Using Distress Score in PropertyRadar
Distress Score helps you see at a glance which properties are most likely owned by motivated sellers. It turns more than 30 different distress and life‑event signals into a single 0–100 score so you can quickly rank, sort, and prioritize your best opportunities instead of manually stacking and comparing multiple lists.
What Is Distress Score?
Distress Score is a calculated data field and search criteria that summarizes how much distress a property (or its owner) is currently experiencing, based on all the distress signals we track for that property.
Range: 0–100
0 = no current distress indicators
100 = multiple, severe distress indicators present
Where you see it:
Discover / List view (sortable column)
Property & Owner Profile overview panel
Cards (map, card view, mobile cards)
Exports, Zapier, Webhooks as a standard data field
Availability: Included for Solo, Team, Business. Legacy packages do not include the new distress features.
Distress Score works hand‑in‑hand with Distress Criteria (the OR‑based distress filter) so you can both find and rank distressed properties in a single workflow.
Other Distress > Distress Score - sortable columns
How Distress Score Is Calculated (Conceptual Overview)
Start from real distress signals
PropertyRadar evaluates 30+ distress and life‑event signals, including (but not limited to):
Foreclosure pipeline: Preforeclosure, auction, bank‑owned (REO)
Equity/finance stress: Underwater, tax delinquent, property tax lien, federal or state tax lien, support or deficiency judgments
Life events: Divorce, probate, death of joint tenant, deceased owner
Tenancy and condition issues: Eviction, code enforcement / abatement lien, vacancy (property or mailing address)
Liens & legal: HOA liens, mechanics liens, county/city liens, hazardous waste liens, personal/judgment liens
Owner profile: Out‑of‑state owner and similar risk factors
Each of these signals is grounded in public records and specialized third‑party data sources (including court‑sourced divorce, probate, and eviction where available).
Assign weights based on severity and intent
Behind the scenes, each signal is given a base weight that reflects how strongly it indicates distress. For example:
Serious, time‑sensitive events (e.g., auction, tax‑delinquent, preforeclosure, federal tax lien) are weighted more heavily.
Moderate but important indicators (e.g., divorce, probate, eviction, code enforcement, vacancy) carry medium weights.
Contextual or lower‑severity signals (e.g., out‑of‑state owner, certain smaller liens) carry lighter weights.
If a property has multiple signals, those base weights are added together into a single “total distress weight.”
Map the total weight to a 0–100 score
Next, we map that total weight onto a curved 0–100 scale designed specifically for prioritization:
Single, strong signal → often a moderate score (for example, a property with only tax delinquency or only preforeclosure might land around the mid‑range).
Multiple serious signals → scores climb quickly into the 70s, 80s, and 90s.
Additional signals at already high distress levels add value, but with diminishing returns, so the score naturally tapers as it approaches 100.
In other words:
More and more serious signals → higher Distress Score, with an emphasis on stacked distress rather than any single flag in isolation.
We cap all scores at 100 so you can compare properties on a consistent, easy‑to‑scan scale.
Why Distress Score Matters
Distress Score exists to answer a very practical question:
“Out of all the properties that could be good leads, who should I call, mail, or visit first?”
Instead of manually:
Building multiple niche lists (preforeclosure, tax delinquent, eviction, probate, etc.), and
Exporting, “list stacking,” and eyeballing overlaps,
you can let the Distress Score model do the heavy lifting.
How to Use Distress Score to Streamline and Prioritize Opportunities
1. Build a “Distress Core” audience
Open Discover.
Set your Location (county, city, zip, custom shape, or Nearest).
Under the Other Distress folder, choose In Disress Criteria and check the signals you care about (for example, foreclosure, tax delinquent, eviction, probate, bankruptcy, liens).
Run the search and save it as a list (for example, “Distress – Core – <Market> – <Date>”).
In Distress Criteria uses OR logic, so any property with at least one of the selected distress types appears in your audience.
2. Sort by Distress Score and define tiers
Open your list in List view.
Add the Distress Score column if it isn’t already visible.
Click the column header to sort Highest → Lowest, then Lowest → Highest as needed.
A simple starting tiering model:
Tier 1 (High Distress): Distress Score 80–100
Tier 2 (Medium Distress): Distress Score 50–79
Tier 3 (Low Distress): Distress Score 1–49
Tier 0 (No Distress): Distress Score 0
You can then:
Use Filters or Distress Score criteria (numeric range) to carve these into separate lists, or
Use Limit Criteria to cap each tier at a specific budget (for example, “top 250 properties with Distress Score ≥ 80”).
3. Match outreach intensity to score tiers
Because Distress Score already encodes “how much” and “how stacked” the distress is, it’s an ideal driver for channel mix:
Tier 1 (80–100):
Multi‑step Direct Mail campaigns
Phone marketing and SMS (where compliant)
Online ads retargeting + personal follow‑up
Tier 2 (50–79):
Direct mail plus email and lighter phone follow‑up
Plays or automated campaigns tuned for consistent but less intense nurturing
Tier 3 (1–49):
Lower‑cost touches (postcards, occasional email, custom audiences for ads)
Great candidates for long‑term farming and nurture sequences
This lets you protect your budget while maximizing coverage and frequency where it matters most.
4. Combine Distress Score with Nearest and Limit
For truly focused, field‑ready campaigns, pair Distress Score with Nearest and Limit Criteria:
Use Nearest to find, for example, the 200 nearest distressed properties around:
Your business address (from Brand Center), or
Your current location (for drive‑for‑dollars and door‑knocking).
Then sort that list by Distress Score and use Limit to keep only the top tier (e.g., the 50 nearest and most distressed properties).
This turns your day in the field into a ranked route of the best opportunities near you.
Data Coverage, Timing, and Limitations
Distress Score is only as good as the signals beneath it, and those signals come from public records and third‑party data. It’s important to understand what that means in practice.
Dependence on underlying distress data
Distress Score only rises above 0 when at least one supported distress signal is present for a property.
Coverage of specific signals (especially court‑sourced divorce, probate, and eviction) can vary by state and county based on data provider reach and court access.
Some signals are derived from court data, others from recorder, tax, lien, and vacancy sources; latency and completeness differ by source.
As a result:
A property might be distressed in real life but still show a low or zero score if:
The event hasn’t yet hit the source system,
The event type isn’t a tracked signal, or
The data is not yet available in that geography.
Timing and recalculation
Distress Scores are recalculated when distress indicators change, not on every minor property update, to balance freshness and performance.
Events like AVM updates or contact‑data refreshes that don’t affect distress signals are specifically excluded from triggering recalculations.
Public‑records and modeling limitations
Just like other PropertyRadar data:
Property, transaction, estimated value, loan balances, rent, foreclosure and related fields are subject to errors and omissions and are provided for informational purposes only.
Court and recorder data can be delayed, incomplete, or inconsistent across jurisdictions; those gaps are an inherent limitation of public records, not unique to PropertyRadar.
Distress Score is designed to embrace those realities -using multiple signals, weighting, and a tapered curve - to provide a practical, robust prioritization tool rather than a promise of perfection.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does a high Distress Score guarantee a motivated seller?
Does a high Distress Score guarantee a motivated seller?
No. A high Distress Score means multiple or severe distress indicators are present, which often correlates with motivation, but it’s not a guarantee that the owner is ready (or able) to sell.
Use the score to prioritize conversations, then confirm the situation directly with the owner and, if relevant, via underlying records (court cases, lien documents, etc.).
Can I search directly by Distress Score?
Can I search directly by Distress Score?
Yes. Distress Score is available as a numeric range criteria under the Other Distress folder (for example, “Distress Score between 70 and 100”).
Many customers:
Use Distress Criteria (signals) to define the universe, then
Use Distress Score range filters to slice out priority bands for different campaigns or workflows.
Why do some properties I know are distressed show a low or zero score?
Why do some properties I know are distressed show a low or zero score?
Common reasons include:
The event isn’t yet included in our supported signals (for example, a type of legal or financial issue we don’t track).
The event has not yet been recorded or ingested by our data providers in that county.
The event is present but couldn’t be confidently matched to the owner or property.
In short, Distress Score reflects known, modeled distress in PropertyRadar’s data, not every possible off‑platform event.
How often is Distress Score updated?
How often is Distress Score updated?
Distress Score is recalculated when distress signals for a property change—such as a new filing, lien, or update to an existing indicator—rather than on every minor property update.
Some high‑volume processes (like AVM refreshes or non‑distress person‑data updates) are explicitly excluded from triggering recalculations to avoid noise and performance issues.
Distress Score is designed to be your prioritization layer—a way to turn dozens of complex distress and life‑event signals into a clean, ranked list of opportunities you can act on today, while staying grounded in real data and the natural limits of public records.