{"id":9743,"date":"2018-07-20T11:11:17","date_gmt":"2018-07-20T18:11:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.roryc.ca\/blog\/?p=9743"},"modified":"2018-07-09T16:03:29","modified_gmt":"2018-07-09T23:03:29","slug":"red-flags-to-look-for-at-an-open-house","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.roryc.ca\/blog\/2018\/07\/red-flags-to-look-for-at-an-open-house\/","title":{"rendered":"Red Flags to Look For at an Open House"},"content":{"rendered":"<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Open houses aren\u2019t all schmoozing and sandwich platters. If you\u2019re serious about buying a home, you need to know exactly what to look for in a potential property when touring it for the first time. While a bland beige paint job and dated floral window treatments are nothing to fret about, there are a number of red flags to watch out for that could end up costing you much more than you anticipated. We interviewed three real estate professionals to find out which warning signs could be cause for concern.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">1. Cracks in the bricks<br \/>\n\u201cMost red flags for structural issues can actually be seen on the exterior of a home,\u201d says broker Marianne Miles. \u201cAssuming the house is brick, take the time to walk around it and look closely at the bricks. Are they straight? Are they bowing away from the house? Are there cracks that run diagonally along the mortar lines of the brick?\u201d Asking yourself these important questions can help to identify structural problems within the home. \u201cAlso check for recent brick repair work that may be masking these issues,\u201d says Miles.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">2. An imposing tree in the yard<br \/>\n\u201cIf there\u2019s a fairly large tree that\u2019s close to the home, the roots can cause a lot of foundation issues and damage the water management system if they\u2019re penetrating the weeping tile system,\u201d says Ara Mamourian, Team Leader at TheSpringTeam.ca. \u201cThat can become very, very expensive to deal with so you might want to have additional inspections done around the foundation.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">3. Obnoxious neighbors<br \/>\n\u201cAlways look at the condition of the neighboring properties and get a sense of the owners or tenants,\u201d says Kori Marin, broker and managing partner at Fox Marin Associates. The neighbor\u2019s unkempt yard could diminish the value of your newly-purchased property, even if the grass is much greener on the other side. Other bad-neighbor warning signs to look out for? Rambunctious party animals, potential-meth-lab-level-shadiness, an abundance of foreclosed properties and dogs that howl well into the night.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">4. Building work completed without a permit<br \/>\n\u201cLook for clues that work was done without a permit and not to code,\u201d says Miles. \u201cAre there missing handrails on the staircase to the basement or on the rooftop patio? Does that new bathroom reno not have Ground Fault Circuit Interrupters as plugs?\u201d When purchasing a home that has undergone significant renovations, it\u2019s essential to verify that permits were taken out, the work was approved by an inspector, and that the permit itself was finalized and closed.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">5. Scented candles galore<br \/>\n\u201cA big red flag when you\u2019re walking into an open house as a buyer is if there are a lot of scented candles or plug-in fresheners,\u201d says Mamourian. The overpowering smell of Ocean Breeze (whatever that means), could be an indication that the homeowner is trying to \u201cmask some sort of smell,\u201d such as pet urine or cigarette smoke.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">6. An overworked dehumidifier<br \/>\n\u201cIf there\u2019s a dehumidifier consistently going in the basement, that could be a sign of moisture that\u2019s being covered up or managed,\u201d says Mamourian. While humidity in the basement is not necessarily a deal-breaker, Mamourian says it\u2019s worth taking note of. \u201cYou can then decide how a moisture problem would affect you down the road.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">7. A shoddy party wall<br \/>\n\u201cMany of Toronto\u2019s vibrant downtown neighborhoods offer century-old semi-detached houses, and it\u2019s important to understand the construction of the party wall between you and your neighbor,\u201d says Miles. \u201cIs it brick? Is it double brick? Is it wood frame? Is it double brick on the main floor, and then wood frame on the second floor (which can often be deceiving)?\u201d The construction of the party wall will ultimately dictate how much sound travels between the band practice next door and your baby\u2019s nursery. \u201cThis is not common knowledge for a typical buyer, so don\u2019t be afraid to ask the experts for help,\u201d suggests Miles.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">8. Fresh paint in an unfinished basement<br \/>\n\u201cIf you\u2019re in a basement and you see a fresh coat of paint on the unfinished foundation, it could mean that they\u2019re trying to cover up signs of water penetration,\u201d notes Mamourian. \u201cWhen there\u2019s water penetration on a foundation wall, it dries and leaves a white powdery substance.\u201d So if it smells like the painters have just packed up and left, the issue may be worth investigating further.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">9. Elevator issues<br \/>\n\u201cIf you\u2019re attending a condo open house, note the wait times for the elevators and how many elevators there are to service the building,\u201d says Marin. While no one likes waiting 15 minutes for a ride to the ground level when they\u2019re running late for work, a building with one or more out-of-service elevators may signal that the lifts are due to be replaced \u2014 which can send condo fees soaring.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.livabl.com\/2018\/07\/red-flags-open-house.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">9 Red Flags You Should Always Look For At An Open House<\/a> by Kelsey Pudloski | Livabl<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Open houses aren\u2019t all schmoozing and sandwich platters. If you\u2019re serious about buying a home, you need to know exactly what to look for in a potential property when touring &hellip; [<a href=\"https:\/\/www.roryc.ca\/blog\/2018\/07\/red-flags-to-look-for-at-an-open-house\/\">read more<\/a>]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9743","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-real-estate"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.7 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Red Flags to Look For at an Open House &#8226; Rory C Real Estate | Oakwyn Realty<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.roryc.ca\/blog\/2018\/07\/red-flags-to-look-for-at-an-open-house\/\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:title\" content=\"Red Flags to Look For at an Open House &#8226; Rory C Real Estate | Oakwyn Realty\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:description\" content=\"Open houses aren\u2019t all schmoozing and sandwich platters. 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