Frequently Asked Questions

Beyond the home inspection, buyers should check zoning regulations, flood zone status, wildfire and other natural hazard risk, planned construction and development nearby, access to public transportation, school quality, how home values in the neighborhood have appreciated, along with the realistic utility, tax, and maintenance costs so users know whether they can afford the all-in cost of that homeownership. Our Ampian reports compile all of these for a single address using government and public data sources such as FEMA, the US Forest Service, the FHFA House Price Index, and Zoneomics zoning data.

Ampian is a home due-diligence platform that gives US homebuyers and owners full reports in minutes on any address, covering zoning regulations, natural hazard risks such as flood, wildfire, earthquake, tornado, strong wind, heat wave, and hail, nearby development information, past appreciation trends, and utility and ownership costs. It is built for ordinary consumers, not investors or enterprises.

Yes, that is a fair comparison, with one important difference. A Carfax report tells you a used car's past — where it has been and what has happened to it. Ampian is about the home you are considering now: it shows the property's current zoning and natural hazard picture — flood, wildfire, earthquake, tornado, strong wind, heat wave, and hail exposure, nearby development, and school quality — alongside how home values in the area have trended over the past 5 and 10 years, and it projects the home's future cost of ownership like taxes, insurance, utilities, and maintenance.

Ampian draws on government and public data sources, including FEMA's National Flood Hazard Layer and National Risk Index, the US Forest Service's Wildfire Risk to Communities, the FHFA House Price Index, the US Census American Community Survey, GreatSchools, and Zoneomics zoning data. An AI model then synthesizes these authoritative sources into a single report for your address — we do not invent numbers. Every source is listed on Ampian's data-sources page, with notes on coverage and confidence.

Flood zone designations come from FEMA's National Flood Hazard Layer (NFHL). You can look up an address on FEMA's flood map service, or run an Ampian report, which checks the FEMA NFHL for the address and combines it with wildfire risk from the US Forest Service and broader hazard data from FEMA's National Risk Index.

Ampian's cost forecasts are built on authoritative federal and market data sources — including US Census American Community Survey housing data, federal energy data for utilities, and government housing and insurance datasets — rather than a single national average. Each forecast is calibrated to your specific address and ownership scenario, so the numbers are data-driven and grounded in real local conditions. They are informed estimates with uncertainty bounds that reflect how owners actually use their homes, not guarantees.

Ampian operates on a privacy-first model. Your property details and reports are encrypted both in transit and at rest, and we do not sell your personal information or share it with marketers or real estate brokers. Limited sharing happens only with the trusted service providers who help operate Ampian, when we are required to by law, or when you ask us to. You can read the full details on our privacy policy page.

The Zoning Oracle combines trusted public and government data sources to give you a grounded picture of a property’s current standing and risks. It analyzes zoning regulations, school quality, climate exposure, local development activity, and neighborhood appreciation trends over the past 5 and 10 years.

Ampian provides an appreciation trends for cumulative appreciation at 5- and 10-year horizons based on historical data built from the FHFA House Price Index, not a guarantee on future appreciation.

They cover different things. A home inspection examines the physical condition of the structure — roof, systems, foundation. Ampian covers the things around and about the property that an inspector does not: zoning regulations, natural hazard risk, nearby development, school quality, past appreciation trends, utility and maintenance cost forecasts. Most buyers benefit from both.

Whether you're analyzing one property or fifty, Ampian has an option for you. You can keep costs low by purchasing individual reports one at a time, or unlock our subscription plans for high-volume, cost-effective analysis. See our pricing page for the current prices.

An Ampian report brings together, for one address, everything you would otherwise have to research separately: its zoning and land-use classification, flood and wildfire risk, other natural-hazard exposure, nearby development news, school quality, a realistic forecast of ownership costs like taxes, insurance, utilities, and maintenance, and how home values in the area have trended over the past 5 and 10 years. You can see exactly what this looks like in our example reports.

Both, in that order. Ampian starts from real, named data sources — FEMA flood and risk data, the US Forest Service's Wildfire Risk to Communities, the FHFA House Price Index, the US Census American Community Survey, GreatSchools, and Zoneomics zoning data, among others — and then an AI model reads and combines them into single readable reports for your address. We do not invent numbers; the AI synthesizes the report from those authoritative sources. Every source is listed on our data-sources page.

The big home-listing sites are built to help you shop for a home — photos, asking prices, and the past sale history of what is on the market today. Ampian is built for the decision before you commit: it shows the current zoning and natural-hazard picture of a specific address and projects its future cost of ownership, whether or not it is for sale, so you understand what owning it would really involve.

Yes. We publish two full example reports — a True Cost Forecaster sample and a Zoning Oracle sample — so you can see exactly what Ampian produces for a real address before you pay for anything.