Score protection
REAC Inspection Services for HUD Properties
Survey before the visit, escort during it, appeal after it if the result does not match the property. The same team handles the repairs in between.
What a REAC inspection is
A physical assessment with a score attached
The Real Estate Assessment Center inspects properties in federal housing programmes and produces a numeric score. That number has historically driven how often you are inspected and how much attention you attract.
Worth being precise about the bands, because they are widely quoted and no longer describe what will happen. Under the legacy REAC framework, a score of 90 or above meant a longer gap before the next inspection and a score below 80 meant a shorter one. Under NSPIRE frequency is set by risk rather than by band, so a high score helps your risk profile without buying you a guaranteed three-year gap.
What has not changed is where points are lost. Severity and location still drive deductions, set out item by item in the published standards, and the HUD terms and definitions explain how REAC and NSPIRE terminology relate.
Corrections run through our repair services. Where the wider strategy needs attention, REAC consulting covers it, and if your property is now assessed under the current protocol, NSPIRE inspection is the closer fit.
What gets inspected
What REAC inspections consist of
Site and exterior
Grounds, parking, walkways, fencing and landscaping, then the building envelope itself: roof, foundations, windows and walls. Drainage problems here often explain damage found inside.
Building systems
Electrical panels, plumbing, HVAC, fire protection, elevators and emergency power. What matters is whether each system functions, not whether it is present.
Common areas
Lobbies, corridors, laundry, community rooms and refuse areas, assessed on lighting, cleanliness, accessibility and safety. Small failures here accumulate quickly.
Individual units
Units are selected at random. Alarms, outlets, appliances, bathrooms, floors, walls and ceilings are all in scope, and unit findings carry the heaviest weight of anything on the survey.
Before and during
Pre-inspection, then escort on the day
A pre-REAC survey tells you what will be found while there is still time to act. More usefully, it tells you which findings are worth acting on: not every item carries the same weight, and the difference between a heavy deduction and a trivial one is rarely obvious from looking at it.
On the day itself, an escort who knows the framework changes outcomes. Some findings are judgements about how a standard applies to a location, and those are far easier to resolve while the inspector is standing there than in writing three weeks later.
- Survey scored the way the official visit will score
- Findings separated by deduction, not by how they look
- Escort who knows when to question a finding and when not to
- Notes taken on the day that can support an appeal
Appeals
Which findings are actually contestable
Appeals succeed on specific grounds, not on general disagreement. Conditions permitted by local code, matters demonstrably outside the owner's control, and work already documented as in progress are all legitimate bases for challenge.
We read the report against the evidence and tell you which findings meet that test before anything is filed. Filing on everything weakens the points that would have succeeded, and an unsuccessful appeal costs time you may need for corrections.
Where points go
Findings that cost the most
Weighting comes from the final standards notice and from where the defect sits. The Real Estate Assessment Center framework governs how the survey itself is conducted.
REAC date set? The survey should come first.
Questions