.... be willing to give someone a ring and look at a house for us.

I know it's cheeky to ask but I've been trying to ring the bloke and he must keep some odd hours because he only ever emails late night Canadian time and by the time I get up he's out.

Let me know and I'll give you the details.

THe house is in Colwood.

Cheers in advance

Nikki & Paul

Your best bet is to get a licensed Property Inspector to do a thorough inspection and give you a complete report. Simply getting someone to look at a place for you is very risky. You should also do your own research, if you haven't already done so, on crime statistics, proximity of shops, essential services, and schools, public transportation, traffic patterns etc. Have a look at the location on Google Earth to get an idea of the surroundings. Check into other properties for sale in the same area to make sure you're not paying too much (see mls.ca). If the inspection report shows the property has no major problems, get on a plane and go see it. Realtors' descriptions and reality are often very far apart. I don't live in Victoria so I hope this helps.l Good luck.

Oh sorry, for got to say, we're not buying just renting.

We just didn't want to end up next to a power plant or something for 6 months.