Three kinds of evidence, always labeled
Recorded facts come straight from a public filing (a deed, a mortgage, a violation) and are shown with the source and its date. Self-reported facts are what an owner or filer told the city (HPD registrations, storefront registry, energy benchmarking). Atlas-derived readings are deterministic classifications over recorded evidence (a mortgage’s age, floor-area headroom, “debt retired with no refinance”). Model estimates, where shown, are marked as modeled with their measured error. Nothing moves from one lane to another because Atlas said so.
How a search is ranked
A plain-English objective is translated into a typed specification whose fields are limited to what the record can answer; any criterion the data cannot support is listed as unsupported rather than silently dropped. Hard filters (geography, units, size, hold period) are applied first and are never broadened. Survivors are scored by classed recorded signals: pressure (liens, judgments, hazardous violations, failed-lender notes, foreclosure deeds, securitized-loan distress), optionality (unused allowable floor area, vacant land), control (a named decision-maker on file) and context (long holds, aged mortgages, same-owner blocks). Each building carries the receipts behind its rank, and ties are explained by the difference in those receipts. A score is a ranking device, never a probability that an owner will sell.
What a signal means
A signal is a reason to investigate. A satisfied mortgage with no new loan, an estate or trust deed, a referee deed, or a storefront vacancy each describe something recorded about the building, not the owner’s intentions. Atlas never infers that an owner “may sell” from public data, never contacts owners on your behalf, and never shows a count of who else is researching a building.
Sources
MapPLUTO (NYC Department of City Planning). Tax-lot identity, address, owner of record, land use, zoning, floor-area ratio, lot and building area, year built, residential and total units, landmark and special-district flags. Published by DCP several times a year; Atlas re-bakes on each release. Source ↗
ACRIS (NYC Department of Finance). Recorded deeds, mortgages, assignments, satisfactions, leases, contracts of sale and judgments, with parties and amounts as filed. Amounts are the recorded instrument, never a current balance. Recorded documents, refreshed in bulk; the snapshot date is shown on every property page. Source ↗
DOB, ECB and HPD (violations, permits, facade filings, certificates of occupancy). Open violations by agency and class, permit and job filings, FISP facade status, certificates of occupancy, HPD registrations and contacts. Each filing carries its own date. A single refresh receipt for the compliance family is not recorded, so Atlas shows the most recent filing date instead of a snapshot date. Source ↗
DOF assessment roll, tax-lien sale lists and incentive exemptions. Assessed values, owner names on the roll, lien-sale status and 421-a / J-51 style exemptions with derived expiry. Annual roll; lien lists per sale cycle. Source ↗
SEC EDGAR ABS-EE (commercial mortgage-backed securities). For buildings whose loan sits in a public CMBS trust: filed maturity date, originator, rate, payment status, special-servicing transfers, servicer-reported occupancy, NOI and DSCR. Monthly trust reporting, matched to lots by address. Source ↗
NYS Department of State corporations. Entity type, formation date, process address and CEO for entity-shaped owner names, matched on exact normalized name only. Snapshot, refreshed with the reach layer. Source ↗
Storefront registry, SLA licenses, DOH inspections and other operating sources. Ground-floor occupancy and vacancy as filed by owners (LL157), licensed operators, and inspected businesses. No rents or lease terms exist in any of these sources and Atlas never estimates them. Varies by source; filing dates shown per record. Source ↗
FEMA flood maps, DEC spills and bulk-storage tanks, E-designations. Environmental and flood context joined to the lot by geometry or normalized address. Map and registry vintages are cited on the property page. Source ↗
Current source snapshots
Snapshots have different dates. A filing date is when an event was recorded, not when Atlas last checked the source. Missing recent records do not prove that nothing changed.
- PLUTO / assessment roll: snapshot Jul 2026
- ACRIS: snapshot Jul 21, 2026
- DOB / ECB / HPD compliance: filing dates per record; no family snapshot date recorded
- DOF assessment and liens: filing dates per record; no family snapshot date recorded
- Storefront reporting: snapshot Jul 21, 2026
- HPD registration: filing dates per record; no family snapshot date recorded
- DCP / DEC environment: filing dates per record; no family snapshot date recorded
- FEMA flood maps: filing dates per record; no family snapshot date recorded
- LL84 energy reporting: filing dates per record; no family snapshot date recorded
- Atlas valuation model: snapshot Jul 24, 2026
- Google Places cross-check: filing dates per record; no family snapshot date recorded
- Filed contacts: snapshot Jul 30, 2026
- HUD agency debt: snapshot Sep 23, 2026
- SEC CMBS reporting: snapshot Aug 20, 2026
- Atlas change detection: snapshot Sep 1, 2026
Known limits
ACRIS carries no loan maturity dates or interest rates; mortgage age is a stated proxy except where a securitized loan files its maturity with the SEC. Lis pendens and mechanic’s liens are county-clerk and court filings with no open dataset, so Atlas does not hold them. A tax lot is not always one building or the interest you could buy; condo units are separately owned and are labeled as such. New York publishes no LLC members or beneficial owners; Atlas shows filed officers and agents, not who stands behind them. Owner phone numbers do not exist in any structured city dataset. A missing record never proves that nothing happened.
Corrections
Every property page has a “Report incorrect data” link beside its sources. Reports are checked against the public source before anything changes; the record is never edited from a report alone. See Contact.