GroundTruth / before you buy

What should I check about a house's environment before buying?

A home inspection covers the house. It does not cover what is around the house. Before you commit, spend an hour on the checks below. They are free, and most work from your phone.

Checks you can run from public records

• Superfund and toxic sites. The federal government lists contaminated sites under cleanup (Superfund) and facilities that report toxic chemical releases. See what is near the address with our address search, or search EPA's own list at epa.gov/superfund.
• Drinking water. Public water systems report violations of drinking-water rules. Look up the systems serving the county with the drinking-water section of our address search; your water bill names the actual utility.
• Flood zone. The official flood map is FEMA's. Look up the address at msc.fema.gov, the Flood Map Service Center. The zone matters for flood insurance; ask your lender what it means for this address.
• Air quality. Check the area's air at airnow.gov, the EPA's air-quality site.
• Noise. No database beats a visit. Go at rush hour, open the windows, and listen.
• Schools. The district decides which schools serve an address. Confirm with the district enrollment office, then visit.

Checks no database can run

• Title and liens. Liens are debts attached to the property. The county recorder's office keeps the deed and lien records; a title company will search them for you.
• Seller disclosures. Ask the seller's agent for the seller disclosure form. It lists the problems the seller knows about.
• The block itself. Walk it in daylight and after dark. Talk to a neighbor. Ten minutes of conversation beats any dataset.

Run our checks in one go

Our address search runs the public-record checks we can back with data in one go: schools, hazard zones, groundwater, Superfund sites, noise, walkability and more, plus environmental records and drinking-water systems nearby. It prints a plain-words report you can take with you. Where we have no data for your area, it says so instead of guessing.