What is Property Data Auto-Population?
When booking an inspection, Spectora can automatically pull property details — square footage, foundation type, and year built — based on the address entered. This data comes from a third-party property data provider. Spectora currently supports two providers: ATTOM (the default) and RentCast.
Choosing Your Data Provider
A company admin can select which provider Spectora uses to auto-populate property data. To change the setting, go to Settings > Scheduling Options > Enable SqFt/Age of Home Data (this option must be enabled to see the provider choice).
ATTOM — The default provider. Sources data from County Tax Assessor records. Accuracy varies by region; some counties provide complete data while others do not.
RentCast — A newer option that, in our testing, provided more consistently accurate data. Once selected, all future auto-populated property data will pull from RentCast.
You can switch back to ATTOM at any time.
Where Does ATTOM Source Their Property Details?
ATTOM aggregates property data for square footage and age of home based on the County Tax Assessor data. There are no counties nationwide that have one hundred percent field population for these two fields.
Individual County Assessor websites may differ from the data they license out; meaning they can provide ATTOM with no information in those fields, but on their individual website it may be listed. ATTOM can only pass information through Spectora that has been provided by the County Tax Assessors office. If the accurate information is not provided, ATTOM and in turn Spectora will not have it.
Why is the Square Footage Pulling in Incorrectly?
Unfortunately, we can't guarantee that the automatic square footage will be the same as the listing. There isn't currently a database that offers the square footage of homes without any margin for error. Some include the basement sqft, some don't have the most recent additions to the house, etc.! We have picked a database that has the most accurate information out there, ATTOM.
As referenced above, ATTOM can only pass information through Spectora that has been provided by the County Tax Assessors office. If the accurate information is not provided, ATTOM and in turn Spectora will not have it. You can always edit the square footage or pricing after the inspection is created, or turn off the square footage auto-calculation entirely.
This can be done in Settings > Scheduling Options > Uncheck the Enable Sqft/Age of Home Data. Turning off the automatic square footage will ensure your client or agent will need to fill in that field using the listing information.
This relies on the client or agent scheduling the inspection to enter the information accurately during the scheduling process.
How to Check the Square Footage
Look Up the Address on the County Assessor's Website:
Use Google to search for the county assessor's office by typing:
"[County Name & State] County Assessor's Office property search".Locate the property by its address.
Compare the square footage, year built, and any other relevant details.
You can use this data to update the inspection, if it is not present you'll want to get with the agent or client to provide the accurate square footage. You can also try other sources like Zillow.
If you have any questions or feedback, write into our chat bubble or email support@spectora.com!
