Methodology & coverage

What CityPulse checks, how, and what it does not do.

CityPulse turns public NYC records into a buyer-facing acquisition diligence memo. This page describes the data sources, the structure of the output, and the limits of public-record analysis.

What we read

  • HPD housing-condition violations and complaints
  • DOB building permits, jobs, ECB violations
  • 311 service requests and recurring-complaint patterns
  • NYC building & lot records (BBL-keyed): unit count, year built, borough, ZIP
  • Owner-name signal from public records (raw owner-name, not beneficial ownership)

All queries are bounded to the specific BBL and time window of interest. CityPulse does not full-scan citywide event tables for buyer-facing requests.

What we do NOT read

  • DHCR rent registration / Cases by Building Report
  • Certificate of Occupancy / legal use confirmation
  • DOF open arrears (open tax bill)
  • Housing court landlord-tenant litigation history
  • Beneficial ownership / LLC control chain
  • 421-a / J-51 tax-abatement schedule

These are diligence questions to route to seller, counsel, title, expediter, or DOF — not records CityPulse pulls.

Source freshness

Where CityPulse stands against the most recent NYC public-record re-pull. “Fresh” is the dominant state across sampled buildings; specific BBLs may differ. Source-pull dates are not invented — any unavailable value shows a dash.

HPD violations & complaintsFresh in latest re-pull14/51 sampled buildings have fresh data
DOB permits, jobs, safety37/51 sampled buildings unavailable
311 service requestsFresh in latest re-pull20/51 sampled buildings have fresh data
ACRIS deeds / mortgages32/51 sampled buildings unavailable
DOF lien-sale list48/51 sampled buildings unavailable
ECB / OATH violations46/51 sampled buildings unavailable
PLUTO building & lot fields51/51 sampled buildings unavailable
Certificate of Occupancy / legal use51/51 sampled buildings unavailable
Housing-court litigation51/51 sampled buildings unavailable

Aggregate freshness summary based on the most recent ops sample. Per-building freshness is shown in the property check evidence appendix where available.

How the memo is organized

  1. Buyer read — proceed, proceed with conditions, escalate diligence, or walk away
  2. top source-backed diligence signals — three named risks with source-record evidence
  3. What could change — possible impact on price, reserve, escrow, seller cure, closing timing, walk-away
  4. Who verifies — counsel / title, inspector / engineer, broker / seller, lender / insurance, operator
  5. Records checked — citation IDs and source rows in the evidence appendix

What CityPulse does NOT do

CityPulse is a public-record acquisition diligence aid. It does not:

Caveats & coverage limits

CityPulse analyzes available public records. Owner/entity and transaction linkages may be incomplete. Coverage-gated predictive outputs help prioritize what to verify; they are not legal, title, engineering, valuation, insurance, tax, underwriting, or investment conclusions.

Coverage today is strongest for high-signal NYC multifamily and mixed-use BBLs with public-record history. Sparse or new BBLs may return limited evidence — those cases are surfaced explicitly as “LIMITED” or “SPARSE” in the property check, not as confident risk conclusions.

Any final buyer decision should rely on counsel, title, engineer, lender, and inspector verification, not on CityPulse alone.

For investors and partners

CityPulse is a launch-stage product. The buyer ICP is NYC small/mid-market multifamily and mixed-use acquisition buyers. Adjacent segments (lenders, brokers, attorneys, title, insurers, asset managers, PropTech) are expansion paths, not the launch focus.

See pricing or run the sample property check.