As the local real estate market heats up, more buyers are finding a way to make their offer stand out.
Alden Gibson has been a home inspector for 24 years and he says fewer buyers are making an inspection a condition of sale.
“They’re trying to make sure they get the house,” he says.
Bidding wars are becoming more common, and real estate agent Anurag Sharma says offering more money won’t always get you your dream home.
“When [sellers] have 12 offers in front of them, and there are four without conditions ... for them it’s a no-brainer,” he says. “This is a really big issue right now in this market.”
He says in Toronto, foregoing a home inspection has been a common practice for a few years. With more buyers coming from the GTA in search of lower prices, local buyers find they are getting beat out by this strategy.
“Clients have lost out because they have the inspection clause on there, and someone else came up with no conditions,” Sharma says.
But Gibson warns dropping the inspection could lead to costly problems in the future.
“You see everything from major structural problems to mould,” he says. “The idea of the inspection is not to try and reduce the price of the house, but to go in with your eyes wide open.”
Gibson says buyers should make sure their inspector is a member of the Ontario Association of Home Inspectors or the American Society of Home Inspectors.
“Those people with those designations have continuing education, and have had education with doing so many inspections to make sure that they’re properly qualified to do the job,” he says.
With reporting by Tyler Calver
