A home inspection and a home appraisal both happen around the same time in a purchase, and buyers mix them up all the time. The short answer: an appraisal tells your lender what the home is worth, while a home inspection tells you what condition the home is in. One protects the lender's number; the other [...]
If your Scarborough bungalow has loose, pebble-like insulation in the attic, leave it alone and have it tested before anyone touches it. Many 1950s to 1970s bungalows in Birchcliffe-Cliffside, Wexford, Bendale, Cliffcrest and Guildwood still have their original attics, and Health Canada says vermiculite insulation may contain asbestos. A short checklist helps you recognise it, avoid [...]
The roof is one of the biggest single expenses a buyer can inherit, and it's one of the hardest things to judge from the street or the listing photos. During a home inspection, your inspector looks at the roof covering, flashing, eavestroughs, attic and ceilings below to tell you what shape the roof is in and [...]
A PDI inspection is your one formal walk-through of a new home with the builder before you get the keys, and most buyers only get to do it once. In Vaughan, Markham, Milton and Whitby, where whole subdivisions and condo towers close within weeks of each other, we see the same handful of mistakes come up [...]
If you're buying your first home in Brampton, Ajax, Pickering or Oshawa, the home inspection is the one appointment where someone who works only for you looks at the whole house before your money is locked in. It tells you what condition the home is in, what needs attention soon and what can wait, so you [...]
Asbestos testing matters most in Etobicoke's older houses, not its newest condo towers. Neighbourhoods like Alderwood, Long Branch, New Toronto, Mimico and the Kingsway are full of cottages, post-war bungalows and mid-century homes built when asbestos was still common in building materials, while most of the Humber Bay Shores towers went up much later. If you [...]
A home inspection with Golden Home Inspections starts from $499 in Toronto and across the GTA, and the final price depends on the property: mainly its size, age and type, plus any add-ons you choose. That fee buys a few hours of a Certified and Registered Home Inspector walking the roof line, attic, basement, electrical panel, [...]
Key takeaways A home inspection report is long because it records everything, not because the home is in bad shape. Read it in order of risk, not page by page. Sort every finding into three groups: safety concerns, major systems near the end of their life, and normal maintenance. Photos, locations and the inspector's recommendation matter [...]
The most common asbestos mistake in Oshawa homes is renovating first and testing later. Many houses in the city are wartime, post-war and 1960s–1980s builds, and materials from those years, such as vermiculite attic insulation, older vinyl floor tiles, textured ceilings, plaster and furnace-pipe wrap, can contain asbestos. You can't tell by looking. The reliable answer [...]
Many homes in Bramalea, Meadowvale, Erin Mills, Pickering's Bay Ridges and parts of Oshawa and Scarborough were built in the 1960s and 1970s. They are often solid houses with good lots, but after 50 years they tend to share the same weak spots. As a home inspector, these are the red flags I look for first [...]
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