U.S. Property Fax, a new website, looks back at the insurance claims history of a home—showcasing what can’t be seen upon inspection—like a CARFAX report for a home. The website caters to homebuyers interested in the pasts of the properties they may purchase.
The Property Fax reports, which cost $29.95, probe the last five years of a home’s insurance history, including information on things such as date and time of loss, amounts paid and a description of the property covered. The reports do not include personal information, such as that pertaining to credit reports, criminal records, civil lawsuits or legal judgments.
Unfortunately, insurance companies refusing to contribute to Property Fax will not be able to provide a history of claims.
Property Fax hopes to eliminate the uncertainty of home purchasing by finding details even an experienced inspector may miss. One of the catches, however, in ordering a Property Fax report, is that the home’s seller must sign off on any report not ordered by an authorized real estate agent.
Property Fax also offers two other types of reports: Property Reports and Neighborhood Comps.
Property Reports include the details and a description of a property, such as the lot size, year built, number of bedrooms and bathrooms, assessed value, land value, loan type, current lender, taxes and other information. These reports cost $7.95.
Neighborhood Comps, which cost $9.95, provide comparisons of similar properties in an area, including their appraisal values and sale prices.
Buying a home or property is not an investment to take lightly, and Property Fax reports could be instrumental in saving owners future headaches. For investors, this could mean a large savings on repairs and expenses. The key, however, will be in getting a large amount of insurance companies to contribute to the service and provide information. Property Fax provides no list of contributing insurance companies, but without a deep pool, many properties may be off limits to buyers interested in their histories.
