PROPERTYSHARK.COM
718-715-1758; propertyshark.com

In a city where real estate is a raging addiction, Propertyshark.com is a major enabler. This site’s free property reports (eight a day if you set up an account) get you hooked with hard-to-find details about any address in New York: the owner’s name and address, comparable sales, city violations, tax assessments, title history, and the like. Every lot also gets a clickable map that reveals the same information about neighboring buildings—nearly everything you need to know, in other words, to make a smart offer. Sure, this is public data that you could find yourself if you became a regular at the courthouse, but Propertyshark.com—founded in 2003 by a real-estate-minded computer programmer named Matthew Haines—brings it all to your desk. After a few weeks of browsing, you’re likely to upgrade to the site’s premium service ($79.95 a month), where the really good stuff lies. That would be the foreclosure listings, complete with lis pendens (the legal term for the moment when a mortgage first goes into default) and tips on how to snap up a property before it goes to auction. “The best jobs are not advertised,” says company president Ryan Slack. “The same is true of real estate.”