Tutorials · Prospecting

Ready-made deal searches

What each one-click deal search finds, the exact rule behind it, and how to run it for a single ZIP code.

The deal search has nine ready-made searches, buttons that set a common combination of filters in one click. Here is each one's rule, so you know what a match means and what it leaves out. Four of them are also in the Prospecting menu: Absentee owners, Long-held buildings, Recent buyers and Renovation permits.

Running one

Choose a button at the top of any deal search: on the Deal search page for the city or a borough, or in the Search this ZIP section of a ZIP page (and the matching section on block, neighborhood and corridor pages). The chosen button is highlighted, and the results heading spells out the rule in words. Each search has its own sort order, shown below; you can change it from the Sort by links.

Absentee owners

What it finds: buildings whose owner gets mail somewhere other than the building.

The rule: BlockLot takes the most recent deed recorded for the lot in ACRIS, the City's register of deeds and mortgages, and reads the mailing address given for the first buyer named on it. If that address is not the building's own address, the owner is an absentee owner. Addresses are compared after tidying their spelling, so "Avenue" and "Ave" match. The results are sorted by building size, largest first.

Keep in mind:

• The address is the one written on the deed when the owner bought. An owner who moved in or out since then is not reflected.
• An owner who buys through an LLC often gives a lawyer's or managing agent's office as its address, so such buildings count as absentee even when the people behind the company live nearby.
• A lot with no deed in ACRIS, or with an address BlockLot cannot compare, is left out rather than guessed at. Staten Island deeds are recorded outside ACRIS, so this search finds little there.

For a stronger version, open All filters and set Absentee owner to out of state: the deed's mailing address is outside New York State.

Long-held buildings

What it finds: buildings nobody has bought in 20 years or more, whose owners are likely to hold substantial equity.

The rule: the date of the lot's own latest recorded deed is 20 or more years ago. Any deed counts, including a transfer for no money, such as a building moved into the owner's own company. Where no deed is on record, the latest Department of Finance sale record is used. A lot with neither is left out. The results are sorted by years held, longest first.

Recent buyers

What it finds: buildings that changed hands recently.

The rule: the lot's latest deed was recorded in the last 24 months, for more than $10,000. The price floor leaves out transfers for no money or a nominal sum. In a condominium, a sale of any one unit marks the whole building. The results are sorted by most recent sale first.

Renovation permits

What it finds: buildings where major work has just been approved.

The rule: the Buildings Department (DOB) issued the first permit for a major-alteration job on the lot within the last 12 months. A major alteration is one that changes the building's use, exits or occupancy and needs a new certificate of occupancy. The results are sorted by the number of new-building, alteration and demolition permits in the last 12 months.

The other five

• Vacant storefronts: the owner reported at least one storefront as vacant in their Local Law 157 storefront filing with the Department of Finance. Sorted by vacant storefronts.
• Long-held mixed-use: a mixed-use building (residence with stores) last sold 20 or more years ago, by the rule above. Sorted by years held.
• Under-built corners: a corner lot that is a soft site, built to under half of its largest permitted floor area. Sorted by unused buildable square feet.
• Distressed retail: a retail or mixed-use building whose distress score is in the moderate band or worse. Sorted by distress score.
• Leases expiring 12 mo: a reported lease expiry in the next 12 months. Sorted by lease expiries.

Narrowing a search to one ZIP

1. Type the ZIP code into the search box at the top of any page and open the ZIP's page from the results. Opening the ZIP page counts as one report against your monthly allowance, and each search you run in it counts as another.
2. Find the section headed Search this ZIP, just below the page's header. Each button there shows how many lots in that ZIP match.
3. Choose the button. The results list only that ZIP's lots.
4. To narrow further, open All filters, add filters (a building class, a minimum size, an owner type) and press Search. The button is no longer highlighted once the filters differ from its own, but the search keeps the filters it set.

For a whole borough, open Deal search from the Prospecting menu and choose the borough on the Where: line. The step-by-step version of this, from search to mailing list, is in Absentee owners in a ZIP code.