Real estate horror stories (continued)

31. Posted by Chris on Fri, Jul 24, 2009

inspections are a joke in canada; they are uninsured and not liable for missing things...to be honest, I would take an engineer instead to look at the structure, and a handy man to look at the rest...

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32. Posted by Brian & Marielle S on Fri, Jul 24, 2009

My son just purchased a house in Winnipeg. Being a first time home buyer he was following the real estate agent's advice. After the first sale went through because the buyer backed out and the real estate agent left for her vacation during the deal, he eventually found another house. This same agent told him he would not need a home inspection for this one, since it had recently be renovated. Well, the plumbing was not connected as he found out when he used the dishwasher and it drained into the crawl space. The fridge has an ice machine, but no plumbing going to it. The fridge is plugged in via an extension cord going into the crawl space. Many wires have been cut and left dangling, unknown whether they are live. Or where they lead to.

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33. Posted by Mary Mombo on Fri, Jul 24, 2009

A friend of mine in Kingston Ontario bought a nice home designed for a person in a wheel chair. It is about 5 years old. To LOOK at the place you would figure that all 3 people that were there at the time of all viewings were living there. But now I think not. The second bedroom when the house was viewed many times had a bed in it but no bedding on it and was placed against the wall that on the other side had the shower. Now it needed to just be freshened up with paint to the untrained eye, a minor detail..so it was thought...First of all the new owner of the house was generous to them to have more time to move as he had time on his end. When the day came, and there was a house inspection done, all seemed great. NOT !. The home owners, bathed their dog before they left,dog hair was all over the bathroom, we found it in the fridge, stove, ceilings, walls, cupboards, you name it, dog hair was everywhere. They even left a pile of dog poop beside the deck. Some minor piss offs, but, back to where the 2nd bedroom is. They were hiding water damage with the bed placed where it was. The hardwood floor was damaged an area of 4 x 5 feet, well 1/2 of the room almost. The new home owner could not believe what he saw. The agent was super about it and paid for the floor replacement. Now thats an agent !!!!...There are honest ones out there.. My point here is , don't be shy to move furnature, open a closet when inspecting a home. And always look at the wall and floor that is next to a bathroom for water damage. This home inspector was honest and it was not his fault that he missed the water damage to the floor as the bed was over it and we know now, that it was placed there to hide the damage. So find a good realitor, get an inspection done, and get picky when viewing, and anything the sellers says to you that is staying or they agreed to repair for you, get it in writing !!!.Hold back !5000.00 or more if all is not done that they said !!!..Best of Luck

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34. Posted by Andy on Fri, Jul 24, 2009

This is an excellent story, First above all do not let the real estate agent dictate who you should use or not, Best thing to do before buying your first home is that you go see a Mortgage Broker, and see what you could actually afford based on your income and debt ratio! , A good agent wont even show you a house before he or she knows what you can personally afford, Once you have determined on your price then you need to sit down and make a list or what you want and what you could live without and what area you would like to live in, then contact an agent who will sit down with you and go through your list of wants and areas so he could find you a potential home, Once you have figured out what home best suits your needs are ready for the "Offer" ask your agent for comparables of what has been sold in the area, and how much and or if there was any motivational factors for the solds. Then determine a price, once the price has been determined, now comes the clauses, always include that the property be left clean and debris free on the day of the closing, add in a clause for inspection, mortgage finance and also a lawyer to review the documents, and now in certain cases you should get an appraisal done for the property. The best thing to do is do your own home inspection with someone who will provide a detailed report to you and also it usually takes between 4-5 hours for a good inspection so time is another key factor and be there the day of the inspection and also have the agent present on inspection day so that all your questions are answered.

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35. Posted by Andy on Fri, Jul 24, 2009

This is an excellent story, First above all do not let the real estate agent dictate who you should use or not, Best thing to do before buying your first home is that you go see a Mortgage Broker, and see what you could actually afford based on your income and debt ratio! , A good agent wont even show you a house before he or she knows what you can personally afford, Once you have determined on your price then you need to sit down and make a list or what you want and what you could live without and what area you would like to live in, then contact an agent who will sit down with you and go through your list of wants and areas so he could find you a potential home, Once you have figured out what home best suits your needs are ready for the "Offer" ask your agent for comparables of what has been sold in the area, and how much and or if there was any motivational factors for the solds. Then determine a price, once the price has been determined, now comes the clauses, always include that the property be left clean and debris free on the day of the closing, add in a clause for inspection, mortgage finance and also a lawyer to review the documents, and now in certain cases you should get an appraisal done for the property. The best thing to do is do your own home inspection with someone who will provide a detailed report to you and also it usually takes between 4-5 hours for a good inspection so time is another key factor and be there the day of the inspection and also have the agent present on inspection day so that all your questions are answered.

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36. Posted by Kunal S on Fri, Jul 24, 2009

When are you looking to buy a home you should do some background check for the real estate agent, lawyer, home inspector and anyone else whose services you might use. Don't ever hire a home inspector that your lawyer or real estate agent recommends, because they will probably pass the home to get the big $$$$. They all have licence and you can approach the licensing authority if they don't stand up to their promise. I just bought my first home last month, it was a foreclosure the real estate agent was pretty good and she did a great job in negotiating the price with the bank. I didn't have the home inspected as the homeo is only 8 years old and its in a pretty good shape. Ask your friends, family and neighbours regarding: which lawyer, real estate agent and home inspector they used and would they ever recommend that person to someone else. You need to do your home work before you spend your money. Trust me its not a lot of work. Good luck

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37. Posted by Give on Fri, Jul 24, 2009

Also, agents that give kick backs...if you can prove that...you can have that agent up on charges...as they are not allowed to do that...I am an agent my self and we can lose our license if such things can be proven.

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38. Posted by Broten C on Fri, Jul 24, 2009

Beware home inspectors too. There is a lot of variation in quality. Many of them have clauses in their contract that say essentially: 'we dont inspect anything not visible on first glance' or 'we don't check roofs, wiring, or drainage'. There were also cases in the past of collusion between real estate agents and home inspectors, where the inspector passes a house for a kickback on the agents commission. Our first house was supposedly fully inspected, and it got a passing grade: only to move in and find little things like: the kitchen sink didn't drain properly, baseboards weren't actually attached to the walls, the basement leaked like a sieve on the first rainstorm, and some of the outlets were but wired hot to neutral as well as being ungrounded. Know enough to watch your inspector and make sure he is actually doing his job properly. Get a full list of what he will inspect before you hire him, and make sure it includes roofing, heating and cooling systems, plumbing and wiring. Our home inspector for our second house did an excellant thorough job, because we hired him based on his inspection list. He even inluded approximate fixing costs for the items in his report (which he printed on the spot in his car). His report let us reduce our offer by the estimated price of the repairs so we afford could do those repairs with no loss.

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39. Posted by MrsAsh on Fri, Jul 24, 2009

When it is time for me to buy my next home, if I do not build one myself, I am going to have it inspected pre-offer by a Professional Engineer for structure; a Master Plumber for plumbing; a Master Electrician for electrical. I will check with the provincial dept of the environment to ensure there are no ground issues, i.e. radon. I will do an UNEMOTIONAL purchase after much searching, and I will take my time. I will find a reputable agent and ask for recent references; same with a lawyer, and then I will check their respective associations for standing. On my first purchase, the lawyer forgot to tell us our offer was accepted. I had to call his office at the time of expiration to see if we got it. I will save up the money and only go house hunting when I have the extra funds. Then I will save 10% more for unforeseen costs. I would also use a mortgage broker.

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40. Posted by Nurse Nancey on Fri, Jul 24, 2009

When we bought our house, not only did they leave behind the Cats- which we kept because it was obvious that these cats needed to be cared for- but they left behind messes everywhere, especially in the basement- there was a washer and dryer that didn't work and we had to remove it from the basement as well, the bathroom on the first floor was working- as far as we knew- when we did the house inspection, but on move in day it was broken. All I can say is call your lawyer and get them to have the previous owners to clean it up- it should be written in the contract that the house would be left in a certain way.

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