Busy market, but peace-of-mind is still very important

Do your inspection before you sign an offer ?

By Mark Schadenberg
About 2 years ago I posted a few paragraphs which describe the importance of having an inspection report on a home you were considering buying.
Our extremely fast-paced market has made it necessary to do an inspection of some of the home's elements before you sign an offer. Yes, if your offer was 'condition on receiving a satisfactory inspection report at the buyer's sole and absolute discretion', there would likely be 3 or 4 other offers with no similar stipulation.
One home I recently sold included having a visit by an electrician before the offer was submitted.
Read the post below as my thoughts on knowing about any problems with a house continue to exist, especially since sellers no longer fill out the Seller Property Information Statement (SPIS) form which asks about possible features such as knob-and-tub wiring, aluminum wiring, galvanized plumbing, asbestos flooring, asbestos wrap around pipes, and most certainly a leaking basement. What about mould? The list is actually much longer, but I'm sure you get the idea.  
Be sure to be working with an experienced full-time agent as a home's negative features are usually quite obvious. Therefore, avoid a Realtor who considers themselves a marketing person and not a home expert.

An effective reliable inspector carries a ladder and a vast amount of knowledge
Always make your offer conditional upon an inspection 

By Mark Schadenberg

There are a million stories in any city and a few thousand stories in any house.
There are countless stories to be found depicting why a home seller must disclose all facts about their house to their Realtor when it is listed for sale.

Remember, for starters, any inquisitive / knowledgeable Realtor will likely discover any significant faults to a home . . . or problems may be revealed during a thorough inspection.

There is a link to a Toronto Star story below which pertains to a home sold in the Region of Peel where the sewage started to back up through a basement drain.

Lots of small claims court issues surround wet basements where the home's seller did not disclose there had been a previous issue.

Sellers must also be careful what their Realtor includes in comments or remarks about a property. I recently represented a family putting in an offer on an older home and the listing actually stated 'all knob-and-tube wiring has been removed.' While it may have been an innocent mistake, but the statement was not 100 percent true.

The old 'buyer beware' or 'cavaet emptor' warning does apply in real estate because the eventual buyer would have to prove (in a court setting) that the previous owner did know about whatever the negative factor was, especially in the case of a wet basement.

I firmly believe that if a moisture problem has been fixed / remedied – the issue likely no longer exists. However, if it looks like a duck, it's likely still a duck.
An inspector can not cut holes into drywall and check for water seepage, but a moisture meter can tell a tale, especially under basement windows.

A good home inspection – and you should always have a condition on an inspection for a home older than 10 years – can discover a recipe list of minor and possibly even major items requiring a financial investment to repair by the next owner, or sometimes insisting that the current owner be responsible for the fix-up before the closing day. A few insignificant downfalls will not turn away the buyer, but many particular high-cost renovations / improvements might be enough to persuade the buyer (with the accepted conditional offer) to walk away from the transaction and thereby not waive (fulfill) their condition on an inspection.

As an example, one important item could be that the roof may need to be completely replaced, including the plywood (sheathing), and / or soffit and fascia due to poor attic ventilation, causing mould.

Building permits on past projects are important, especially back deck -- both for posts below the frost line and safety features such as spindles and stairs. 

I am always astounded as to how many houses have their bathroom and/or kitchen fan/vents exhaust directly into the attic instead of the outside.

When you have an inspection, be sure to hire a qualified and experienced professional – not your friend who once renovated a bathroom.

In 16 years in real estate sales, many revolutions and evolutions have occurred. There was a time a dozen years ago where all vendors would gladly fill out a disclosure form called the Sellers Property Information Statement (SPIS). However, many folks on both sides of the buying and selling side began to consider the question-and-answer document (with dozen of boxes to initial) as a warranty or some type of guarantee. The SPIS is now paperwork that is seldomly used.

This lack of a SPIS makes it even more important to hire an effective inspector with an eagle eye, and a willingness to climb into an attic and squirm into crawl spaces.

There is no perfect house, but you should be satisfied the home you're buying is the best for you.
Your Realtor should be able to detect galvanized plumbing, knob-and-tube wiring, poor exterior grading (including rain gutters), and estimate the age of a roof, but an inspector will confirm if the knob-and-tube wiring is still live, any possible issues with the hydro panel box, what the R-value of the attic is, and any downfalls in the heating and cooling system. An inspector worth the cheque you will write them, will be worthy, will check everything, will write a thorough report and will give you peace-of-mind. Again, there is no such thing as a perfect house.

If I'm your Realtor we will check and double check a house you're interested in calling a home. An inspector is certainly even more of an expert than a Realtor. With a ladder, flashlight, screwdriver and camera, an inspector will inform a purchaser with a lot of content about different facets of a home.

Hiring a good inspector is as important as others who could be part of your home-buying and home-owning team – a lawyer, electrician, gas fitter, plumber, carpenter, mortgage consultant and accountant.