Property portfolio hazard screening checklist

How do I start a review queue?

Import county codes (FIPS) as text to keep leading zeros. Retain the original and date your working copy. Keep property and client information in an access-controlled workspace.

Which locations and decisions belong in the shortlist?

Assign a stable location ID and keep the address as supplied. Record the state and the research question before choosing a dataset. For an early acquisition review, you might need county hazard context plus a separate list of locations awaiting flood-map checks.

A neatly formatted address is not a verified location. Record match quality and leave unverified coordinates empty. Duplicate names or changed addresses belong in the unresolved-question column.

How do I retain the source geography?

For the FEMA county sample (source: FEMA), record county as the geographic unit. Keep its FIPS, hazard field, original label and release filename. A supplied property address does not make a county record into a property metric.

For a map question, keep the map reference and effective date separately. The flood evidence guide explains the source distinction. Record the checked-on date as your research date, not the source’s observation period. Record additional evidence needs separately when a business activity raises questions outside the reviewed county extract.

How do I make unresolved evidence visible?

Keep coverage_status and review_status separate from source_value. “No Rating” can be a source value while “needs source review” is your team’s workflow status. Never substitute a workflow label for the publisher’s original data.

Assign an owner and a concrete next action to every unresolved question. If evidence remains unavailable, the final review should carry that limitation forward.

What should I check before sharing?

• Every row has a location ID or an explicitly identified area record.
• The source value matches the original field and release.
• Geography is stated beside the finding.
• Source dates and research dates are distinguishable.
• Missing coverage is visible and has a follow-up.
• The summary contains no conclusion stronger than the supporting evidence.

Review at least one complete source-to-output trail before using the workbook. This checklist is a research aid, not a certification or a lender’s required due-diligence standard.

How do I scope the next research task?

A useful brief names the states, location count, deadline you are working toward and the unanswered question. The screening brief tool saves those notes locally. It does not send a request or accept an order.

Inspect the county sample, blank template and 25-location example pack before ordering.

What does a populated review register look like?

These are synthetic input labels from the report fixture, not verified addresses or completed property checks. The county names are joined from the current sample using the supplied county identifiers. Repeated counties show how multiple locations can share area context without creating independent county loss estimates. Formula-like input labels remain literal text in this HTML table.

Use the blank template for your own working register. Copy the location identity and supplied address as inputs, then add the county match and evidence only when checked. Keep missing fields visible; these rows contain no property determinations.

How do these rows map to Locations and Exceptions?

The report's Locations sheet retains the supplied row identity, client label and county code alongside the match result and county context. The checklist's location_id maps to the input row_id; county_fips is the join key. Retain address and match quality separately; fixture labels are not addresses.

The Exceptions sheet preserves rows that cannot be matched to reviewed coverage, with a reason and next action. Your checklist's unresolved_question, next_action and review_status provide the working notes needed to resolve those rows. Source_value belongs to the evidence field and must not be overwritten by a workflow status such as awaiting review.

When a corrected input arrives, retain the original row identity and document why the match changed. Recheck the affected county evidence and update the review status only after the replacement match is verified. This keeps the location trail connected across the register, report output and exception follow-up.

Which decisions require additional evidence?

The register records evidence and unresolved work. Verify geographic matches and source definitions before treating a completed row as a reviewed finding. Keep the original input and the reason for any correction so the next reviewer can follow the decision trail.

How should I cite the evidence and review date?

Last reviewed: 2026-10-23. Source: FEMA, FEMA National Risk Index. The county sample supplies the worked values. Keep the release and field notes from the methodology with exported figures. The review date records when this guide was reviewed; the underlying observations have their own periods.