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The 20-minute walkthrough checklist

Answer two questions and get a short list of things to actually look at while you are inside. Built for your phone, in the driveway, before you walk in. No sign-up, no address, nothing sent anywhere.

First — roughly when was it built?

The listing almost always says. A decade either way barely changes the list.

And what is it sitting on?

Yes, you are allowed to do this. Opening a cabinet under the sink, looking in the breaker box, and asking about permits are all normal at a showing. Agents expect it. You are buying the place, not visiting it.

This is not an inspection and it cannot tell you whether anything is actually wrong. It tells you where to look and what to ask about afterwards. You still want a licensed inspector.

Everything this checklist can ask you to look at

Which of these you see depends on the decade the house was built and what it sits on. Each links to the guide explaining what the finding means.

Outside, before you go in

Before you go in, cross the street and look at the roof from two angles. Looking for: Dark streaks running down, patches that don't match the rest, or anything sagging or wavy. What this means
Take a photo of any tree branches hanging over the roof. Looking for: Branches above the roof, or close enough to touch it in a storm. What this means
Walk the side and back yard. Look down at the grass, not up at the house. Looking for: A stripe of extra-green grass across an otherwise dry lawn, or ground that squishes when it has not rained. What this means
Walk around the house. Look at the wall near the ground, and at the lawn itself. Looking for: A capped pipe sticking out of the wall around knee height, or a small round metal cap sitting in the grass. What this means
If the outside looks like stucco, knock on it gently in two or three spots. Looking for: A hollow sound, like knocking on foam, instead of the solid thud of real stucco. What this means
Crouch down at two or three spots where the wall meets the dirt. Looking for: Thin mud tunnels running up the concrete, about as wide as a pencil. What this means

Utility room or garage

Kitchen and bathrooms

Open the cabinet under a bathroom sink and look at the pipes going into the wall. Then check behind the water heater. Looking for: Bendy gray, blue, or black plastic pipe, often stamped PB2110. What this means
Open the cabinet under a bathroom or kitchen sink and look at the drain pipe. Looking for: A ribbed, bendy pipe like a straw, instead of a smooth curved one. Tape on a joint counts too. What this means
Look at the outlets by the kitchen sink, in each bathroom, in the garage, and outside. Looking for: Outlets with no TEST and RESET buttons on them in any of those places. What this means

Living space

In an older house, look at the outlets in the bedrooms and the living room. Looking for: Modern three-hole outlets throughout, in a house whose wiring you have just seen is the old two-wire kind. What this means
Look above the doorways and where the walls meet the ceiling in two or three rooms. Looking for: Cracks angling up from the corners of door frames, doors that will not latch, or fresh patching under new paint. What this means
Notice anything stacked in front of the breaker box, the attic hatch, the crawl space door, or filling the garage. Looking for: Boxes, furniture, or storage blocking any of those. What this means

Basement

Shine your flashlight along the bottom two feet of the basement walls, all the way around. Looking for: White chalky powder on the block or concrete. Also one freshly painted wall when the rest is bare. What this means
Look for a covered hole set into the basement floor, usually in a corner. Looking for: A hole with no pump in it, or a pump whose pipe dumps out right against the foundation outside. What this means
Walk around the basement and look where the walls meet the floor and the ceiling. Looking for: Cracks wide enough to slip a coin into, cracks running at an angle from the corners of windows, or a wall bowing inward. What this means

Basement or crawl space

Find the big vertical drain pipe and look at where it disappears into the floor. Looking for: Thick dark metal instead of white plastic, with rust flaking off or damp stains near the bottom. What this means
Look along the inside of the foundation wall for anything that does not match the rest. Looking for: Metal or black straps bolted to the wall, a row of brackets, new mortar in old block, or one patch of fresh paint. What this means

Crawl space

Open the crawl space hatch and shine your flashlight across the ground. You do not have to go in. Looking for: Standing water or wet dirt, plastic sheeting that is torn or missing, and insulation hanging down. What this means

Paperwork

On your way out, ask the agent one question: which work was permitted, and can you see the permits? Looking for: A finished basement, an addition, a deck, a new roof or breaker box, with no paperwork offered for any of it. What this means