Comparison · Florida land
MapWise vs PropStream for a Florida land wholesaler: owner, flood zones and wetlands
On all three, MapWise's own pages say more: a statewide search by the owner's mailing address, a FEMA flood report per parcel, and wetland acreage on every property page, at $89 a month. PropStream's pages list ownership info, lead lists and mail from $99 a month across the country, but name no flood zone or wetland layer. Map Views, at $47, shows the owner, the flood zone's share and the wetland acres on every Florida parcel, and sells no lists.
Why these three facts decide a land deal
On a vacant lot there is no house to inspect, so the price rests on what can be built and who can sign. The owner tells you who signs and where to send an offer. The flood zone sets the floor height, the insurance and often the buyer pool. A wetland can shrink the buildable area to nothing. On Florida's rolls, these are not rare cases:
| Measured 1 November 2026, all 67 counties | Vacant residential (000) | Acreage, not agricultural (099) | Vacant commercial (010) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Parcels | 1,274,921 | 100,368 | 86,012 |
| In the 100-year floodplain | 20.7% | 43.3% | 18.0% |
| Touching a mapped wetland | 14.1% | 48.3% | 12.4% |
| Half or more of the parcel wetland | 6.5% | 30.7% | 4.3% |
| Tax bill mailed outside Florida | 26.5% | 24.5% | 15.8% |
Nearly a third of the larger non-farm tracts are at least half wetland, and a quarter of vacant lots have an owner whose bill leaves the state. A tool that hides any of the three leaves you guessing on exactly the parcels that cause trouble.
Owner, flood and wetlands, side by side
| MapWise, from its pages | PropStream, from its pages | Map Views | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Owner name | Yes | Ownership info | Yes, from the county roll |
| Mailing address | Yes, searchable statewide | Not stated | Yes, searchable by street, city, state and ZIP |
| Other land the same owner holds | By mailing address search | Not stated | One tap from the owner, all 67 counties |
| FEMA flood zone | A flood report per parcel, with base flood elevation and a PDF | Not stated | Zone and its share of the parcel |
| Wetlands | Wetland acreage on each property page; NWI and 2023 layers | Not stated | Share and acres on the report; a wetland % filter in search |
| Soils, contours | Soils layers; 5-foot contours | Not stated | Soil, hydrologic group, hydric rating; a 5-foot contour layer |
| Storm surge | Not in its layer directory | Not stated | Category on the report |
| Lead lists, mail | Mailing labels export | 20 lead lists; postcards and letters | None |
| Exports | Up to 50,000 records | 25,000 saves and exports a month, on Essentials | 1,000 properties a day |
| Coverage | Florida, 67 counties | National | Florida, 67 counties |
| Price, trial | $89 a month, or $75 a month paid yearly; 7 days, no card | From $99 a month; 7 days with 50 leads | $47 a month; 7 days, no card |
"Not stated" means PropStream's pricing, features and home pages do not mention it, either way. It may exist inside an account; ask them before you rely on it.
Which one fits which wholesaler
- You buy land in several states and market to owners in volume: PropStream. It covers the country and is built around lists, owner contact lookups and mail. Check flood and wetlands on FEMA's and the Fish and Wildlife Service's own maps, since its pages do not name them.
- You buy only in Florida and send mail from your own exports: MapWise. Its pages list mailing labels, exports up to 50,000 records, a flood report with base flood elevation, and historical aerials back to 1995.
- You work one Florida parcel at a time and want the owner and the ground on one screen for less: Map Views. Exports stop at 1,000 properties a day, and we supply no contact data and no lead lists.
Checking one lot on Map Views
- Search the lot by address or owner. Vacant land often has no street number, so the owner's name is the surer route.
- Read the Absentee line under the mailing address: it says when the bill goes elsewhere, and when it leaves Florida.
- Under Map layers over it, read the flood zone and how much of the lot each zone covers, then the wetland share in percent and acres.
- Read the soil's hydrologic group and hydric rating, and the surge category if the lot is near the coast.
- Tap the owner for their other parcels, and write what you found on the Notes tab.
For what a wetland means for building, read can you build on wetlands in Florida; for the zone letters, what AE, X or VE means.
Where our numbers stop
- About one vacant residential lot in eleven has no FEMA or wetland row on our layers, so the shares above are floors, not ceilings.
- The wetland layer is the federal inventory, mapped from aerials. Only a delineation on the ground settles a permit.
- A flood zone is not a base flood elevation. For the elevation, read the FEMA map panel or an elevation certificate.
MapWise's and PropStream's facts are from their own public pages, read 1 November 2026. Ours are FEMA's flood maps, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's National Wetlands Inventory and the 2026 county rolls as published; FEMA's map is the authority on the flood zone.