10 Questions for House Hunters

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4. Is the home oriented for energy-free heating and cooling?

A home's orientation can help save on heating and cooling costs: Homes with a long side facing south and short sides facing east and west best capture solar heat in winter and block solar gain in summer. Windows that allow for increased ventilation and passive cooling provide an alternative to central air conditioning, as do awnings and screens over south, west and east facing windows. Also look for trees situated to shade a home during spring and summer and allow for sunlight to penetrate during fall and winter.

A qualified energy rater can help you characterize the energy performance of a property—how efficiently a home uses energy for its heating and cooling. Raters can also provide detailed reports listing some improvements that can be made to increase energy efficiency. The reports often include estimated costs and estimated energy savings gained by making these improvements (www.energyraters.org).

5. Can I outfit it for solar energy?

Solar energy may still be costly, but those willing to make the investment should do some research before buying a home and outfitting it with photovoltaic panels. You can use the solar estimator at www.findsolar.com to see the solar rating for your geographic area, but if you're looking specifically at your house, a device called the Solar Pathfinder ($215; www.solarpathfinder.com, 317-501-2529) determines the best placement of photovoltaic systems on an individual building.

Take stock of the home's existing performance, too. "If buyers are considering solar, how efficiently does the home function at present? If appliances and other building systems are inefficient, adding solar may be analogous to catching a runaway train," notes Beldock.

6. How water-wise is the home?

Homes built before 1980 may be filled with water-guzzling plumbing fixtures. Look for high efficiency 2.5 gallon-per-minute (gpm) showerheads and 2.0 gpm faucets, as well as water-saving toilets certified as top performers by EPA's WaterSense program (www.epa.gov/watersense).

7. Are lead and asbestos lurking in the home?

Lead can still be found in paint in some homes built before 1978, while asbestos may haunt homes built before 1981. Asbestos may be found in asphalt tile floors; backing on vinyl sheet or tile flooring; cements; plaster, spackling, and decorative compounds; furnace gaskets; flexible duct connectors; exterior siding; insulation; and roofing materials.

Be on the lookout for other indoor air pollutants, too. Residential heating systems fueled by wood, natural gas, oil and kerosene can pollute a house with combustion gases such as nitrogen oxide, nitrogen dioxide, carbon monoxide and particulate matter.