How DLRadar Scores Distress: A Reader's Guide to the Methodology
The methodology page is the longest page on the site because it has to be: every score is deterministic, every input is a named public source, and the approach behind each score is explained. This guide is the short version, explaining what each score measures, what it deliberately leaves out, and how a user can trace a number back to its source.
- Parcel scores use only indexed records tied to the parcel by parcel number or full address; name-only matches are rejected.
- ZIP and county composites use public series: house prices, delinquency, unemployment, permits, insurance and bank exposure.
- No score uses an estimate, a model prediction presented as fact, or a third-party proprietary index.
- Every figure carries an as-of date and a source so it can be checked.
guide-methodology: methodology figures as of 2026-10-20; the DLRadar methodology.
Parcel level
The distress score counts open signals on the parcel and weights them by how often each one precedes a sale in the record. The global score adds the parcel's ZIP and county context. Signals close when the record shows satisfaction, dismissal, redemption or sale, and a closed signal stops counting the same day.
Area level
ZIP stress is a composite of structural risk and distress activity. County headwind measures lender behaviour. Market phase classifies the price cycle from the FHFA series with a confidence figure. Bank stress scores each institution on its real-estate loan performance and margin. Each has its own section on the methodology page with its method.
What is left out on purpose
Skip-traced contact data, automated valuations, and any signal that cannot be traced to a document. The site would show more if it estimated; it shows what it can prove.
Read the methodology
The methodology and data-sources pages are public; the parcel timeline on the live board shows the inputs behind any score.
Read the methodology is public; no account needed.
How DLRadar Scores Distress: A Reader's Guide to the Methodology: questions
Can two users see different scores for one parcel?
No. Scores are computed once per refresh and stored; every user reads the same row.
How often do scores refresh?
Parcel signals refresh as each record family is re-read; area composites refresh monthly with their public series.
Can I reproduce a score?
Yes. The inputs and weights are on the methodology page and the parcel timeline lists the signals counted.
More on methodology
How DLRadar Scores Distress: A Reader's Guide to the Methodology (guide-methodology) is fed by the DLRadar methodology and is not legal advice. Nothing in methodology is tax or investment advice; verify every guide-methodology record with the issuing office before acting.