The list
1 · The federal environmental databases. EPA's systems — Superfund/SEMS, RCRA handlers, the Toxics Release Inventory, brownfields — for the parcel and its neighbors. A property can be spotless while the plume next door isn't; radius matters as much as address. Where: EPA's public search tools (Envirofacts, EJScreen's facility layers).
2 · The state's own files — TDEC. Tennessee's registries are where most real findings live: petroleum tanks (UST), leaking-tank cases (LUST), dry-cleaner sites (DCERP), and remediation orders. A closed LUST case two doors down is context; an open one uphill is a question with a dollar sign. Where: TDEC's online dataviewers — File 05 is a reader's guide.
3 · Tanks specifically, past tense included. The dangerous tank is the one nobody registered — but the registered history still tells you the property's fuel past: a "former service station" often persists in the tank rolls long after the pumps left. Cross-reference what the listing says the building was against what the tank registry says it did.
4 · The flood zone — from the map, not the listing. FEMA's National Flood Hazard Layer, checked by the parcel's actual footprint. Zone X is a sentence; Zone AE is an insurance line-item and a lender conversation; a floodway is a different property than you thought. Where: msc.fema.gov, free.
5 · Zoning — verified, not assumed. The single most common pre-LOI error is trusting the listing's zoning line. Pull the district from the jurisdiction's official map, then read what it actually permits — use, setbacks, bulk. In smaller Tennessee cities the "official map" may be a PDF and a phone call; make the call. A property marketed for a use its district doesn't allow is a renegotiation you conduct before the LOI or never.
6 · Recorded constraints — easements, rights-of-way, corridors. Mapped utility corridors and conservation easements show in public spatial data; recorded deed easements are title-search territory — but the maps flag where to look. A transmission corridor across the back acreage changes the site plan today and the appraisal tomorrow.
7 · The parcel and financial record. The assessor's file: who owns it (and whether that matches who's selling), assessed and appraised values, last sale price and date. A property asking triple its recent purchase price isn't disqualified — but you should know you're the one being asked.
8 · The ground itself — soil and karst. Much of Middle and East Tennessee sits on dissolving limestone; sinkhole-prone geology is knowable from USDA soil surveys and bedrock mapping before any geotech engineer bills an hour. For raw land especially: what the ground is made of is diligence, not detail.
9 · The quarantine and registry checks nobody runs. Tennessee's meth-contaminated property registry (~1,200 properties under active quarantine order — motels, rentals, and rural parcels cluster there; File 09), and mapped cemeteries — protected ground under Tennessee law, present on more old acreage than anyone expects, and a land-use constraint no closing extinguishes.
10 · The context that moves site plans. National Register historic-district boundaries (design-review implications where local overlays exist), airport noise contours by the nearest airport — in Memphis that's a cargo hub that flies all night — and rail, landfill, and industrial adjacency. None of it is contamination; all of it is price.
The bottom line
Run the ten on every property you're serious about, before the LOI, while the walk-away is free. Clean answers become negotiating confidence; dirty answers become your exit or your discount — and either way, the Phase I you eventually commission (File 01) lands on a property that earned its fee. Forward this list to whoever's on the deal with you; it works better as a shared habit than a private one.