What is HouseKnow?
HouseKnow looks up public information about a specific U.S. address and explains it in plain English. It checks flood mapping, natural hazard ratings, wildfire and earthquake exposure, nearby environmental records, radon potential, wetlands, soil, elevation and area statistics, then tells you what each result means and where it came from.
Where does the information come from?
From federal government datasets, published by agencies including FEMA, the EPA, the USGS, the U.S. Census Bureau, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the USDA.
Every source is listed, with what it covers and what it does not. HouseKnow is not affiliated with, or endorsed by, any of them.
Is HouseKnow a home inspection?
No. A home inspector walks the property and looks at the roof, the wiring, the plumbing and the structure. HouseKnow never visits. It tells you what public records say about the location, which is a different question and a useful one to answer before you pay for an inspection.
Is this a title search?
No. HouseKnow does not report ownership, deeds, liens, mortgages or easements. Those records are held county by county and there is no reliable nationwide source for them, so promising them everywhere would mean guessing somewhere.
How current is the information?
Every finding in a report shows the date we retrieved it, and several show the vintage of the underlying data as well. That matters more than it sounds: a FEMA flood map for a given area may have taken effect years ago, and the report tells you when.
Does HouseKnow work everywhere in the U.S.?
Address lookup covers the 50 states, DC, Puerto Rico and the U.S. island areas. Individual datasets do not all cover everywhere: FEMA has not mapped flood hazard for every county, and the National Risk Index is not published for the territories. Where a source has no coverage, the report says so.
What happens if a source has no coverage?
It is reported as unavailable, and never as low risk. That distinction is the single most important rule in the product. "FEMA has not mapped this area" and "FEMA has mapped this area as minimal hazard" look similar in the raw data and mean opposite things, so HouseKnow keeps them apart everywhere.
Is there a single overall score?
No, deliberately. One severe finding matters even when everything else is quiet, and any single number would average it away. The report gives you the findings themselves, ordered so the ones worth attention come first.
Can I access my report later?
Yes. Every report gets a permanent private link, and we email it to you. Nothing expires.
Do I need an account?
No. There is no signup, no password and no dashboard to log into. You give an email address so we can send you the link to your report, and that is all we ask for.
What is the difference between the two prices?
One report is $20. Three reports are $45, which saves $15 if you are still comparing houses. The three reports are credits: use one now and the other two whenever you like, from your private link. There is no subscription.
Can HouseKnow tell me whether the house will flood?
No, and neither can anyone else. What the report can tell you is which flood zone FEMA has mapped at the location, when that map took effect, and what the zone means, including whether flood insurance would be required by a lender. That is information worth having before you make an offer.