In commercial real estate, time kills deals — but wasting time on bad deals kills your pipeline.

You’ve been there before:
You spot a property that 

 perfect. You get excited. You start pulling county records, zoning PDFs, Google Maps screenshots, demographic reports. Two days later, you realize it’s in a flood zone, the zoning won’t allow your intended use, or the market is already oversaturated.

That’s why smart developers, brokers, and investors are moving to a 

 that will keep you from wasting hours on properties that should have been killed in five minutes.

1. Zoning & Permitted Uses — Your First Filter

Zoning is the #1 reason a deal dies early. Yet too many people leave it until after they’ve already invested time in market research.

Every jurisdiction has different zoning codes.

The data lives in scattered PDFs, slow county GIS portals, or paywalled sites.

You end up chasing planners just to confirm basic allowed uses.

Pull the zoning map for any property instantly.

Generate a zoning report that lists permitted uses in seconds.

Know immediately whether the site is even eligible for your project.

 Start with zoning. If the property fails here, move on before you sink more time into it.

2. Flood Zones & Wetlands — Hidden Deal Killers

Environmental restrictions are a silent killer in commercial development. You might not see the problem on a site visit, but FEMA’s floodplain data or the National Wetlands Inventory could stop your project cold.

Flood insurance and build restrictions can destroy feasibility.

Wetlands can mean costly mitigation or total disqualification.

National Wetlands Inventory layer to see environmental constraints instantly.

Make “environmental due diligence” part of your 

3. Demographics & Crime Data — Market Fit in Minutes

Even if the site is buildable, does the market want what you’re selling?

Overestimating demand in stagnant or declining areas.

Overlooking safety concerns that affect tenants, customers, and lenders.

View population, income, and growth trends instantly for the area.

Overlay crime data to assess risk and public perception.

 avoid high-risk markets without leaving the map.

4. Competitive Landscape — Know Your Neighbors

Competition isn’t always bad — but too much, too close, and you’re fighting an uphill battle.

Self-storage supply analysis with facility mapping.

Side-by-side rate comparisons to spot overbuilt or overpriced areas.

Comparable property tools for other commercial asset classes, giving developers and brokers quick insight into competitive positioning before engaging a broker or consultant.

5. Accessibility & Location Quality — First Impressions Count

While we don’t yet provide drive-time analytics, you can still evaluate location quality without setting foot on site.

High-resolution satellite and street-level context right in the map view.

See road proximity, visibility from main corridors, and surrounding land use.

Make a quick gut check before investing in deeper traffic studies later.

The traditional CRE due diligence workflow:

Find a property on CREXi, LoopNet, or through a broker.

Dig up demographic data from a separate service.

Cross-reference competitors manually in Google Maps.

 of work for a single property — and you’re doing it blind until step 5.

.
One map. All the data. Instant go/no-go.

Run Your Next Deal Through reSpots — Free

The next time you find a promising property:

See zoning, flood, wetlands, demographics, crime, and competitors in seconds.

Decide whether it’s worth another minute of your time.

 — run your first site through reSpots now and see how much time (and money) you save.

In commercial real estate, time kills deals — but wasting time on bad deals kills your pipeline.

You’ve been there before:
You spot a property that looks perfect. You get excited. You start pulling county records, zoning PDFs, Google Maps screenshots, demographic reports. Two days later, you realize it’s in a flood zone, the zoning won’t allow your intended use, or the market is already oversaturated.

That’s why smart developers, brokers, and investors are moving to a data-first, minutes-not-days approach to deal evaluation.

Here’s the 2025 Go/No-Go Checklist that will keep you from wasting hours on properties that should have been killed in five minutes.

1. Zoning & Permitted Uses — Your First Filter

Zoning is the #1 reason a deal dies early. Yet too many people leave it until after they’ve already invested time in market research.

The problem:

Every jurisdiction has different zoning codes.

The data lives in scattered PDFs, slow county GIS portals, or paywalled sites.

You end up chasing planners just to confirm basic allowed uses.

The reSpots advantage:

Pull the zoning map for any property instantly.

Generate a zoning report that lists permitted uses in seconds.

Know immediately whether the site is even eligible for your project.

Bottom line: Start with zoning. If the property fails here, move on before you sink more time into it.

2. Flood Zones & Wetlands — Hidden Deal Killers

Environmental restrictions are a silent killer in commercial development. You might not see the problem on a site visit, but FEMA’s floodplain data or the National Wetlands Inventory could stop your project cold.

Why it matters:

Flood insurance and build restrictions can destroy feasibility.

Wetlands can mean costly mitigation or total disqualification.

The reSpots advantage:

FEMA flood overlays directly on the map.

National Wetlands Inventory layer to see environmental constraints instantly.

Make “environmental due diligence” part of your first pass, not your last.

3. Demographics & Crime Data — Market Fit in Minutes

Even if the site is buildable, does the market want what you’re selling?

The risk of skipping this step:

Overestimating demand in stagnant or declining areas.

Overlooking safety concerns that affect tenants, customers, and lenders.

The reSpots advantage:

View population, income, and growth trends instantly for the area.

Overlay crime data to assess risk and public perception.

Spot opportunities and avoid high-risk markets without leaving the map.

4. Competitive Landscape — Know Your Neighbors

Competition isn’t always bad — but too much, too close, and you’re fighting an uphill battle.

Right now in reSpots:

Self-storage supply analysis with facility mapping.

Side-by-side rate comparisons to spot overbuilt or overpriced areas.

Coming soon:

Comparable property tools for other commercial asset classes, giving developers and brokers quick insight into competitive positioning before engaging a broker or consultant.

5. Accessibility & Location Quality — First Impressions Count

While we don’t yet provide drive-time analytics, you can still evaluate location quality without setting foot on site.

The reSpots advantage:

High-resolution satellite and street-level context right in the map view.

See road proximity, visibility from main corridors, and surrounding land use.

Make a quick gut check before investing in deeper traffic studies later.

Why the Old Way is Dead

The traditional CRE due diligence workflow:

Find a property on CREXi, LoopNet, or through a broker.

Pull zoning from a county portal.

Download FEMA flood maps.

Dig up demographic data from a separate service.

Cross-reference competitors manually in Google Maps.

That’s hours of work for a single property — and you’re doing it blind until step 5.

With reSpots, you can run the entire checklist in under five minutes.
One map. All the data. Instant go/no-go.

Run Your Next Deal Through reSpots — Free

The next time you find a promising property:

Drop the address into reSpots.

See zoning, flood, wetlands, demographics, crime, and competitors in seconds.

Decide whether it’s worth another minute of your time.

💡 Get started free today — run your first site through reSpots now and see how much time (and money) you save.

👉 Sign Up Free — No credit card required.