The briefs

Not a fixture checklist. These are the questions every buyer should ask before closing. Written from years of owning properties and managing more than 30 of them with First Serve Property Management. Each download is a fillable PDF: the questions, why they matter, and fields you can type into on an iPad. Print it only if you want paper.

Primary homes and second homes

$29

The Home Buyer Brief

For the house you are about to live in.

A field guide of questions to ask the seller, the listing agent, and anyone who has actually kept this house alive. Built from years of taking over properties and discovering what nobody mentioned.

37 questions · Instant PDF

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Small apartment buildings and complexes

$49

The Apartment Complex Brief

For buildings with units, residents, and a lot that has to get plowed.

The questions to ask before you buy a building full of other people’s lives. Staff, snow, shutoffs, resident complaints, and the maintenance that repeats whether or not the rent roll looks pretty.

37 questions · Instant PDF

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Rental houses and investment buildings

$39

The Investment Property Brief

For rentals, small multifamily, and anything you will not live in yourself.

Due diligence for buyers who will not be there every day. The quirks, the freeze points, the vendor relationships, and the stories tenants already know.

37 questions · Instant PDF

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Any property you can walk

$19

Walkthrough Inspection Card

What to look for with your own eyes before you trust the brochure.

A short, ruthless visual checklist for showings: moisture, under sinks, closets, water heaters, furnaces, crawlspaces, roof sag from the ground, and nail pops.

12 questions · Instant PDF

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New owners and house managers

$19

After You Close: Systems & Maintenance

The ownership list for filters, septic, winter drips, and the schedule the last owner kept in their head.

The questions to ask during walkthrough or the first week of ownership so the house’s hidden schedule does not die with the previous occupant.

19 questions · Instant PDF

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Buyers who look at more than one kind of deal

$79

The Owner’s Complete Library

Every brief, the inspection card, and the after-closing list.

The full set. Use the home brief for a house, the apartment brief for a building, the investment brief for a rental, the inspection card on every tour, and the systems list the week you close.

106 questions · Instant PDF

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