Carfax is rather limited in what it reports. Houses are far more expensive to repair and less likely to be in an accident. Better, I think (and the reason why it’s not likely to succeed) is a prelisting inspection and repair. I realize there are those who cannot afford the repairs but there are services that will wait to be paid on close.

I especially like the rodent sightings in one of your examples 😉
22 rodent sightings reported within a block of 695 10th Ave

Fascinating. I like addressreport’s UI/UX. As a consumer, I’d like to see a clear separation between neighborhood and home stats. Once I’ve found a neighborhood I like I’m more interested in home stats – esp. building permits, code violations, crimes, etc.

What about HouseFax?http://housefax.com/ They’ve at least got the right name 🙂

Check out our service, RentFax PRO. We offer a range of reports that address critical decision points including risk, rent, income and more.

Most of these seem to compile information around the house, but very little about the house itself. Some pull building permits, but that’s about it. No way to tell what work might have been done without a permit. Something that pulls insurance claims might be helpful. Has there been a fire? Flood? Speaking of floods, how about checking whether or not the home is in a floodplain? Of course, no matter how much information is pulled from various databases, you’ll always need to do an inspection anyway.

HomeTrackr is a free service for consumers that focuses on the history of the home. A big update release is due in November, so be sure to go sign up and try it out today. #peaceofmind