not limited, somewhat limited, or very limited) and why, such as a high water table or shallow bedrock. Very limited usually means an engineered system instead of a standard drain field.

The USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service has mapped the soils of nearly every county in the country. Each soil comes with tested properties: drainage, depth to the water table and to bedrock, slope, and ratings for uses like septic fields and building sites. This report pulls those for the exact point you search, the same data Web Soil Survey shows.

Yes, it is free, with no account. Your browser asks each government service directly and nothing you look up is stored. The link in your address bar opens the same report, so you can send it to a partner or a builder.