I once spent a whole viewing admiring a bay window and forgot to ask a single question about the roof above it. The agent did not volunteer anything. He was not hiding it either. Nobody had asked, so nobody said.
In brief
- Windows and trees are the two biggest hidden line items.
- Ground must fall away from the walls, not towards them.
- Smells are information; treat them as such.
- Ask what the utilities and charges really cost, in figures.
The envelope: what keeps the weather outside
Four of the ten questions concern the shell of the building, because that is where the expensive surprises live.
1. Will the windows need replacing?
Check the frames, not the view. Draughts on a still day, soft or blackened wood at the bottom rail, paint lifting in sheets, condensation trapped between two panes of a double glazed unit: each points to replacement rather than repair.
Budget honestly for it. According to Angi’s 2026 cost data for the United States, individual windows run roughly $300 to $2,500 each depending on frame material, glazing and how awkward the installation is, with labour alone adding $100 to $300 per window. European prices differ, but the shape of the number does not: a house with fifteen tired windows carries a five figure problem whatever the currency.
2. Does the ground slope away from the house?
Stand at each corner and look at where rain would go. Water running towards a wall is the cheapest problem to spot and one of the dearest to fix.
There is a published benchmark for this. The International Residential Code (section R401.3) requires the ground to fall at least six inches within the first ten feet from the foundation, which works out at a 5% slope, and impervious surfaces such as a concrete path within ten feet to fall at least 2%. A house sitting in a dip at the bottom of a slope is not automatically a bad buy, but it needs drainage you can actually see.
3. Are there any odd smells?
Trust your nose before you trust the paintwork. A musty, cellar-like smell in a room that has been aired all morning suggests damp somewhere behind the finish. A sweetish, sharp smell can mean rodents.
The trick is to arrive slightly early and stand in the hallway for thirty seconds before anyone starts talking. After ten minutes indoors you stop noticing anything at all.
4. Is the house simply too dated for you?
This is a question about your own tolerance, not about the property. An older house with original features and thirty year old wiring is a project, and a project has a budget, a timeline and a person who has to run it.
In France the paperwork will tell you part of the story before you commit. The seller’s diagnostic file must include an electrical and a gas report where the installation is more than fifteen years old, along with lead and asbestos checks on older buildings and an état des risques for the address. Read those before the second viewing, not after the offer.
What surrounds the building
Three questions concern the plot and the immediate setting, which buyers routinely underweight because they are looking at the house.
5. What condition are the trees in, and where are they?
Mature trees are an asset and a liability at the same time. Look at how close the canopy comes to the roof, whether branches overhang a neighbour’s property, and whether anything large leans towards the building.
Removal is not trivial. Angi’s 2026 figures put tree removal in the United States at roughly $200 to $2,000, averaging around $750, with very large specimens costing far more. And on the French side, protected trees and espaces boisés classés in a local plan mean some trees legally cannot come down at all without going through the mairie first.
6. Is there any sign of pests?
Look for droppings in cupboard corners, small piles of frass under beams, tunnels in woodwork, and wasp activity around the eaves in late summer.
Termites deserve particular attention here. Where a prefectoral order designates a zone at risk, a termite report is part of the compulsory diagnostic file for a sale, which means the absence of one in a designated area is itself a question worth asking.
7. Are there pavements, and where do they go?
Walk the street rather than reading about it. Whether you can get to a bakery, a bus stop or a school without stepping into traffic determines how you will actually live there, and it is invisible from any listing photograph.
The neighbourhood, read honestly
Two questions are about the people, which is the part no survey covers.
8. What do the parked cars tell you?
Cars are a rough proxy for how settled a street is, and like all proxies they mislead. A row of workshop projects on jacks might mean a neglected area, or one enthusiastic mechanic. Read them alongside the state of the front gardens and the communal entrance rather than on their own.
9. What are the neighbours like?
Knock on a door. It feels intrusive and it is the single most useful ten minutes of the whole process.
In a French copropriété there is a documentary version of the same question: ask for the last three sets of minutes from the general meetings. Disputes, planned works and unpaid charges all appear there in writing, long before anyone tells you about them.
What it costs to live there
10. What do the utilities and charges actually come to?
Ask for figures, not impressions. Annual heating and electricity, water, and in an apartment the charges de copropriété broken down by what they cover, plus any works already voted and not yet paid for.
The DPE gives you an estimated energy cost range for the property, which is useful as a comparison between two homes and less reliable as a prediction of your own bill. Real invoices from the current owner beat any estimate.
| What you check | Warning sign | Who answers it properly |
|---|---|---|
| Windows | Misted double glazing, soft frames | A joiner, on a quote |
| Ground levels | Soil banked against the wall | A builder or surveyor |
| Trees | Canopy over the roofline | An arborist, plus the mairie |
| Electrics and gas | Installation over 15 years old | The compulsory diagnostic report |
| Running costs | Vague answers, no invoices | The current owner’s bills |
The eleventh question, which I would put first
Ask why the owner is selling, and then stay quiet.
The answer is almost always ordinary. A job, a separation, a family that outgrew the place. What you are listening for is the pause before it, and whether the same story comes back the same way at the second viewing. It is not evidence of anything. It is the cheapest signal available and it costs you nothing but the discipline to stop talking.
Everything else on this list can be quantified by somebody qualified. That one you have to read yourself.
General information for buyers. Diagnostic obligations, thresholds and costs change over time and vary by country, so confirm the current position with a notaire or a qualified professional before making an offer.
Buying something with history?
An older property shifts the checklist considerably, and a few of the checks become non-negotiable.
