Ontheboatout

I'm no expert at all, quite the reverse, but I thought I would share my property experiences from top to bottom for anyone looking at property in Nova Scotia. I am not sure if what happens in Nova Scotia (or just here in the North Shore) is true of other areas but probably.

When we parted with our $350 (2005) for a Property Inspection Report we expected the usual half a page of nothing you can get in the UK (we hear some just do a drive past for mortgage applications) and were amazed at the professional, bound, 100 page detailed report of everything minor to major from drive to chimney, and with recommendations. We used it to get some things done by the owner before we purchased and have used it as a reference since to put other things right.

You can make getting a satisfactory inspection report a condition of sale. I am not sure they are necessary for newer houses but for an older or century homes it is worth doing.

MarkG

Same here, the book they gave us had a thorough explanation of most of the details of how Canadian houses are built; probably not important if you already know about them, but very useful for us as we'd never owned one before.

The inspector also took half an hour to show us around the house at the end of his inspection and point out where any problems or potential problems were; that was worth the cost by itself, as there were things he mentioned that we wouldn't have thought of, like turning off the water supply to the external taps in the winter, and cleaning all the filters in the ventilator every few months, etc.

I don't see the point in paying $300,000 for a house and then skimping on $300 for an inspection. The only time we considered doing that was for a nearly new house when others were bidding on it at the same time.

kazbob

we had the same experience in Halifax. Darn fine bloke came round, spent over 2 hours looking around. Ours cost 399 inthe summer and was also a bound folder detailing everything and included recommended maintenance schedules and what to do during the seasons. The inspector himself was a wealth of knowledge and eager to share it. Well worth the money and thoroughly recommended!

TiggyP

Yes, same here. Cost $399, we actually had two inspectors come round (on half an hour's notice) and we received a binder full of info, even photos of the troublesome areas with big arrows pointing 'fix here'!

One thing they don't do here is get out a damp meter - it would probably explode if they tried it in NS...

I remember an inspection in the UK when we were selling our house, inspector took about five minutes, waved his damp meter around and found lots of "invisible damp". Made us redo a wall that had been bone dry for 6 years. Asshat.

MB-Realtor

You should always make a satisfactory inspection by a qualified inspector a condition on every house purchase, especially a new one.

Most Canadian modern homes (unless you are building it to your specification, and inspecting it at every stage) are built to the cheapest crappiest standards.

Those of you who are a bit older may remember a big fuss because of the quility of the homes that Barret Homes built in the UK back in the 70s/early 80's. Barret were building to North American standards, and the quality of materials used then are far superior to those used now.

Most new homes are built with new composite materials, basically wood chips and glue. No one really knows how long they will last, but to give you an idea we Realtors depreciate a new home over 40 years.

You will frequently see homes built in the 60's & 70's being demolished and replaced, rather than being repaired.

Here in Winnipeg the older homes (pre 1930) were built to a much higher standard and will last much longer than a modern home.

The old song "Little Houses Made Out Of Ticky-Tacky" describes modern North American homes.

MarkG

Yeah, true. The rate that they knock together new houses around here I'd certainly want to have them inspected before purchase.

It's worth noting that a friend grew up in a house from the 14th century that was largely built from sticks and mud, so you don't necessarily need bricks for a house to last a long time.

DannyC

Hi,

First off, I’d just like to say how much I appreciate these master classes from ontheboatout. They have been an immense help.

My wife and I are waiting for the paperwork to complete on a temporary work permit for myself for Nova Scotia. I have the advantage of being able to work from home, which means that we can buy a house anywhere in NS.

I was (am) very nervous about buying a house in NS because of my almost total lack of knowledge of what to look for. Ontheboatout’s master classes and the other posts have made me somewhat less nervous, but I’m still not at ease. I would have thought that damp / wet rot would have been a major issue given most houses are timber framed. The other issue I would have expected would have been wind damage. I spent half of my life in my Bradford home fixing either the roof or a fence or a gate that had been ripped off by the wind. We did live on the side of a hill but I don’t believe it was any worse than I’m hearing about in NS.

I’ve seen houses in the middle of nowhere (which is what we want) with land for as little as $80,000. Are these worth looking at or are the simply too good to be true?

TiggyP

Hi DannyC,

I've seen houses for $360,000 that were in a mess and houses for $180,000 that were fine, so you don't really know until you view it! One the one hand, old properties can be made out of higher quality materials (I've seen one 150 year old house that was totally dry and solid), but newer homes use better technology and insulating methods. When we checked out our house we looked at the quality of construction materials i.e. above-code quality wood beams, decent chipboard instead of the cheaper stuff etc. I was also told that the wood here is better quality as it grows more slowly in this climate!

Most timber framed houses are built on top of concrete footings (and so usually above ground), with a membrane between that and the concrete, so the big issue is usually damp concrete, not damp wood! (jeez, I'm beginning to sound like Mike Holmes)

As for wind damage, some houses will have been reroofed after Hurrican Juan a few years ago. They mostly use crappy felt shingles so it isn't too expensive to replace, not like the slate tiles that were forever falling off my roof in the UK...