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Buying a home usually means judging performance by guesswork: a newer-looking kitchen, an updated furnace label, or an agent's assurance that “everything's been redone.” Pearl SCORE™ replaces that guesswork with a documented, 1 to 1,000 rating covering five pillars of home performance that impact everyday life in a home: Safety, Comfort, Operations, Resilience, and Energy, built from public records and, where available, owner-confirmed detail across 700+ data points. This guide walks you through looking up, reading, and comparing that data for every home on your shortlist, so you arrive at your offer, and your inspection, already knowing what you're working with. No account and no paid report are required to get started. You'll only need a device with app or browser access and the addresses of the homes you're considering.
Prerequisites
That's all you need to start.
Pearl SCORE rates nearly every single-family home in the U.S. on a 1 to 1,000 scale across five pillars, always presented in the same order: Safety, Comfort, Operations, Resilience, and Energy. Standardized home performance rating is not a new idea in real estate. The U.S. Department of Energy's Home Energy Score program has used a comparable 1 to 10 scale to give buyers, sellers, and renters credible, comparable information about a home's energy use1, with scores already appearing in MLS listings, appraisals, and mortgage financing in participating markets.
One feature worth calling out here: within the Operations pillar, Pearl SCORE includes an estimate of how a home's running costs compare to similar homes, based on HVAC efficiency, insulation, and other Operations-pillar data. It's not a full cost breakdown or a substitute for the five-pillar SCORE, just one more way the Operations pillar translates into something concrete for a buyer or homeowner to act on.
| Pillar | What It Covers | Example Performance Features |
|---|---|---|
| Safety | Documents whether protections like carbon monoxide detectors, smoke alarms, and radon or lead mitigation systems are present. | Smoke and CO detectors, Radon mitigation systems, Water filtration |
| Comfort | Covers temperature consistency, humidity control, drafts, and outdoor noise, so you know if a home tends to run hot, cold, or stuffy. | Window performance, Air sealing, Humidity control systems |
| Operations | Reflects HVAC equipment, insulation, air sealing, ductwork, and water-efficient appliances, including documented age and efficiency upgrades, plus how estimated running costs compare to similar homes. | HVAC type and vintage, Insulation upgrades, Air sealing, Water system improvements |
| Resilience | Measures preparedness for storms, wildfires, flooding, or outages, plus backup systems like generators or outage-protection battery storage. | Backup power systems, Structural reinforcement, Flood or fire mitigation features |
| Energy | Tracks solar panels, EV charging readiness, smart energy management, and battery storage used for solar pairing, tracked separately from Operations. | Solar panels, Battery storage paired with solar, EV charging, Smart energy management |
Worth knowing: HVAC, insulation, air sealing, and ductwork all sit under Operations, not Energy. It's the most common mix-up when reading a SCORE breakdown, so double-check as you go.
Is it free to check a home's Pearl SCORE? Yes. Looking up a home's Pearl SCORE and Pearl Snapshot inside the Pearl app, showing what public records reveal about a home's baseline performance across all five pillars, costs nothing. The Pearl SCORE Report, a more detailed breakdown, is also available to consumers comparing homes listed for sale.
Does every home in the U.S. have a Pearl SCORE? Pearl SCORE covers 97+ million single-family homes nationwide using public records. Homeowners can claim their home to add their own details and make the profile even more complete.
What does it mean for a home to be claimed?
Claiming a home means the owner has stepped in to confirm and add their own details, things like HVAC upgrades, insulation improvements, or water system updates, that public records alone don't capture. Once claimed, the profile displays a blue checkmark, and the owner can keep building it out over time through the Pearl app.
Unclaimed SCOREs are built on public-record information. What claiming adds is completeness: a fuller picture of everything the home offers, provided directly by the person who knows it best.
Does a low Pearl SCORE mean I shouldn't buy the home? No. A lower SCORE flags pillars worth asking more questions about. It's a starting point for your own decision and for the conversation with your agent and inspector, not a pass or fail verdict.
Does Pearl SCORE replace a home inspection? No. Pearl SCORE documents the presence of performance features and mitigation systems across five pillars. It's designed to guide understanding alongside your inspection, not instead of it.
| Step | Phase | Key Action | Est. Time / Complexity |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Setup | Download or open the Pearl app or web app. | 2 minutes, Low |
| 2 | Data Collection | Enter each address and review its Pearl SCORE and, on active listings, the SCORE Report. | 5 minutes per home, Low |
| 3 | Analysis | Open the pillar breakdown to see what's driving the SCORE. | 5 to 10 minutes per home, Low to Medium |
| 4 | Context Check | Confirm claimed or unclaimed status. | 1 minute per home, Low |
| 5 | Comparison | Rank homes using the SCORE, pillar details, and Operating Cost Comparison. | 10 to 15 minutes total, Medium |
| 6 | Action | Carry findings into your decision and your inspection conversation. | Ongoing through offer and inspection, Low |
This order works because each step builds on the one before it. You cannot compare homes in Step 5 without the pillar detail you gathered in Step 3, and you cannot tell your inspector what to look at closely in Step 6 without having read that detail first. Checking performance data before you tour or offer, rather than after an offer is already in, is what lets it inform your decision instead of arriving as a surprise during inspection.
Download the Pearl app or open the web app. No purchase is required to look up a home's Pearl SCORE.
Enter each address and review that home's Pearl SCORE (1 to 1,000). You can also view the full Pearl SCORE Report on active listings.
Open each pillar section to see what's actually driving the SCORE.
Look for the checkmark status on the home's profile.
| Unclaimed Home | Claimed Home | |
|---|---|---|
| Data source | Public records only | Public records plus owner-confirmed details |
| Accuracy | Up to date | Same accuracy, more complete picture |
| Checkmark | Greyed-out | Blue |
| What it means for you | You're seeing the baseline performance picture | You're seeing a fuller performance picture with owner-added detail |
Claiming a home doesn't change how accurate its Pearl SCORE is. An unclaimed SCORE reflects the most current public information available. Claiming builds on that, adding details only the owner would know for an even more complete picture.
If a home on your shortlist is unclaimed, you can mention it to the seller or listing agent. It's a quick, low-pressure way to see if there is more to the home's story. For homeowners, claiming a home is simple: confirm a few details, add documentation for recent upgrades like HVAC replacements or insulation work, and those improvements become part of the home's profile going forward. Homeowners can claim their home and update their performance profile directly at pearlscore.com.
Use the Pearl SCORE, pillar breakdowns, and Operations pillar cost data to compare homes on your shortlist.
Use what you learned about the home's pillars to help decide whether it's the right fit, and flag any Resilience or Safety findings for your inspector.
| Pearl SCORE | Home Inspection | |
|---|---|---|
| What it shows | Documents the presence of performance features and mitigation systems across five pillars, drawn from public records and homeowner-provided data | An in-person assessment of a home's current condition, covering structure, exterior, roof, plumbing, electrical systems, heating and air conditioning, interiors, and ventilation and insulation, and may include testing for health-related concerns like mold, radon, lead paint, and asbestos³ |
| When you use it | Before you tour or offer, for every home on your shortlist | After your offer is accepted on the specific home you're buying |
| What it doesn't do | Doesn't test, diagnose, expose risks, or state how well a system currently performs; doesn't evaluate regional risk factors or include building permit history | Scope is limited to the individual home being inspected; it doesn't provide a numeric performance rating or a way to compare that home against others nationally⁴ |
You now know how to look up, read, and compare a home's Pearl SCORE before you make an offer, and how to carry pillar-level findings into your conversation with your inspector. The next step is simple: open the Pearl app and look up the first address on your shortlist.
From there, checking performance data becomes part of your normal home-shopping routine, right alongside the financing and closing steps you're already tracking5, not a separate research project you do once and forget.
1. U.S. Department of Energy, Home Energy Score. https://www.energy.gov/cmei/buildings/articles/home-energy-score. Federal precedent for a standardized home performance/energy rating integrated into MLS listings, appraisals, and mortgage financing
2. Realtor.com, New Construction Total Cost of Ownership (2026), built on Pearl SCORE data. https://www.realtor.com/research/new-construction-total-cost-of-ownership-2026. Quantifies the financial upside of home performance: new homes save owners an average of $25,335 over 10 years versus 20-year-old homes, driven by lower operating costs and fewer surprise repairs
3. National Association of REALTORS®, Consumer Guide: Home Inspections (Dec. 17, 2024). https://www.nar.realtor/the-facts/consumer-guide-home-inspections. Defines standard home inspection scope, including health-related testing, supporting the differentiation from Pearl SCORE's scope
4. Massachusetts Division of Occupational Licensure, "Home Inspectors Consumer Fact Sheet" https://www.mass.gov/doc/home-inspector-fact-sheet/download. Confirms where a performance check fits relative to a standard inspection in the buying timeline, and that inspection scope is limited to the individual home
5. Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, Buying a House (Owning a Home). https://www.consumerfinance.gov/owning-a-home/. This guide slots into overall homebuying process context (financing, closing)
