Do I Need A House Inspection When I Buy A Home In Calgary?

If you’re buying a house and trying to decide if you should get a house inspection I can make it really easy for you – the answer is YES. In today’s market, it’s not uncommon for people to forgo a home inspection in order to make their offer more appealing to the seller, but this is a huge gamble. When you don’t get a home inspection you’re relying on the seller to disclose everything that’s wrong with the house. This is risky because some sellers just won’t do it, while others genuinely might not know. Having an impartial expert come in and evaluate the house is the best way to get an honest, informed opinion. Home inspectors check for all sorts of things that the average homeowners might not know what to even look for. Some of these things are:

• Check all electrical outlets, switches and the fuse/breaker panel.
• Flush toilets and turn on faucets to make sure they work and to determine water pressure.
• Open and close all the windows.
• Check the floors, walls and ceilings for any defects.
• Check the basement or foundation for any water leakage.
• Inspect the heating and cooling systems.
• Check out the attic and any crawl spaces to assess insulation.
• Examine-in the closets and under the stairs.
• Inspect chimneys and flues (in some cases chimneys require an additional inspection from a specialist).
• Inspect roof and eavestroughs.
• Look around the entire exterior of the building structure looking for signs of weather damage.
• Look for any issues with exterior decks and railings.
• Inspect the foundation looking for cracks or other issues.
• Check the grading around the foundation.

There are some things though that home inspectors do not look for or are not equipped to see. Ultimately home inspectors are not magicians and they can not see through walls. They’re not able to put holes in walls or rip up floors, so in many cases, they can only give you their best guess about what lies beneath.

How long does a House Inspection Take? 

When you book your house inspection plan to spend around three hours of time depending on the size of the home. Throughout that time it is a great time for you to ask questions, walk through the home and see the home with your own eyes. The most important thing I can recommend is to take the inspection report seriously. By the time the inspection happens people are often already emotionally attached to the house, and they have a tendency to brush off the results.

I have an awesome group of home inspectors I recommend to my clients that I fully trust. They are thorough, honest and reliable. If you have more questions about getting a home inspection or are needing recommendations on inspectors give me a shout!

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Is Buying A Fixer-Upper In Calgary Worth It?

Blame it on Chip and Joanna, Jonathan and Drew, or any other HGTV dream team — fixer-uppers are getting their fair share of love on the market. SO how do you know what is right for you? Should you buy that fixer-upper? Or should you stick to buying a finished home or a new build? 

Buying a fixer-upper is a good idea when you want to make the home your own. The beauty of buying a house that needs work: a fixer-upper might be a good idea. You get to turn the house into your dream home — and, usually, at a much lower price than if you were custom-building from scratch. You can also usually get it for a great deal. Many imperfections that turn people off—peeling paint, worn carpets, or dated fixtures—are easily correctable. Blemishes are tough to see past, and those homes often languish on the market since most home buyers, especially first-timers, demand a turnkey, move-in-ready home in pristine condition. 

Fixer-uppers list for an average of 8 percent below market value. Some people also pick fixer-uppers to make some money. Investors will buy properties at a lower cost, do the renovations themselves and then sell the home when finished for a profit. 

Some downsides of buying a fixer-upper

Is renovations are expensive and there are typically a lot of hidden costs. While you’ll pay less for a home in need of repairs, you’ll spend money over time, probably hundreds of dollars per month over and above your mortgage payment. If you want to test the strength of your relationship with your spouse, try buying a home and renovating it together. Whether you choose to go the DIY route or hire a contractor, renovating is stressful, messy, and disruptive. If you have a busy career or children, you may find renovating to be more trouble than it is worth. Also, be prepared to not have the renovation go according to plan. If you buy a fixer-upper, especially an older one, you’ll never be sure what is behind those walls until you start renovating. The possibilities for unwelcome surprises when renovating are almost infinite. If you don’t budget for these surprises you may find yourself going into debt to complete your renovations.

In the end, you have to make the call whether you can handle a full-fledged renovation or you OK just updating paint and flooring. Many years ago I used to do construction work from new build homes to renovations so I have some insight on what homes might be good for a fixer-upper and ones that might be best to pass on. If you have questions about potentially buying a fixer-upper and want to chat further, give me a shout!

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Top Questions to Ask Your Calgary Realtor

When I first meet with clients I get asked a lot of questions, which is great! I am always happy to answer any questions any clients or potential clients might have. These questions are usually along the lines of What goes into buying or selling a home? Should I stage? How long is this going to take? Will working with a Realtor help me make better buying or selling decisions?

However, there are always those questions that I know people want to ask but never do. Those are more along the lines of:

1. What does a Realtor even do?
2. Can’t I just sell on my own?
3. Where does commission go?

Here, I’ll dive into these questions to help buyers and sellers make an informed decision.

Working with a Realtor: Do You Actually Need it?

I am going to have a biased answer to this question but in my honest opinion having a real estate professional help you through the buying or selling process is necessary. I believe this for many reasons but a couple of those are; you’ll have better access to listings, you’ll get the negotiation experience, and have someone who knows the ins and outs of real estate contracts. We are there to help guide you through the process and help you feel confident in the sale or purchase of your home. 

Where do my commission fees go?

Commission fees can be sticking points for many sellers. If you fall into this camp, you probably want to know where the money goes. That’s understandable. Here’s a basic breakdown. Once a deal closes, a seller will typically pay their Realtor a commission which is usually a percentage of his or her home’s price. That might sound like a lot, but usually half of it goes to the buyer’s agent, who also needs to be paid for his work. The Realtor’s commission breaks down further when the head of her agency (a broker) takes some of it. Part of the amount the broker takes goes toward expenses associated with having the Realtor on the team. That leaves the Realtor or agent with a lot less than you may have thought. I can tell you from personal experience that a lot of that remaining commission goes toward overhead, like advertising, fees, staffing and in our case marketing to a very high level.

Are you a full-time real estate agent?

Yes, this is my full-time career. I always say it’s more of a lifestyle than a job as real estate isn’t just a 9-5 job. It’s an evening and weekend job so you have to love it to truly be good at it. Someone dabbling in the business part-time to make some extra money might lack the knowledge and the time required to market and show your property, and to negotiate the best deal on your behalf. This is where finding someone like myself who lives and breathes real estate is best. 

Have questions that I haven’t answered yet? Shoot me an email at info@jasonsaville.ca as I would love to chat further and answer those questions for you!

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How do I get an estimate of how much my home is worth?

As a complimentary service to potential sellers, I will provide a Comparative Market Assessment that gives you an idea of what your property may sell for if you were to place it on the market. A CMA takes into account all the homes that are similar to yours that have sold in the recent months to give us an accurate number to list your home at. 

Should I accept the first offer that comes in?

This depends. There is a saying in this business that sometimes “the first offer is the best offer”. Our advice to you on this is that it depends on the offer. You should always try to work with every offer you receive to see if you can find a solution that is mutually beneficial to both you and the buyer.

How long should I expect to wait for my property to sell?

Depending on the market, this could take 2 days or 120 days or more. In a market where there are large amounts of houses for sale and fewer buyers, it can take 90-120 days to sell your property. In a market where there is little for sale yet many buyers, your house could sell in just a few hours! Pricing your property higher than your competition will likely result in a longer sell time. It is the first two weeks that your property is on the market that it is the hottest and most likely to receive an offer if priced well!

Why do buyers want a home inspection?

A home inspection is a part of a buyer’s due diligence to ensure they understand what they are purchasing and to ensure there are no major problems with the property. A buyer also needs to understand what types of maintenance costs they can expect in the first few years. Normally, the cost of home inspection is the responsibility of the potential buyer.

If you are concerned there may be a major problem with your property then you can pay to have a home inspection completed before you list your property for sale

What can I do to help sell my home?

There are a variety of things you can do to help sell your home. This is exactly why you hire a Real Estate Agent to market your property! Professional photos, video, staging and cleaning are all things we can do prior to your home even listing that will help increase the price and traffic to your home.

Thinking of selling your home can be daunting but that is why I am here to help navigate all those unknowns you may have and answer questions. If your thinking about selling give me a shout!

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Let’s chat about The Truth about Calgary Foreclosures. Ever since HGTV became popular and flipping homes has become all the rage to make a quick buck, foreclosures have become more popular than ever. But are they really that great of a deal? While in some cases a foreclosure can be a decent or good deal, there are many things to consider before leaping into the purchase of a foreclosed property. 

Let’s start from the beginning and discuss what a foreclosure is. A foreclosure is the transfer of full ownership in a property to the mortgage lender. In a foreclosure process, the mortgagor, or homeowner, gives up all rights to the property, including any equity value built up in the home. Once your mortgage lender forecloses on your property, they own it. To buy a foreclosure it is a bit of a different process then buying a normally listed home. The foreclosure process can take anywhere between a couple of months to several months dependent on each individual situation. A lot can happen to a property within that time frame. Once the original owner stops making payments on the property they are typically given notice to vacate. A lot of the time these previous owners will take anything they can of value that is literally not nailed down.This can be anything and everything from the appliances to the flooring in some cases. 

As a buyer you might have interest in the property and decide you may wish to pursue an offer. A lender (in this case also the seller) may or may not allow for you to have conditions as part of your offer. So if you want to do a home inspection that is not a problem but you will want to have one done prior to writing the offer to present to the lender or court is some more rare occasion. Basically the bank won’t provide any warranties on the property, so it is as is, where is, how is. o if the night before possession all the appliances are stolen from a break in, you are just out of luck, and the same can be for any other damages that might happen up until possession. So a fast possession is typically in your best interests if you still decide to pursue a foreclosure property in Calgary.

However this also means that the houses are typically sold for less money then the house next door. It also means less people will be interested in buying the property too. With all that it might mean you walk away with a steal of a deal but you also might be left with a giant renovation. Foreclosures are risky but they can also have huge rewards. 

Want to see some Calgary Foreclosure listings? Give me a shout!

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Let’s look at the numbers. Renting may seem like the better option but let’s break the numbers down. To rent a single family home, worth approximately $400,000, clients are likely to pay approximately $2000 per month or $24,000 per year.  Over 4 years the clients will have paid nearly $100,000 in rent. Now if you buy that same house over those same 4 years of owning a property, clients would also spend $100,000 but they pay down $50,000 of the principal balance of the mortgage.  This means that they’ve built $50,000 of equity in their new home, and on the other side renters gained nothing other than padding the pockets of your landlord. 

However with this being said there are other things to consider. By renting you don’t have to pay for home maintenance or property taxes. Renting also makes it easier to move. If you haven’t figured out where you put down roots, your going to school or your job has you traveling a lot you may not want to buy. 

On the other hand, when you buy a home you are investing that money. Every time you pay your mortgage that money pays off some of your house debt and in turn you’re basically saving that amount. Unless you sell in a terrible down market chances are you will get that money and then some back out when you sell. The other thing about owning the home is you can rent it out and make some money. Being a landlord isn’t for everyone but there are many people that invest into the housing market and rent those homes out as their main source of income. 

Either way there are pros and cons to each, and the decision has to be right for you. However when you do decide to take the plunge to buy I want to help you through the process. Have questions about whether you Should You Rent Or Buy In Today’s Calgary Housing Market? ? Give me a shout!

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