Insider field network · California

Insider. Realty

FIELD SERVICE · PRE-OFFER READ · NO CHARGE

Before you offer, get the inspector's read.

You found the house. Before you write the number, paste the listing here — a licensed California inspector reads the photos, the disclosures, and the parcel's risk layers, and sends you the red flags the tour didn't show you.

TYPICAL TURNAROUND: 1 BUSINESS DAY · YOUR LINK IS NOT SHARED WITH ANY AGENT

Request the read

FREE · NO OBLIGATION · WE NEVER CONTACT THE LISTING AGENT

214

Memos filed to date

3.2

Avg red flags per listing

31

Buyers who walked away

$8,400

Median repair cost surfaced

What the read covers

Three things we check that a tour can't show you

The roof and the water

Age vs. listing claims, patch patterns in the photos, drainage that will show up in an inspection report — before you pay for one.

The ground it sits on

Wildfire severity zone, fault proximity, slope and expansive-soil flags for that specific parcel — the California trio that decides insurability.

The listing itself

Days on market vs. the band, price-cut history, and what the wording is stepping around. Listings talk; we translate.

Specimen

What the memo actually looks like

No score out of 100, no traffic light. A short, plain-English field memo: what we saw, how much it likely costs, what to ask, and whether we'd keep walking. This one killed an offer — the buyer thanked us twice.

DETAILS ALTERED TO PROTECT THE (RELIEVED) BUYER

PRE-OFFER READ · BYO-2606-114 1 BUSINESS DAY

SUBJECT: 3BD/2BA · LISTED $689,000 · DOM 41 · ▮▮▮▮▮▮▮▮▮, CA

  • FLAGPhoto 8: efflorescence on garage slab edge + fresh paint band on the stem wall. Classic moisture-path cover-up. Budget a drainage read: $4–12k if the grade is wrong.
  • FLAGParcel sits in a CAL FIRE High severity zone; two carriers non-renewed on this street since 2024. Get an insurance quote BEFORE the offer, not during escrow.
  • ASK"Roof replaced 2021" — permit record shows a partial reroof (south slopes only). Ask for the invoice and which slopes.
  • CLEARPrice-cut history is orderly (one cut, −2.9%, day 28) — no panic signal. Band DOM is 39; this home is not stale, it's priced early.

VERDICT: OFFER ONLY WITH DRAINAGE CONTINGENCY + INSURANCE QUOTE IN HAND. WE'D OPEN AT −4% AND HOLD.

Who uses it

Three kinds of buyers, one instrument

MOST COMMON

First-time buyers

You've toured four homes and they all look fine. That's the problem — everything looks fine at a showing. The memo tells you what a trained eye sees in the same photos you scrolled past.

REMOTE

Out-of-area & relocation

Buying into Temecula from San Diego, or into California from out of state? You can't drive by every Saturday. We're your eyes on the ground before you spend a flight or a weekend.

VOLUME

Investors & flippers

You already know what a roof costs. What you want is speed: the three findings that change your rehab number, within one business day, on every candidate property.

Process

How it works

  1. 01

    Paste the listing link

    Zillow, Redfin, Realtor.com, or an MLS sheet — any public URL works.

  2. 02

    We read it like an inspection

    A licensed inspector reviews the photos, disclosures, parcel risk layers, and market position. Human read, not a bot score.

  3. 03

    The red-flag memo lands in your inbox

    Within one business day: what would concern us, what to ask the listing agent, and what to have inspected first.

THE MEMO IS AN OPINION FROM A LICENSED INSPECTOR, NOT A SUBSTITUTE FOR A FULL PHYSICAL INSPECTION OR A CMA

Questions

Asked before, answered straight

Is it really free? What's the catch?+

Free, no obligation. The honest business logic: some buyers who get a memo ask us to represent them or book a full inspection. Most don't, and that's fine — the memo is how we prove the read is real before you trust us with anything bigger.

Will you contact the listing agent or seller?+

Never. The read is built entirely from the public listing, public records, and parcel risk data. Nobody knows you asked.

How is this different from the inspection I'll pay for later?+

A physical inspection opens the electrical panel and walks the roof — nothing replaces it. The memo happens BEFORE you're in contract: it tells you whether this house deserves an offer at all, and what to have the physical inspection chase hardest.

What if the listing has almost no photos?+

Thin listings are themselves a signal, and we say so. We still read the parcel: wildfire zone, fault distance, permit history, prior sale and price-cut record all come from public data, photos or not.

Do you read listings outside your markets?+

Anywhere in California. Deepest context in Riverside and San Diego counties, where we hold tract-level inspection files.

Keep going

The read is step one. The rest of the file is here.