When you purchase a home, you simply must have your home inspected. Inspectors can tell you what is in or perhaps even under your property that might adversely affect the use, quality and value of your new home.

But there is more that you must always do as well. You need to evaluate the property for outside noise potential, and for this task, you are largely on your own.

I like to "stake out" a property during after- hours, perhaps even all night. The same applies whether you are renting or buying. You want to know about the kinds of sounds that you are going to hear "24/7" before you purchase, rather than after you purchase. After you purchase, it will be your noise, and you are going to have to live with the noise. So you want to know about noise problems before the house becomes yours.

Are their trains or firehouses in the area? Again, the stake out will reveal many of these noises. But, you also need to drive around the community. Firehouses and rail tracks many not be easy to find if you do not know where to look. Ask Town Hall if it has a map that shows where these things are located. Perhaps a local tax map will do.

Are you near a local airport? Or are you miles from a local airport, but under a frequent approach used by jets when they are landing. The stake out ought to reveal this, and asking some people who already live in the community might also help.

The three I mentioned are particularly menacing. If the noise is bad enough, you may not be able to open your windows during the mild weather. In extreme situations, and I have clients with this problem, you may not be able to hear your television.

These kinds of noises can lower the quality of your experience in the home. A constant irritating noise can create a high level of tension, frustration and unhappiness. Ask people who live too close to a train about the quality of their lives.

Often the unexpected can form a new noise problem. For example a train line covered by a dense population of trees may not pose much of a problem and may even survive the stake out test. But what if someone buys the adjacent property ands cuts down the trees? I personally know of one situation where that has happened. So you need to look at what is, and at what might be as well. Not always an easy task!

Highway noise can also pose a problem. How close will your new home be to a major highway? Visit the site when the highway is the most busy. Also, determine if the highway department is planning to expand any local roadways. Wider roads can become noisier roads.

Is your new home near vacant land? If so, find out what is planned for the parcel, or what the zoning allows. New malls and factories can be very noisy. Of course, knowledge of current zoning is no guarantee because areas can be rezoned.

Problematic noises do not always originate close to a new home. For example, explosions from a quarry located six miles away can be annoying.

I can't identify every possible noise problem in this column. But before you buy, you should conduct a stake out, interview local officials and would be neighbors. You might even want to incorporate a "no noise" seller's certification as part of the contract.

Some people are more sensitive to noise than others. But if this kind of thing bothers you, be sure to thoroughly investigate prior to your purchase.

The information provided in this column is written by Stuart Lieberman,a practicing environmental attorney, and is for general information purposes only. It is not legal advice and should not be used in place of legal advice.

Stuart Lieberman, Esq., and IRED.Com, Inc., will not accept any responsibilty for any reliance on the information in this column or any damages whatsoever resulting from reading this column.