How to Avoid 3 Common Mistakes When Buying a Home in the Kawartha Lakes (Lindsay,Ontario) in 2023

SO ..  you’re ready to buy your first home in Lindsay, Ontario . . but how do you know what kind of work it needs BEFORE you actually buy it?
 

Let me walk you through 3 important steps to assist you in this process so that you can avoid owning a money pit . . (Like the  movie with Tom Hanks? Or did I just date myself?) Be sure to stick around until the end to learn if it’s what you can do if it needs more than you bargained for.

OK first!  When you hire a knowledgeable realtor to help you buy your home, they should be able to point out the deficiencies (or a lot of the deficiencies) in a house.  This helps when you are looking so you can narrow down your search.  Now I’m not expecting every realtor to know everything about a house, but they should be able to point out some of the big or bigger ticket items that you may not be aware of in advance.

Like for example: the roof, often an experienced eye can tell if it’s new, or if the shingles may need to be replaced sooner rather than later.

OR the windows… how old are they? Is there moisture in them? Or are they slider windows?  The big importance of this is heat loss . . and the expense of that - or even replacement costs. 

Is the property serviced municipaly with water & sewage?

If not, and it’s well and septic - you should have a general idea of where they are and what they are constructed with.

NOW

In Lindsay - in particular we have a lot of older homes.  Some may still have knob and tube wiring, galvanzied plumbing, cisterns, or oil furnaces for a couple examples.

 You should know these sort of items may be considered as undesirable by your insurance company.  Why? Because they are in the business of reducing their risk.  Knob and Tube wiring has been proven to be not that  safe.  It can spark and cause fire. So.. insurance companies?  

They don’t like it.  

Oil furnaces usually means an oil tank to house the oil.. How old is it? How thick is the tank? How much oil does it hold?  Is it inside or outside?

The insurance company wants to know all these things to reduce the risk of oil leakage. I dont’ even want to imagine that, but insurance companies deal with oil leaks/ enviromental spills etcetra. 

And they dont’ like it 

Your Realtor should be able to point out some of these in advance.That should  help you with the pluses and minuses of each house in your criteria.
 

So now, you have narrowed it down to a house that you would love to own, provided that there are no major pitfalls with it . . 

your offer would simply be conditional that you can have a home inspection that is satisfactory to you.  

You should know  the idea of a home inspection isn’t a pass or a fail.. 

It is so you know what the components of the house are, and what the life expectancy is on them so you could budget for improvements or replacement if necessary.

Your home inspector should be knowledgable in today’s building codes and the general operations on installation/ maintenance / safety and performance.  If you don’t know how to pick a home inspector in Lindsay, ON - the Kawartha Lakes, I can help. Just reach out.

Lastly:

For the most part, a home inspection is not a basis for re-negotiaion of your offer.  Having said that, I have gone back to the negotiation table for major ticket items or defects that were not observed by the naked eye. 

Let’s face it, if its a major defect for you .. it will still be a major defect for the next buyer.  Sometimes we can make a compromise to make both the Seller and the Buyer happy. 

If you found this video on how do I know if the house I am buying needs work in Lindsay Ontario -  Be sure to watch  my next video on How to Avoid these 3 common mistakes when buying your First Home in Lindsay Ontario

As always, please get in touch if you have any questions about Buying, Selling or Living in Lindsay, ON -  the beautiful Kawarthas Lakes!