---
name: Home Buying
slug: home-buying
version: 1.0.0
homepage: https://clawic.com/skills/home-buying
description: Buy a home with budget guardrails, listing scorecards, offer strategy, due diligence triage, and closing readiness checks.
changelog: Initial release with a full home-buying decision workflow from budget setup through closing readiness.
metadata: {"clawdbot":{"emoji":"HOME","requires":{"bins":[],"config":["~/home-buying/"]},"os":["linux","darwin","win32"],"configPaths":["~/home-buying/"]}}
---

## Setup

If `~/home-buying/` does not exist or is empty, read `setup.md`, explain what will be stored, and ask for confirmation before creating files.

## When to Use

Use this skill when a user is buying a primary home or investment property and needs disciplined decisions across budget, search, offers, inspections, and closing.

This skill turns emotional decisions into a repeatable decision system with explicit guardrails and walk-away thresholds.

## Architecture

Memory lives in `~/home-buying/`. See `memory-template.md` for structure and status fields.

```text
~/home-buying/
|-- memory.md             # Decision defaults, status, and recurring constraints
|-- active-deals.md       # Deal pipeline with stage and risk notes
|-- offer-log.md          # Offer ladder history and outcomes
`-- closing-checks.md     # Lender, title, insurance, and final walkthrough status
```

## Quick Start

Use this workflow in order:
1. Define `buy-box` and monthly guardrails.
2. Score listings using one scoring rubric.
3. Build a tiered offer ladder before writing any offer.
4. Run inspection and document risk transfer plan.
5. Gate closing on a readiness checklist.

## Quick Reference

Use the smallest relevant file for the current step.

| Topic | File |
|-------|------|
| Setup and activation behavior | `setup.md` |
| Memory template | `memory-template.md` |
| Budget math and guardrails | `budget-guardrails.md` |
| Listing scoring rubric | `listing-scorecard.md` |
| Offer strategy and concessions | `offer-ladder.md` |
| Inspection and contingency triage | `due-diligence.md` |
| Closing readiness gates | `closing-readiness.md` |

## Core Rules

### 1. Build the Buy Box Before Browsing
- Define non-negotiables (location radius, bedroom count, commute cap, property type) before reviewing listings.
- Add hard no-go criteria and keep them fixed for at least one week to reduce impulse drift.

### 2. Underwrite Total Monthly Cost, Not List Price
- Use all-in monthly cost: principal, interest, taxes, insurance, HOA, utilities estimate, and maintenance reserve.
- Reject properties that break the monthly guardrail unless the user explicitly approves a revised ceiling.

### 3. Score Listings With One Rubric
- Apply the same weighted scorecard to every candidate property.
- If a listing is selected against scorecard output, mark it as an exception and document the reason.

### 4. Use a Tiered Offer Ladder
- Build Plan A, Plan B, and walk-away offer numbers before contacting seller side.
- Each tier must include price, contingency set, credits target, and maximum concession risk.

### 5. Treat Due Diligence as Risk Transfer
- Convert each inspection issue into one of three actions: seller fix, seller credit, or buyer accepts risk.
- No unresolved high-severity issue should survive to final commitment without explicit sign-off.

### 6. Protect Timeline and Financing Certainty
- Keep a dated checklist for lender docs, appraisal milestones, title items, and insurance binders.
- Flag any critical path delay immediately and propose a concrete recovery action.

### 7. Keep a Decision Log for Every Deal
- Store offers, counter terms, rejected options, and post-mortem notes in memory.
- Reuse these patterns to improve future offers and avoid repeating avoidable mistakes.

## Home-Buying Traps

- Shopping first, budgeting later -> overexposure and rushed compromises.
- Chasing low rate headlines without full closing-cost math -> misleading affordability.
- Waiving inspection blindly in competitive markets -> asymmetric downside.
- Negotiating only on price -> missed credits, repairs, or timeline value.
- Ignoring neighborhood-level signals (insurance trends, HOA health, permit patterns) -> hidden future cost.
- Accepting lender or title delays as "normal" -> preventable closing failures.

## Data Storage

- Local notes only in `~/home-buying/` for active deals, scorecards, and decision history.
- Store concise operational data, not full personal identity packages.
- Ask before saving sensitive personal or financial details.

## Security & Privacy

Data that leaves your machine:
- None by default. This skill is workflow guidance and local-memory only.

Data that stays local:
- Decision context, deal notes, and checklist state under `~/home-buying/`.

This skill does NOT:
- Submit offers automatically.
- Call lender, MLS, escrow, or title APIs automatically.
- Share user data with external services by default.
- Modify files outside `~/home-buying/` for memory.
- NEVER modifies its own skill definition file.

## Related Skills
Install with `clawhub install <slug>` if user confirms:
- `real-estate-skill` - Broad real-estate transaction guidance across roles and stages.
- `property-valuation` - Comparable and income-based valuation support.
- `contract` - Contract structure and clause review support.
- `rental` - Rental economics and landlord or tenant decision support.
- `house` - Home ownership operations after purchase.

## Feedback

- If useful: `clawhub star home-buying`
- Stay updated: `clawhub sync`