This is a Shout!

WARNING: This is a Rant.

Further warning. This will no doubt sound righteous however, the intent is to serve as a precaution to be very diligent when shopping for a home.

As a REALTOR® there seems to be an increasing number of times that you come across homes that simply defy comprehension.

Such was a case this week when a client requested to view a listing. The specific property is located in the Knight street area, it is new, it is the back half of a duplex.

It is characterised as follows:
• it is 1200 square feet
• it is beautiful,
• it is stunning
• it is a must see and
• you’ll love the energy efficient windows and last,
• it is new and priced at a cool $568,000 with mortgage helping bachelor suite

Let the Light In

oops the drill bigger than hole

chip out some wood for accent

pain should be on the wall

un-fitted dry wall & drips(fuzzy pic)

brush marks painted rail

Excited

All seems good. The descriptive adjectives are exciting. They had the client in a tizzy as she dreamed about the possibility of a new home with a little mortgage helper.

That it took five phone calls to the listing REALTOR®. Starting on day one at 1:30 p.m. and finally having him answer his cell phone the next day on the sixth call at 10:05 a.m., was the first warning – one that was ignored.

First Rodeo

Now folks it needs saying that working with new construction is not my first rodeo. During the career I have seen the best and up until now I thought, I had seen the worst. This particular property was a new low in layout functionality, all aspects of workmanship including painting, dry wall, woodwork, flooring and not to be overtly critical the materials used. One has to assume water came out of the faucets but, there were so many other issues it just wasn’t worth flushing the toilet for fear of having a flood.

The Things You See

Approaching the front of the home one notices the vinyl decking cover is already peeling away from the deck’s drip flashing. Climbing the stairs to the main entrance you find another drip flashing already tipping due to incorrect installation.

Opening the Door

Entering the home you are within the first 3 feet, greeted with madness. Paint drips abound on the new inexpensive laminate floor, hand railings and styles. The paint is plastered thick on the walls suggesting a single coat application. Brush strokes covered bad mudding on corner beads at every turn. Hand rails requiring drill holes to affix the railing had large wood splinters surrounding the holes to the extent that the cover buttons could not conceal the damage and in one instance the screw holding the railing was visable. Just so you know, that is not how it is supposed to be and is a clear sign of terrible workmanship!

Crooked

The security panel, to large for the area to which it was affixed was unceremoniously planted on top of the door casings. The solution – use longer screws now visable, to hold it in place. A window in the dining room was actually installed askew. Using the trusty iphone level to confirm what my eyes were seeing, found that the lean of the window exceeded over one inch in thirty. That, is a very obvious dip in your sill!

Big Enough for a Squirrel

As to that mortgage helper, please pardon my snark as you visualize a room that is recorded on the MLS® as being 143 square feet. Not specified, but having viewed it, one assumed it included the bathroom and storage space.

Let the Light In

Last is the window in the stairwell. Certain it is that this must be considered a feature. Problem its a perfect place for a toddler to fall into and it’s a long way down to the next level. Alternatively, it is a testament to the ability of this builder to buy a correctly sized window for the space required. The rationale, “oh isn’t that nice to have natural light on both stairs.” It’s hard to tell what they were thinking other than cheap.

It’s suspect that if any buyer were they to itemize the ‘outstanding’ issues in this property would be drawing up a deficiency list amounting to 50 pages. Most important, based on the lack of attention given to the building of this home should clearly serve as indication of what any buyer should expect when seeking remedy.

Expectations

It seems obvious that the builder is hoping that some uninformed, uncaring REALTOR® will seek to convince their unknowing, unaware buyer that this home is a worthy purchase. Sadly, in acknowledgement of the apples in this profession, that will be the case. With dismay, considering the state of the market, one can expect this to happen soon.

Reflecting, the visit to this home left visions of attending a home buying funeral whereupon the best condolence to be offered to an unsuspecting buyer is “you have my deepest sympathies.”

Enough Already

The point of this rant is to note that sometimes you just got to wonder if this is what ‘economical’ housing means. New does not necessarily imply it is a good buy. At $568,000 this house in my opinion, had crap written all over it. At every point of reference in the home you could find obvious fault or inadequacy. It was impossible to recall a new home as poorly finished as this and which intrinsically, suggests potential issues within other areas not seen.

The warning as such, is that no thinking person should engage themselves with a product that has so many problems. Problems that are not easy nor inexpensive to make right. The issues outlined and so many more herein unrecorded, were so obvious as to render pains of astonishment that a home like this could be constructed and received a stamp of approval from city inspectors.

Thanks for listening. I’m better now!

Got a home buying horror story? Please let the readers here know. Every step is a learning step for someone.

Search for your home here on YatterMatters. Just click on the Homes for Sale tab. It’s lot easier than other places I can’t mention and you can see the hood via Google street view and find your favorite coffee shop with Walkability. Don’t be shy, tell your friends who are looking to stop by and give it a whirl. They will love you even more.

If you would like something more personal and directly targeted to meet your budget and choice of area, give me a shout let’s talk and I’ll set you up with a custom search delivered daily to your in box.

Of course, if you got some questions I’m around for that too.

Thinking of Buying or Selling your Vancouver home? Put on a cup of coffee and let’s talk.