Buyer Be Aware

Questions before you pull a report

Honest answers about what we do, what we don't, and where the data comes from.

Where does the data come from?+
FEMA for flood zones. County and state property records (via licensed providers like RentCast, Shovels, and ATTOM) for ownership, sales, and structure data. State sex offender registries plus a national fallback. FCC and curated provider lists for broadband. Each report links back to the underlying source so you can verify.
How long does a report take?+
Most reports finish in 30-90 seconds. A few take a little longer when a data source is slow to respond - we wait on it rather than drop the section.
Can I compare properties side by side?+
Yes. Buy 2 or 3 addresses in one checkout for a bundle discount and they open in a side-by-side comparison automatically. You can also pick any reports you've already run - even ones bought weeks apart - from your dashboard and compare them on one screen.
Do you cover all 50 states?+
Property details, flood zones, schools, broadband, environmental & climate risk, and EPA-regulated/contaminated sites are nationwide. Crime grades are ZIP-code-level nationwide. Some sources are inherently regional and we only show them where the official data is real: sex-offender coverage varies by state, oil/gas well proximity is live for CA, TX and OH, and 311 nuisance density covers select metros. When a source isn't available for an address we omit that section rather than guess - and every report tells you which sources it hit.
Why don't you show neighbor names anymore?+
We used to. We pulled the per-neighbor owner names and criminal records because consumer-grade products that index records by individual person walk a fine line with the Fair Credit Reporting Act. The Neighborhood Profile now gives you the useful signal - owner-occupied vs rental mix, turnover, value range - without singling out the people on the block.
How accurate is the information?+
We pull from authoritative sources, but public records lag, and some fields (cell coverage, noise environment, solar potential) are modeled estimates rather than ground truth. We try to label what's measured vs estimated. Reports support your due diligence; they don't replace a home inspection, title search, or attorney.
Are you paid by realtors or sellers?+
No. We take no referral fees, no commissions, no kickbacks from agents or sellers. You pay us, and that's it. That's the whole point - the report is on your side.
Can I get a refund?+
If a report fails to generate or returns no data due to a technical issue on our end, we'll refund in full. Because every report has real API costs on the back end, we can't refund successfully generated reports.
What's the difference between this and a home inspection?+
A home inspector checks the physical condition of the house: roof, foundation, plumbing, electrical, HVAC. That's $400-800 and worth every dollar. Our report covers the public-records side that inspectors don't touch: FEMA flood zone, open permits, code violations, sex-offender proximity, environmental risk, ownership and sale history, school district, insurability. The two are complementary, not redundant.
Why don't I just use Spokeo or BeenVerified?+
Those products are people-search subscriptions priced at $20-30 per month, indexed by individual person. They're built to look people up. Buyer Be Aware is indexed by address and built for buyers checking a specific parcel. Different shape, different price, different legal posture: we're not a consumer reporting agency under the FCRA and we don't pull individual credit records.
Will the seller know I ran a report?+
No. We don't notify anyone. Public records were already public. You can check any US residential address without the owner or listing agent knowing.
Can I run a report on a house I already own?+
Yes. A common use is checking the property the owner already lives in to see what would surface in a buyer's due diligence before listing it. Find issues to address first, or price accordingly.
Do you cover commercial property?+
Not currently. The data sources we use (FEMA NFHL, county property records, school-district boundaries, etc.) work for residential addresses. Some signals would translate but the report layout is built for a single-family or multi-family residential parcel.

Still curious?

See what a report looks like, or pull one for a specific address.