CLUE Reports: A Home's Claims History, Explained
CLUE reports track insurance claims on a property and a person. How they affect what you'll pay, whether you can get coverage, and what buyers should request.
Every house you tour has a permanent record you can’t see. So do you. It’s called a CLUE report — the Comprehensive Loss Underwriting Exchange — a shared industry database where insurers report claims (and in some cases, claim inquiries). When you apply for homeowners insurance, the carrier pulls CLUE on the property’s address and on you personally, and what it finds shapes whether you’re offered a policy and on what terms.
Most buyers and sellers have never heard of it. Here’s what each side of a transaction should know.
What’s actually in a CLUE report
A CLUE property report typically shows several years of claim history tied to the address: date of loss, type of loss (water, fire, theft, wind, liability), and the claim’s disposition. The personal version shows the same for claims tied to you across properties you’ve insured.
Two things make CLUE more consequential than it sounds:
- Claims follow the address, not just the owner. A water claim filed by the previous owner is part of the house’s record when your carrier underwrites your policy on it.
- Loss type matters as much as loss size. Underwriters pattern-match. Prior water claims, in particular, make carriers nervous about a property, because water losses tend to recur (the pipe that leaked once lives in a house full of similar pipes).
The result: a house with a couple of recent water claims may face higher pricing, required inspections, exclusions, or — in a tight market — fewer carriers willing to quote it at all. None of this appears in the listing photos.
If you’re buying: ask for it
You can’t pull a CLUE report on a house you don’t own — the report belongs to the property owner. But the seller can request their own CLUE report and share it, and asking is increasingly normal due diligence, like asking for utility bills.
How to use it:
- Ask early, during your inspection window, not the week of closing. “Would you provide a copy of the CLUE report for the property?” is a routine request, and a refusal is itself information.
- Cross-check against Form 17. Washington’s seller disclosure asks about water intrusion, repairs, and damage. A CLUE report showing a water claim that Form 17 doesn’t mention is a conversation you want to have before waiving contingencies — see what Form 17 covers.
- A claim isn’t automatically a red flag. A windstorm roof claim followed by a documented new roof can be a good sign. What you’re looking for is unrepaired or recurring loss patterns — especially water.
- Get your own insurance quote before contingencies expire. This is the practical backstop: your carrier will pull CLUE during underwriting anyway. If the address has a problematic history, you want to learn it while you can still negotiate or walk, not at the closing table. (This matters double for older homes, where the claims history compounds with underwriting flags like roof age and wiring — see what underwriters flag on older homes.)
If you’re selling: know your record before buyers do
Request your own CLUE report a couple of months before listing (you’re entitled to a free copy of your own report annually from the database operator, and your insurance agent can point you to the request process). Then:
- Check it for errors. Claims databases contain mistakes — wrong addresses, inquiries recorded as claims, resolved claims mislabeled. There’s a dispute process; use it early, because corrections take time.
- Pair claims with repair documentation. If the record shows a 2022 water claim, have the plumber’s invoice and remediation paperwork ready. “Claim, then documented fix” reads completely differently from “claim, shrug.”
- Stay consistent with Form 17. Your disclosure form and your CLUE history will both end up in front of the buyer’s team. They should tell the same story.
The part that changes your own behavior: claims you file
Here’s the strategic punchline. Because every claim — sometimes even a phone call your carrier logs as a claim inquiry — can land in CLUE, filing small claims has a cost beyond the deductible. A few small claims in a few years can mark both you and your house as higher-risk, raising what you pay or limiting who will cover you, including when you go to sell and the buyer’s carrier reviews the address.
The working rule most experienced owners land on: insure for disasters, self-fund the dings. Where exactly that line sits — and when filing is clearly right — is the subject of its own post: home insurance claims: when to file, and when not to. And before you call the carrier about anything borderline, ask your insurance agent whether the conversation itself gets recorded as an inquiry. Confirm; don’t assume.
Add it to the standard checklist
CLUE belongs on the same buyer due-diligence list as the sewer scope and the current FEMA flood map check: cheap to ask for, occasionally decisive, invisible if you don’t know to look.
While you’re making costs visible: agent fees shouldn’t be the opaque part of your transaction either. Manaky Homes is a free marketplace where Greater Seattle agents publish their fees side by side — sign up for the waitlist and see the numbers before you choose.
