Home Inspector Lawyer & Realtor : recommendations / caution
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Posted on: 17-07-09 07:55:10
Hi CDs ,
3 very important people needed while buying a house are a realtor , home inspector & a lawyer ..... Looking at the threads in our RE section , I have found the information to be scattered in bits and pieces . Thought of bringing up a compiled thread which can address recommendations for either category .
Qs that come to mind are :
1. How much is the average fee for each . My guess is 300 for the inspector and 1100 for the lawyer .
2. What things should we look out at while selecting a home inspector and a lawyer ?
Personal references always help but besides that - are there any other things that can help one determine how good the person is for eg : some rating board or the no. of inspection the person has or something else .
3. Finally , please share your recommendations / cautions for home inspectors and lawyers per your experience . Good ones can be approached by prospective buyers and the bad ones avoided ....
May I urge fellow CD s to throw in their recommendations / caution against inspectors / lawyers and maybe we can make this sticky for prospective readers .
(obviously a personal experience is nothing to bind others by )
I will start pasting something I have copied from another thread . Would also try and paste links to other discussions in CD on these .....
'I am looking for a good recommendation for home inspection. I have shortlisted couple of them..one is called Pillar to Post and the other one is called House Master and Ameri Spec..wondering if any of you have used their services and if yes, then how were they...also whome did your brother use..any recommendations will be useful.'
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Fido.
Quote:
Originally posted by Fido
1. How much is the average fee for each . My guess is 300 for the inspector and 1100 for the lawyer .
I paid 326 for home inspector and 600 for lawyer... This was early last year. I had had initial talk with 3 lawyers. All were in the 700-800 range. Got one reduced to 600 and used him thinking it is all the same.. small mistake.. see below.
Quote:
2. What things should we look out at while selecting a home inspector and a lawyer ?
Personal references always help but besides that - are there any other things that can help one determine how good the person is for eg : some rating board or the no. of inspection the person has or something else .
Do enough research in net and be ready with your questions to the home inspector. Be with him for the inspection and keep throwing in ur questions - like age of water heater, furnace, quality of roof, when it will need replacement etc. You will be able to drive a more thorough inspection.
Lawyer - only thing I will say is get a lawyer near to your place of work/live. My guy made me run to his office 3-4 times and his office was in downtown. Everytime with short notice. He gave me the final amt of payment at around 2 PM the previous day of my closing and wanted only certified check.. (Btw, I mostly bank with PC Financial and there is no way I can get the certified check in such a short time. I had told him that and put in repeated requests to give me 2 days notice. Finally had to get it done thru RBC). Then in the night he called to say there was mistake in his calculation and need some additional $ and wanted it then - he offered to stay late for me to come by. He was not ready to collect the check at the time of picking up key the next day even though it was for < $200!. Next day morning he called again to say there is a difference of $20 with the check from my mortgage firm and he needs that. This, he was willing to wait for the key pick up time. I was so pi$$ed off by then.. and called my mortgage broker. He had it fixed in less than 5 mins and called me back. Even the key pick up time was keep getting delayed and finally I told him that I will pick it from the sellers lawyer itself as his office is near to where I work. He wasn't happy and finally gave me a call at 4:30 (supposed by around noon) saying its ready to be picked up. I went to that lawyers office and he informed me that he just got all the docs though it was supposed to be there by 11 AM or so. He hadn't had any time to review them, but gave me the key anyways. Definitely not going to him for anything again.
Quote:
3. Finally , please share your recommendations / cautions for home inspectors and lawyers per your experience . Good ones can be approached by prospective buyers and the bad ones avoided ....
May I urge fellow CD s to throw in their recommendations / caution against inspectors / lawyers and maybe we can make this sticky for prospective readers .
(obviously a personal experience is nothing to bind others by )
I will start pasting something I have copied from another thread . Would also try and paste links to other discussions in CD on these .....
'I am looking for a good recommendation for home inspection. I have shortlisted couple of them..one is called Pillar to Post and the other one is called House Master and Ameri Spec..wondering if any of you have used their services and if yes, then how were they...also whome did your brother use..any recommendations will be useful.'
Lawyer - see above
Home Insp - I had a pretty good dealing with the guy from Pillar to Post. He knew his stuff and gave me a printed out dossier with everything he noticed including non working lights. More expensive than some of the others by $100, but I guess its worth it.
I used a noted Desi lawyer who has his office on Airport road.
He even advertizes on OMNI channel with a FAMOUS GHAZAL Singer promoting him in his advertisement.
It was clearly agreed in the initial and other meetings that whatever fees was fixed included the charges for making the Wills for me and my wife.
The evidence was his assistant and my Realtor.
When the time for collecting the fees, he sends his assistant(who knew what a rip off it was and could not say anything) that I needed to pay another $200 more for the will.
When I clearly said that the agreement was that it was included in the total payment he said that they had made a mistake and hence I needed to pay the balance.
I was in a rush to collect the keys and hence I just paid the difference and walked away.
I just realized that what people will do for a meagre 200 bucks.
I then decided that I'll bad mouth to anybody whom I meet in person. It was not that it was a big difference for me. But what left a bad taste in my mouth was that how this LIER(oops sorry Lawyer) would stoop to do for 200 bucks. He also knows that I have the potential for bigger closures for bigger bucks and hence I would be good/long term client for him. I could also bring him more clients from my south Indian circle.
He short circuited it all for 200 bucks.
I learn that the assistant has quit and has moved onto another place.
Hope you figure who the this guy is.
Until then Balle! Balle!.
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Sunny Leone a true Canadian DESI now back in India !.
I had a similar experience with a desi lier bale bale i kind of picked up from a website his office/ sort of houseoffie is at Tomkan & derry this was in regards to my parents immigration case had some complications wrt to my jobless for some period of time. Intially, without talking he ripped of $500 and agreed to put forward a case in such a manner that i wouldn't have to withdraw my parents file due to job/income loss for some period.After few weeks he/his office associate who was not even courties in telphone calls me and ask me to deposit another $1000 saying the Mr xxx has to invest more hours into your case to present the information to immigration department. After few weeks the rascal calls me an asks me to withdraw the file and start over again and if i want to get them fill the forms there unprofessional service charge for file approval at missisauge is $1000 i said to them FO.
Anyways, i don't need to mention this guys name directly.
I guess most important person in house buying process is Good Realtor and below were the things i considered:
1. Should be in this business for atleast 10+ years in the area which you are interested in. (Brampton in my case).
2. Should be among top 10% Realtors by volume and sales. (This indicates that he is active/successful Realtor).
3. Should be part of "Most Referred Realtor' network,for me it indicates that previous clients were happy with his services.
4. SHOULD NOT BE PUSHY AT ALL. I can't work with Realtor's who tend to be pushy and expect you to buy a house after 3-4 showings. In my case because i am new to Canada i wanted to look at different cities and then Neighborhoods and then house types before i could decide. My Realtor showed me around 85+ houses in span of 9 months and was always willing to show more.
5. Should present what ever offer you want to give and should not push you to go higher and most importantly should negotiate well on your behalf.
6. Should have good network with multiple lawyers, Mortgage broker and home inspectors and should be fine if you want to pick on your own.
7. Should always have time for you.
So do spend good time finding a good Realtor and your house buying process will be fun.
As far home inspector goes, below is what i considered:
1. Should be in this business for long time.
2. Should be ready to give you references.
3. Should educate me about house structure, plumbing electrical etc
4. Should educate me how to maintain house in different weather.
5. Should give you a written report for complete inspection.
In my case the house which i bought i around 1 year old, so i was not that worried about damages/defects (though i wanted to find out if there were any) but i wanted somebody who can explain me above points pretty well and can also answer my questions around future projects.
Though time will tell if he did good job in findings damages/defects with the house.
As far as lawyer goes, below is what i considered:
1. Should be cheap.
2. Should be close to my place, so i don't have to commute to sign documents.
3. Should give me instant $2000 tax rebate for first time home buyer and he should claim that rebate at end of year. There are few lazy lawyers who will tell you to claim that tax rebate on your own.
