Over the years I have heard clients swear they would never buy a home without an inspection and other people share that they think inspections are a waste of money. What is the truth about home inspections?

Let’s start with the good and bad. I will surmise that 95% of home inspections end up with a list of minor items that can be classified under housekeeping issues or minor deficiencies. The bad is when a home inspector determines that there is a “creek” running through the basement. It would make sense that most Buyers could create their own list of “do-do’s”  like the inspector would put together or would know that the home had an active wet basement so are they worth $500 – $1,000? Follow along as we do an “inspection”  into home inspections.

I can understand that the feelings that home inspections are a waste of money may come from the fact that to operate in Ontario a person needs to do a course that is weeks rather than months. The level of experience that inspectors in our local Real Estate market ranges from just licensed to inspectors I have worked with for 30 years. There are a few different types of inspectors we use on a regular basis. General home inspectors, well inspectors, HVAC inspectors, electrical inspectors and septic inspectors. When a Buyer purchases a home in town typically a home inspector is the only one they will choose to work with unless the home has aluminum wiring. With aluminum wiring an Electrical Safety Authority certificate needs to be completed in order for the Buyer to obtain financing.

During the markets we just have experienced, moving through Covid and from 2016 – 2019 many homes sold had bidding contests and most of the offers we reviewed were without conditions. Buyers stripped the conditions out of their bids to increase the chances of winning the bid. However, in cases where there were defects in the property, the Buyer had to accept the home and had little recourse if there were problems. “Let the Buyer beware.” In fact, at times during 2021 Buyers had only 15 minutes to tour a home and then were offering without any conditions. 

Most Buyers view a home inspection as a form of “insurance.” Here is an example of how an inspection saved a Buyer thousands. 

We submitted an offer on a property in the country recently and it had conditions on home inspection along with a septic inspection. The home inspection was fine however the septic inspector determined that the septic bed was at the end of its life cycle and needed to be replaced. The replacement was estimated somewhere between $20,000 and $30,000. The Sellers were as shocked as the Buyers were when they found out about the septic needing replacement. When I reviewed the listing when the Sellers  bought the property in 2020 I noticed that they did a home inspection but did not have the septic looked at. It was most likely failing at the time of purchase 4 years ago.

This inspection saved the Buyer thousands of dollars and a huge amount of heartache.

A home inspection is broken down into many categories however there are a couple that are of most interest to the Buyer. One is a list of necessary repairs for the Buyer to tackle when they move into the home. Most of these are simple housekeeping issues such as installing GFC! Receptacles, caulking replacement, downspout water changes or even replacing furnace filters. The other category is dealing with timelines of major systems. Most inspectors with give feedback on how much life is left in the shingles, when the furnace or air conditioner would need to be replaced or how long the windows will last. This allows the Buyer to create a budget to replace these items over the next few years. 

I believe that most Sellers will disclose any problem areas in a home that is being sold, however I feel it is critical that a unbiased professional tours the home and gives feedback on issues a Buyer may have overlooked.

Inspections are necessary and in some cases may detect something that would cause a Buyer to terminate their agreement. It makes perfect sense and inspections are done when a person buys a used car or even a boat. In the septic example, the couple spent a few hundred dollars on a septic inspection to find out their “dream home” may have turned out to be a nightmare. 

If you  have any questions about inspections, or of you are interested in buying a home or selling a property I can be reached at lindsay@buyselllove.ca or 905-743-5555.

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