Real Estate Talk & Home Inspection Advice

Contributed by: Jay Lough Hayes, Sales Representative Re/Max Rouge River Realty Ltd. 705-772-1025

BEING A LANDLORD

People never cease to amaze me. Being 65 means I remember when ‘your word was your bond’, being on time was important, courtesy, honesty, integrity. I’m not sure we all understand the importance or the meaning of those words but these words made our great country.

In our haste to improve the life we give our children, some have missed passing on some of our much needed life skills. I can’t even imagine how many times I have said - “Just because you give a man a hammer, does not mean he knows how to use it”. Fortunately for my sisters and I, our parents were not afraid to ‘get our attention’ when necessary. We learned a lot before going out into the real world.

Part, and only part, of buying investment property is choosing the right tenant to occupy that real estate you have saved and worked for. Choosing the wrong tenant makes you lose sleep at night and contemplate our present gun laws. Thanks to our current government system and hiring freeze, Ontario is short approximately 20 adjudicators who sit on the Landlord and Tenant Board assisting landlords to rid their property of those bad tenants and bad landlords. This is a current topic on the minds of every landlord in Ontario.

Peterborough is, and has been, experiencing an affordable rental shortage for a few years now. If anyone remembers the five month blip in last years real estate market netting multiple offers on every home put up for sale, this caused investors to perhaps over pay for that investment property. This inflated sale price is, of course, passed on to the tenant, placing yet another home out of the affordable reach for some tenants.

That landlord has costs - a mortgage, property taxes, maintenance, insurance and, in some cases, utilities. With the new city by-laws allowing basement apartments, investors must hire a BCIN to approach the city with the investors layout for that extra apartment at a cost of $1,500-$2,000. Then a contractor tocomplete the work $50,000- $75,000, happy to work to the minimumstandard set by our government.

Contractor left end cuts of drywall inside the wall

As I walked a couple into their new basement apartment, we noticed a little water on the floor. The contractor had nicked the city water line hidden in behind the beautiful new wall. When opening up the wall to find this pinhole leak, we discovered the contractor had left all the drywall end cuts in the wall, hidden behind that beautiful paint job. A few more thousand to clean that mess up. That hammer thought again.

A homeowner wanting better cable reception, mounted his satellite dish on the roof, bolting through the new shingles. When the house sold and the dish was removed, the home inspector never saw the hole about the size of a loonie. Of course, the hole was discovered with the first heavy rain when the roof leaked. But instead of calling the property manager, they just put a towel down and caught the water in a pot. Hammer time.

Where a home is split in two, people may not realize they have ‘moved in’ with perfect strangers and all – not that perfect. We have solved one problem by installing thermostat covers to avoid the upper tenants turning off the heat to the lower tenants. Sometimes on purpose, sometimes not. Then there’s the parking situation and snow sharing, noise and barking dogs, taking your garbage to the street and don’t even get me started about sharing the laundry room.

Part of home ownership/investing in real estate, means understanding how to manage money for that new roof or continuous home repairs. When I hear a buyer tell me they refuse to buy a condo because they disagree with paying condo fees, I realize they may not understand condo fees are nothing more than banking money for that new roof or paying for the grass cutting or snow shovelling and the big one - maintenance.

Even after 35 years selling real estate, everyday is a brand new day in real estate.

HOME INSPECTIONS by Steve Irvine

Is it worth inspecting an apartment? By Steve Irvine Home Sweet Home Inspections Your buying a condominium apartment and thinking why pay for an inspection. In an apartment building, the only part you own is inside the unit. Everything else is usually the condominium company’s responsibility. If the unit is relatively new and has not had any renovations, your liability is obviously reduced and you may decide not to inspect. If this is not the case, an inspection is a good choice. Since the roof, exterior, structure and insulation are not being looked at, the Inspector’s liability is reduced. Inspection prices should reflect that. If the unit has had renovations or it is older than 10 years, an inspection is a good idea.

The largest problems come from renovations, plumbing and heating. Renovations, especially recent ones, should always be inspected. You have no idea how good the renovation is. Looks can be deceiving. If the unit has baseboard heaters, they are relatively inexpensive to replace. If there is a furnace, it’s a good idea to have it inspected.

Plumbing inspections include finding any possible leaks, making sure the toilets are secured and working, finding the shut-off valves, and testing the bathroom tiles for leaks with a moisture meter are probably the best reasons for an inspection.

If you don’t feel like an inspection is necessary, that’s your call. Just remember it’s only a few hundred dollars to make sure you have a good investment.

www.steveirvine.ca steve.irvine.1960@gmail.com FB Steve Irvine’s Home Sweet Home Inspections Inc.