So you’re thinking of investing on real estate or looking for a new home to buy. The house might look good and the price is within your budget but still, one of the crucial parts of checking our houses is interviewing the seller. Sure, it’s good practice to bring an expert with you to check the house out, but you can find a lot just by asking the seller some key questions. Here are ten questions that you can ask a house seller.

1. Is the foundation’s interior waterproof? (You don’t want to deal with .)
2. Is the house properly insulated? What’s the R factor of the insulation? (R stands for resistance to heat flow. Good values are: R22 for ceilings and R13 for exterior walls. Higher R ratings are better for cold areas.)
3. Are the windows insulated or glazed?
4. Is the house built on a landfill? (Landfills might not have settled yet. Cracks in the plaster indicates ground movement.)
5. Are there any histories of infestations? (Bats, rats, cockroaches, and especially termites. Ask for invoices or guarantees from pest control.)
6. What’s under the carpeting? (Whether it’s wood or concrete. That would help you plan what other repairs you might have to do.)
7. Is the waste system hooked up to the city’s sewerage system?
8. Do the major appliances have separate electrical circuits?
9. How old are the pipes? (Antique pipes may already have leaks. Rusted pipings might even lead to contamination.)
10. How old is the paint? (Old paint especially paint prior to 1978 may contain lead. Lead is poisonous… you get the drift.)