Property Nerds® · Boyenga Team at Compass

Property Nerd Lab

Free tools for owning, buying and selling an Eichler or mid-century modern home. Each one turns a guide we wrote from public records into something you can tick through on a phone at the curb, in an open house or at the kitchen table.

Nothing you tick is saved or sent anywhere. The tools run in your browser with no sign-up, and each one says plainly what it can’t do.

  • Identify

    Is It an Eichler? Clue Checker

    Tick the clues you can see from the records, the sidewalk and the structure, and watch the count build.

    • 16 clues in three groups
    • Clues that point the other way
    • Why a remodel doesn’t rule a house out
    Open the checker

  • Explore

    Eichler Tract Finder

    Pick a city to see the tracts our histories cover on a 1947–1975 timeline, with links to each tract’s story.

    • 35 tracts and projects in seven places
    • National Register districts marked
    • Look-alike tracts by other builders
    Open the finder

  • Buy

    Mid-Century Home Inspection Checklist

    Thirty items to bring to your inspectors, from radiant heat in the slab to beam ends and single-pane glass.

    • Which inspections to order
    • What a general inspector can’t see
    • Links to the full guide for each system
    Open the checklist

  • Sell

    Older-Home Sale Planner (California)

    Tell it when the house was built and where it is, and it lists the disclosures, certificates and taxes our guides found for that sale.

    • Year-built and fire-zone items
    • Local sewer, report and tax rules
    • Dated, with links to each guide
    Open the planner

  • Remodel

    Eichler Remodel Rules Finder

    Pick a city to see the five layers of rules to check before you remodel an Eichler there, and how binding each one is. Then add a project.

    • Seven cities, plus what to check anywhere else
    • Guidelines, overlays, standards and historic listings
    • Code, lead and asbestos notes for five projects
    Open the finder

  • Decode

    Eichler Plan Code Decoder

    Holding a plan or permit with a code like L-234 or MC-184? See the subdivision, city and years that a UC Berkeley archive index ties it to.

    • 123 model rows from the Oakland & Imada index
    • Nine place groups and a prefix key
    • The developer as the index names it
    Open the decoder

From the recordEvery fact comes from one of our guides, and those guides cite city, county, state and federal sources.

Nothing to sign up forNo accounts and nothing stored. Close the page and your ticks are gone.

Honest about limitsA checklist isn’t an inspection, and a clue isn’t proof. Each tool ends with what it can’t do.

The guides behind the tools

How to tell if a house is an EichlerEichler neighborhoods by cityInspection checklist guideSale requirements for older homesEichler design rules by cityAll buying and selling guides

Questions about a specific house? Eric & Janelle Boyenga, the Boyenga Team at Compass, have worked in Silicon Valley real estate since 1996. Call or text (408) 373-1660 or (650) 383-8606, or contact us.