Richard Silver

Toronto Real Estate: Home Inspections Part 3

Issues that arise during the Home Inspection.

Over the years I have seen many issues that arise during a Home Inspection. They usually fall under three main categories;

Did the Seller know there was a problem but chose not to disclose it?

When there is no disclosure by the Seller of something that the Seller is aware of and the Buyer and their Realtor find out, there is an obvious lack of trust that occurs. The deal is tainted and even if both parties have the same goal, it is hard to come to a consensus. With as much due diligence is possible, I would counsel my Buyer clients to “make sure that at the end of the day, they are getting what they were expecting should they choose to move ahead”…   

Was the Seller unaware that there was an issue?

This is probably the largest category. Some people are very house proud and are constantly maintaining their properties and upgrading. They never stop…I fall under that group and friends will tell you that my house is always being worked on…

But there are other Sellers that out of no malice at all are totally impervious to any maintenance that needs to be done. They just don’t see it and are only aware if someone else points it out to them, like a Realtor or a Building Inspector.

Was the Seller aware but not concerned?

There are some Sellers that feel that some house maintenance falls under that category of “that is how it was when we bought it so…” or “it was never a problem for us so”…

In one of my listings the basement shower did not drain when the Seller purchased the house, they thought, because of that, that they did not have to provide a draining shower to the new buyer. The house was listed as having a full 3 piece bath in the basement. A subsequent visit from Roto-Rooter cost $100 to have it unclogged.

However, as I learned that hard way, I, their Realtor, was never told that this was an ongoing problem till after the Building Inspector found it. No one looks good with egg on their face! If they would have disclosed I would have said that if they are not prepared to do the work,they also not claim to have a 3 piece bathroom in the basement. The cost of the $100 visit was much less than the loss of value they would have suffered and at the end of the day, they could have had a second bath for all the years they lived in the house, rather than fighting over one bath.

In all cases it is first and foremost, “Buyer Beware” but also make sure you realize that you have options. Depending on the marketplace, you can always walk from the Agreement, renegotiate a price that reflects the work to be done or rewrite the offer putting the onus on the Seller to repair the problem before closing.

Again my guiding rule is “Are you getting what you thought you were buying?”

For more information:

Toronto Real Estate: A Home Inspection Story Part 4

Toronto Real Estate: The Reality of Home Inspections Part 2

Toronto Real Estate: The Reality of Home Inspections Part 1

This entry was posted on Wednesday, December 30th, 2009 at 9:45 am and is filed under Buying in Toronto, Real Estate, Selling in Toronto, Toronto. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

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