Fresh paint on one wall only
A single repainted basement wall, ceiling panel or closet in a house nobody else has touched. Sometimes it is innocent. Sometimes it is a stain-blocker over a leak that is still happening.
For homeowners & home buyers
Know What to Fix, What Can Wait, and What Isn't Worth Fixing
Before you spend thousands fixing your house, make sure you're fixing the right problem. A practical homeowner system for separating real problems from expensive panic — built from 31 years and more than 11,000 home inspections.
$37
one-time · instant digital access
Get the Money Pit Prevention Kit —Get the Kit — $37
- Instant digital access
- Printable checklists
- Owners and buyers
A $37 decision tool for the repairs, replacements and quotes that will cost you thousands.
160pages
Ray Dellinger31 years · 11,000+ homes
31 Years
Inspecting homes in the Ohio Valley
11,000+
Houses walked, both sides of the river
9 Years
Framing houses before he ever inspected one
Retired
No inspection to sell you. Buyer education only.
The part buyers miss
The Expensive Problems Usually Aren't the Ones Buyers Notice First
Most buyers notice countertops, flooring, paint, bedrooms and appliances. Ray spent 31 years looking at the things underneath them.
A new kitchen over old plumbing
The cabinets are three months old. The drain lines under the slab are sixty years old. Renovations sell houses; drain lines, panels and footing drains do not.
A "small" crack that deserves a second look
Nearly every foundation has a crack in it, and most are harmless. Direction and displacement are what separate a maintenance item from a structural engineer's phone number.
A roof with three years left
"Does it leak?" gets an honest no. "How many years are left?" is the question that has a five-figure answer, and almost nobody asks it before the offer.
Ground that slopes toward the house
The cheapest problem on this list and the cause of the most expensive ones. Water goes where the dirt sends it, and the dirt is in plain sight from the driveway.
A flip that looks perfect
A renovated house can be an excellent buy. The risk is that new finishes hide everything that was there before — and you now have no worn surfaces prompting you to ask questions.
"I've stood in a basement with water running down a wall while somebody told me about their plans for the dining room." Once your brain decides it's your house, every problem gets quietly filed as "we'll deal with that."
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- Instant digital access
- Printable + mobile-friendly
What the kit actually teaches
The House Doesn't Need to Be Perfect. You Just Need to Know What You're Buying.
Every house has a list. Some items are cosmetic. Some are negotiation points. Some need a specialist. And a few change whether the deal makes financial sense at all. The whole job is telling them apart.
Common imperfections that often look worse than they are.
- Thin vertical cracks in a poured wall
- Old, dry stains on attic sheathing
- A sticking door in an 80-year-old house
- Dated kitchens, worn carpet, ugly fixtures
- Small surface growth in a bathroom
Real findings that need more information before you can price them.
- Efflorescence or a tide line in the basement
- A diagonal crack from a window corner
- Slow drains on more than one floor
- Fresh paint in one isolated place
- Work with no permit on record
Stop looking and bring in the right qualified expert.
- Horizontal cracking or a bowed wall
- Scorch marks or a burnt smell at the panel
- A removed wall with no visible beam
- A visibly sagging roof ridge
- Anything you were not allowed to see
Ray Dellinger
Home inspector, 1992–2023. Retired. Ohio Valley.
Who made this
Advice From Someone Who Spent 31 Years Looking for What Was Wrong
Ray Dellinger inspected homes throughout the Ohio Valley for 31 years and walked through more than 11,000 houses — farmhouses, post-war ranches, split-levels, city doubles, and a great many ordinary three-bedroom houses somebody was about to make the biggest financial decision of their life over.
Before he ever inspected a house, he framed them for nine years. That is the part he leans on most: it taught him what goes behind a wall before anybody closes it up, and what gets skipped when a crew is behind schedule and it is going to rain.
He retired in 2023 and deliberately allowed his professional licenses to lapse. Today he has no inspection appointment to sell you, no contractor estimate waiting, and no reason to talk you into or out of any property. He built this kit around the questions he wishes more buyers had asked before they committed.
"The goal isn't to find a perfect house. It's to understand the expensive problems before they become yours."
Ray Dellinger
Ray is retired and is not currently licensed. This kit is educational and does not replace a professional home inspection or specialist evaluation.
Thirty-one years of it, written down.
Everything Ray learned walking through eleven thousand houses, in a form you can carry into the next one.
Get the Kit — $37
14-day money-back guarantee
What's inside
Everything You Need to Decide What Your House Actually Needs
160 pages, 43 sections, and 29 printable worksheets. Built to be used in a driveway and a basement, not read once and forgotten.
1
The Money Pit Decision System
Five decisions and ten questions that sort any problem in your house: fix it now, maintain it, monitor it, get another opinion, or stop spending money on it. Learn one page and the rest of the kit runs on it.
Included2
Repair or Replace? — the nine things that decide it
System by system — roof, furnace, A/C, water heater, windows, panel, plumbing, siding, gutters, garage door, appliances — what usually still points to a repair, and what genuinely justifies replacement. Plus the cost-per-year sum that settles most of these.
No universal lifespan claims. Service life varies with product, installation, climate, maintenance and usage — condition and evidence decide it.
Included3
The Contractor Quote Comparison Sheet
Three quotes side by side on the things that actually differ — diagnosis, scope, materials, exclusions, permits, warranty, payment schedule. Plus sixteen questions to ask before you say yes, and the ten triggers that mean get a second opinion.
This is not an anti-contractor section. Most are honest — the point is that you are approving a sum based on a diagnosis you cannot evaluate.
Included4
The Annual Maintenance System & Major System Tracker
Four seasons on one printable page, plus a tracker for every major system in the house: installed when, serviced when, known issues, condition, next action. Fill it in once and it answers every question anybody asks about your house — including a buyer, years from now.
Included5
The Complete Home Showing Checklist
Four printable sheets you carry through a property, room by room. Mark every item OK, question, concern, or needs a professional — so nothing depends on what you can remember in the car afterwards.
Included6
Foundation & Structural Red Flag Guide
Diagrams of the four crack patterns and what each one usually means. Ray's rule of thumb: width tells you little, direction tells you a lot, displacement tells you almost everything.
This guide does not diagnose structural problems. It helps you recognize when to ask for a professional evaluation.
Included7
Water & Moisture Detective Checklist
The strongest section in the kit. Five questions that follow water's own logic, plus a cutaway diagram of the five ways it actually gets into a basement — and how to read a basement that happens to be dry the day you visit.
Included8
Flipped House Red Flag Guide
Not every flip is bad — plenty are excellent. The risk is cosmetic work covering everything underneath it. This section shows you how to judge workmanship without knowing a thing about construction, and what to ask in writing.
Included9
Repair Cost Planning Worksheet
Where a pile of worries becomes a list with numbers next to it — the only form a worry can be negotiated in. Uses honest cost bands rather than invented national prices.
Included10
Questions to Ask the Seller
Two printable sheets to send through your agent, in writing, with room to record the answers. The seller knows things no inspection will ever find.
Included11
Questions to Ask Your Inspector
The most valuable hour in the whole process, and most buyers waste it. Twelve questions with space to write the answers down while you are both still standing in the house.
- "What are the three biggest concerns you found?"
- "What needs specialist evaluation before closing?"
- "What is near the end of its expected service life?"
- "What couldn't you inspect, and why?"
- "What should I budget for in the next three years?"
12
The Old House Guide, era by era
Pre-1940 through the 1990s and after — what is worth checking in each period, phrased as items to look at rather than problems to expect. Plus a plain-language section on environmental items where the only correct action is "don't touch it, call somebody."
IncludedAnd the complete home-buyer's kit, included. Twenty more sections and fourteen more worksheets on walking a house you are thinking of buying — the showing checklist, the 25 red flags, questions for the seller and the inspector, and the final walkthrough. You may not need it this year. Most people buy another house eventually.
Get the Money Pit Prevention Kit —Get the Kit — $37
- 160 pages
- 29 printable worksheets
- Owners and buyers
See what you're getting
Real Pages From the Kit
Not mockups. These are actual pages — click any one to look closer.
New
Type into it, or print it and use a pen
The worksheets file carries over 1,200 tick boxes and 700 write-on lines as real PDF form fields. Fill one in on your laptop, save it, and you have a record of that house. Walk three houses, keep three files.
Works in Adobe Acrobat Reader, Mac Preview, Chrome, Edge and Firefox, and in Files or Books on an iPhone. On Android you'll want the free Acrobat Reader or Xodo — Google Drive's built-in viewer shows PDFs but won't fill them. Or ignore all that and print it, which is how most people use it anyway.
Previews are a sample. The kit is 160 pages.
Also included
Four Sheets to Keep in the Car
Bonus 01
One-Page Cheat Sheet
Every system on a single page — what to notice, why it matters, who to call. Made to live on your phone.
Bonus 02
House Comparison Worksheet
Three houses side by side, compared on price plus what each will cost after you own it.
Bonus 03
Final Walkthrough Checklist
Check the property one more time before closing, when you still have leverage.
Bonus 04
Showing Notes Sheet
One per house. Concerns, questions, photos to review, and estimated repair exposure.
Four bonus sheets, in the same download.
The cheat sheet alone is the one people keep on their phone — every system, what to notice, and who to call, on a single screen.
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14-day money-back guarantee
Worth framing honestly
You're About to Make a Very Expensive Decision
A roof, a foundation, a sewer line, a drainage problem, an HVAC replacement or a poorly executed renovation can materially change what a house actually costs you. Not one of those shows up on a listing.
- Written by somebody with nothing else to sell you
- Use it on every house you look at, not just one
- Cost bands, not invented national prices
- Yours to keep for the next house too
$47
One-time · instant access
Get the KitIt is designed to help you ask better questions before a purchase that may cost hundreds of thousands of dollars.
What changes
Same House. Different Buyer.
- "I don't really know what I'm looking at."
- "Everything looks fine to me."
- "I don't know what to ask."
- "What if the inspector misses something?"
- "Is that crack serious, or is every basement like this?"
- "Is this flip actually well done, or just well painted?"
- Three houses later, they have blurred into one.
- You know which findings deserve attention and which are normal
- You know the questions to ask the seller, in writing
- You take the same notes at every house, so they stay comparable
- You arrive at inspection day with a list, and use the hour properly
- You can tell a cosmetic issue from a potentially expensive one
- You know when to stop looking and call a specialist
- You decide with the expensive unknowns written down in front of you
No kit can promise certainty about any property. What this one does is make sure the questions get asked while you can still act on the answers.
Why trust this
No Invented Reviews. Here's What's Actually True.
We're not going to show you made-up testimonials or a fake customer counter. Until verified buyer feedback exists, here is the honest case.
31 years, 11,000+ housesRay inspected homes across counties on both sides of
the Ohio River from 1992 until 2023.
Nine years framing houses firstHe knows what goes behind a wall before anybody
closes it up — and what gets skipped.
Retired, with nothing else to sellNo inspection appointment, no contractor
referral, no commission on any house you buy.
Clear about what it is notIt does not replace a home inspection, and the kit
says so on the cover, the disclaimer page, and every single page footer.
You can see the actual pagesThe previews above are screenshots of the real
product, not mockups.
Honest about costCost bands, clearly labeled illustrative. No fake savings
claims and no invented repair prices.
Nine real pages are above this section, at full size. If they don't look worth it, don't buy it.
Get the Kit — $3714-day money-back guarantee — the risk sits with us, not you.
Fair questions
"But I'm Already Hiring a Home Inspector…"
Good. You should be.
The Money Pit Prevention Kit is not designed to replace your inspector, and Ray would tell you to hire one for every purchase without exception. It is designed to make that inspection worth more to you. It helps you:
- Notice questions before inspection day, while you still have contingencies
- Organize concerns so they can be priced instead of just worried about
- Understand what a report is actually telling you
- Ask more useful follow-up questions on the day
- Compare several properties on the same basis
- Keep track of repair exposure across every house you see
An inspection covers one house, once. The kit is with you from the first showing to the final walkthrough — and on to the next house if this one doesn't work out.
Good — it is written for buyers, not contractors. Nothing in it asks you to open a panel, climb on a roof, or fix anything. It is about looking and asking.
Newer houses still have drainage, roofing, installation, electrical, moisture and workmanship issues. A house from the late 1990s is already due for its second roof.
There's a full section on old houses, era by era, covering what is worth checking from pre-1940 onward — phrased as items to look at, not problems to assume.
Then use it now: before your inspection, during inspection follow-up, when you're deciding what to ask the seller for, and again at the final walkthrough.
No. It is an educational tool. Safety, structural, electrical, plumbing, environmental and roofing concerns should be evaluated by appropriately qualified professionals.
No, and it deliberately refuses to. There is no score that can weigh a bowed wall against a school district. It organizes what you know so the decision is yours to make properly.
Still deciding?
The nine sample pages above are real. Look at them again, then let the pages make the argument — that's what they're there for.
Get the Kit — $37
14-day money-back guarantee
14-Day Money-Back Guarantee
Go through the whole thing. Print the checklists. Take them to a showing. If you decide it isn't useful for your home-buying process, email moneypitproof@proton.me within 14 days and you'll get your money back. No form to fill in and no reason required — Gumroad processes it.
You keep nothing back: the files are yours to download the moment you buy, and we don't ask you to delete them. That's the deal, and it's the same deal whether you ask on day one or day fourteen.
Questions
Straight Answers
Does this replace a home inspection?
No. It is educational material, and it is not a home inspection, an engineering assessment, or a repair estimate. Ray's advice is to hire a qualified home inspector for every purchase and to attend the inspection. This kit helps you get more out of that inspection — it does not stand in for it.
Is Ray still a licensed inspector?
No. Ray retired in 2023 and deliberately allowed his home inspector license and his earlier contractor registration to lapse. He is not licensed, and he is not available for inspections. That is intentional: he has nothing to sell you beyond this kit.
Is this only for first-time buyers?
No. Second-time buyers, people helping adult children buy, long-term renters and existing homeowners buying again all use the same checklists. If anything, people who have bought before tend to find the cost planning and comparison worksheets most useful.
Can I use it for older homes?
Yes — there is a full section on old houses covering pre-1940 through the 1990s and after, listing what is worth checking in each era. It is careful to frame these as items to look at rather than problems every house from that period has.
Can I use it for flipped houses?
Yes, and there is a dedicated section for it. It is fair about flips — plenty are excellent work. The section is about telling the difference, judging workmanship without construction knowledge, and asking the right questions in writing.
Does it include repair prices?
It includes planning tools and broad cost categories rather than specific prices, and they are clearly labeled illustrative. Real costs vary enormously by region, access, scope, materials and timing. The kit's position is that a number printed in a book about a house nobody has seen is worse than no number at all — so it teaches you to get written quotes instead.
Is it printable?
Yes — that's what it's built for. Every page is laid out for US Letter, and 18 worksheets are designed to be printed on their own, so you can print just the Showing Checklist without printing 160 pages. You get the whole kit as a bookmarked PDF, plus a second PDF containing only the worksheets, all 29 sheets of them.
Can I use it on my phone?
Yes. Everything is a PDF, so it opens on any phone with nothing to install — tap and read. The worksheets file is also fillable: tick the boxes and type your notes on screen, then save a copy for each house. On an iPhone that works in Files or Books; on Android you'll want the free Adobe Acrobat Reader or Xodo, because the viewer built into Google Drive shows PDFs but won't fill them. Or just print the sheet and use a pen, which is how most people do it anyway.
When should I use it?
Before showings, while comparing homes, before your inspection, when reviewing the inspection findings, while deciding what to ask the seller for, and during the final walkthrough. It is built for the whole process rather than one moment in it.
Will it tell me whether I should buy a particular house?
No — and it refuses to on purpose. Section 19 explains why: no score can weigh a bowed foundation wall against a kitchen you love, a commute you can live with, and a rate you already locked. What it does is organize the information and the unanswered questions so you can make that decision yourself, with appropriate professional input.
What format is it, and how do I get it?
It is a digital product — you get access immediately after checkout. It reads in any browser on desktop, tablet or phone, and includes a print-ready PDF plus the individual printable worksheets.
One last thing
Fall in Love With the House After You Understand It
Buying a home should be exciting. But excitement should not stop you asking uncomfortable questions while you still have the chance to act on the answers.
The best time to find a problem is before your name is on the deed. Once you close, the repair belongs to you.
"You are not trying to find a perfect house. You are trying to find out what the house is going to cost you after you own it."
Ray Dellinger — Ohio Valley
Get the Money Pit Prevention Kit —Get the Kit — $37
- Instant access
- Printable checklists
- Mobile-friendly