Badger Backstory · Madison
The backstory on any Madison house, from the public record.
The assessor's record, sales and taxes, permits, the last big hail, the flood zone, and the questions to ask before an offer. Three pages, every line sourced, ready for an agent to print or email with their name on it.
Free preview: three facts and how many things the full Backstory flags. City of Madison houses, condos and two-units.
BackstoryYour Name
Your Brokerage
The backstory on
504 E Main St
Madison · Capitol Neighborhoods · a 1876 old style
- 69,913 Madison homes, condos and two-units
- 54,001 recorded sales
- City permits since October 2023
- 165 NOAA hail reports since 2023
- No owner names, ever
What's in it
Three pages an agent can hand over at the showing
Built for the moment before an offer, when a buyer is deciding whether to write one and what to ask first.
What stands out
The address, the listing-sheet basics, and the findings, each marked Ask about, Good to know or Checked, with its source under it.
The record
The house as the assessor has it, every sale and transfer, two years of assessments, special assessments, and the tax bill line by line with its referenda.
Neighborhood and permits
Every city permit at the address, recent sales of similar homes nearby, hail and flood, water and sewer, and the questions to ask before you make an offer.
How it works
From an address to the buyer's inbox
Enter the address
Any house, condo or two-unit in the City of Madison.
It builds in seconds
About five seconds. It reads the city's and the assessor's pages for that parcel live, plus one FEMA lookup; the rest is already loaded. No AI writes any of it.
Print it or email it
A three-page PDF, or an email with the top findings and the full report. Both carry Badger Homeowner and the agent's name, photo and contact.
Hand it over
At the showing, or after. The buyer reads the questions and knows what to ask before writing an offer.
What's sourced
Every line comes from an official record
The same rule as every guide on this site. The report links each source, says how current it is, and never fills a gap with a guess.
| What the report shows | Source | How current |
|---|---|---|
| The house: style, size, rooms, year built, assessment | City of Madison open parcel data | Live Daily from the city |
| Sales and transfers, tax bill, referenda, special assessments, roof year | The assessor's pages for that parcel | Live Read live when the report is made |
| Sales of similar homes nearby | Assessor's Sales by Area lists | Pulled Oct 11, 2026 |
| Permits at the address, with contractor and estimated cost | City of Madison permit reports | Through September 2026 |
| Hail near the lot | NOAA Storm Events Database | Through Apr 14, 2026 (NOAA runs up to 120 days behind) |
| Neighborhood re-roof surge after the 2026 storm | City permits, mapped by neighborhood | Through September 2026 |
| Flood zone | FEMA National Flood Hazard Layer | Live Read live when the report is made |
| Radon, wiring era, lead paint, lead lines, sewer laterals, lottery credit | EPA, CPSC, Wisconsin SPS 131, Madison Water Utility, PSC, Madison Engineering, Wisconsin DOR | Re-checked Oct 9, 2026, then yearly |
Always in a Backstory
- A link to the official record behind each section
- The date each kind of data runs through
- Plain rules for every flag, the same for every house
- The questions a buyer should ask, written from the findings
Never in a Backstory
- Owner, grantor or grantee names
- An opinion of what the house is worth
- A version with findings removed
- Anything we couldn't trace to a record
BackstoryYour Name
Your Brokerage
The backstory on
504 E Main St
Madison · Capitol Neighborhoods · a 1876 old style
The sample
The full Backstory on 504 E Main St
An 1876 old style in Capitol Neighborhoods, from records pulled Oct 12, 2026. It turned up 1 thing to ask about: two special assessments are on record for this parcel.
For agents
Unlimited Backstories, with your name on every one
One monthly subscription. Run a report for every showing, every listing appointment, every buyer who asks about a house. Every printout and every email carries your name and Badger Homeowner's.
- Print or email, co-branded. Your photo, brokerage and contact on every page. Emails go out in your name and replies come to you.
- Local depth. Full City of Madison permit detail, the neighborhood's re-roof surge after a storm, referenda and special assessments on the bill, Madison's lateral and lead line rules.
- Listing agents too. See what a buyer's agent will see before the house goes on the market. There's one Backstory per address, and nothing is left out.
- Nothing to install. Enter an address, get the report.
- Unlimited reports, print and email
- Co-branded with your name, photo and brokerage
- Madison houses, condos and two-units now; more towns next
- No owner names, no valuations, nothing hidden
The pilot is by invitation while we test it. Sign-up opens with the site's contact form.
Questions
Before you use one
Is a Backstory an appraisal or an inspection?
No. It collects public records and applies plain rules to them, and it never states what the house is worth. The similar-sales table lists what the city recorded. It points to what an inspector, an insurer or the seller should answer, and says so.
Where does each line come from?
Every section names its source, and the report ends with links to each one: the city's parcel data and the assessor's own pages for that parcel, city permit reports, NOAA's storm database, FEMA's flood maps, and the agencies behind each fixed fact. See what's sourced.
Can a listing agent leave a finding out?
No. There is one Backstory per address, and it's the same no matter who orders it. A listing agent can use it to see what a buyer's agent will see before the house goes on the market.
Does it show who owns the house?
No. Owner, grantor and grantee names are public, but a Backstory leaves them out. It's about the house.
Which homes does it cover?
Single-family homes, condos and two-unit buildings in the City of Madison. Other Dane County towns come next, as each town's records are loaded.
How current is it?
The assessor's pages and the flood map are read when the report is made. Permits and sales update monthly. NOAA's storm database runs up to 120 days behind (NOAA), so the report says which date its hail data runs through.
What does it cost?
Agents will pay a monthly subscription with unlimited reports. Pricing is being set with the pilot group, so there are no prices here yet. The address preview on this page is free.
Buying without an agent? The free Before You Offer guide walks through the same public records by hand.