Archive for the ‘Buying Montreal Houses’ Category

Inspection of Montreal Homes for Sale

Thursday, November 5th, 2009

OK. You looked at dozens of Montreal homes for sale and you finally made an offer. Your offer was accepted and now you must inspect your Montreal homes for sale. The first thing to do is to find a good Montreal homes for sale inspector. In doing so you must make sure that whoever you chose is insured. A Montreal homes for sale inspector without insurance is never a good choice since an inspector without insurance will often find faults in a home that has nothing wrong with it in order to protect himself. It may also a good idea, but not mandatory, that your Montreal homes for sale inspector be a member of the AIBQ. (a Quebec association of building inspectors)

Once you have chosen your Montreal homes for sale building inspector it is important to understand what he or she will look at. One of the things your Montreal homes for sale inspector will look at is the exterior of your house. He will look at the exterior walls for signs of structural or surface damage such as cracks. He will also want to inspect the roof of your Montreal homes for sale. A roof is very expensive to repair and therefore it is important that any Montreal homes for sale you purchase has a roof in good condition. If your inspection reveals an old roof that needs to be changed, you should negotiate it off the sale price. Your Montreal homes for sale inspector may also observe trees that grow close to the house in question. Root systems can often affect foundations for the worse.

A good Montreal homes for sale inspector will always pay special attention to the basement of a building. There he can see the condition of the foundation of the Montreal homes for sale as well as inspect plumbing and electrical work. In terms of electrical work, your Montreal homes for sale inspector will inspect the electrical panel as well as the wires that are connected to it. He or she will want to verify, in the case of older Montreal homes for sale, the type of electrical wiring that is connected to the panel. He will also check that switches throughout the Montreal homes for sale are working as they should and that electrical outlets are properly grounded.

In terms of plumbing, your Montreal homes for sale inspector will make sure there is adequate water pressure coming out of the taps and that the toilets are flushing properly. If you are looking at older Montreal homes for sale, it might also be a good idea to have the sewage pipe that runs from the house in question to the city checked out. This is done with the use of a remote camera system and usually will require that you hire a plumber and not a Montreal homes for sale inspector.

Your Montreal homes for sale inspector will also check many other things such as venting, doors, windows, and safety features of the house such as handrails and wired smoke alarms. You can be sure that at the end of the day, once the inspection is finally done, you will be confident about your purchase. Therein lies the importance of having all Montreal homes for sale properly inspected.

Making an Offer for Montreal Real Estate

Monday, November 2nd, 2009

After days, weeks, even months of visiting properties for sale in the Montreal real estate market, the time will eventually come when you will decide to take that final step: you will want to make an offer on Montreal real estate. This process can be very simple with the help of a qualified real estate professional. The AQAIQ (the Quebec association that monitors the real estate profession) provides forms which simplify the offer process for Montreal real estate.

The first step when one decides to make an offer on a Montreal real estate property is to decide how much to offer. I usually like to find comparables of sales in the Montreal real estate market in the past months in order to help determine what the real market value of the property in question is. After all, properties are rarely priced at their proper value within the Montreal real estate market and seldom do they sell for their list price. Sellers usually start off believing that their Montreal real estate is worth more money than what the market will eventually end up paying for it. This is why it is important to educate ourselves about the Montreal real estate property in question prior to writing our offer. No one should ever pay above market value for a Montreal real estate property.

The next step in making an offer for a Montreal real estate property is to determine the terms of financing. This involves working with your banker or mortgage specialist to determine what your down payment will be and what the terms of the loan will be. These are all integral parts of the purchase offer for Montreal real estate. As a side note, it is often advisable to get pre-approved for a mortgage prior to actually starting the search for a Montreal real estate property. Getting pre-approved helps the buyers of a Montreal real estate property to better assess the price range that they are comfortable with for their future purchase. This avoids the often disheartening scenario of being rejected for a mortgage once a buyer has finally found the Montreal real estate property of his or her dreams.

The next step in making an offer for a Montreal real estate property is to figure out specific conditions. For example, you must decide if you will be inspecting the property. (this is always advisable for most types of Montreal real estate) Other conditions might deal with inclusions, possession dates, the inspection of certain documents, and many other possibilities. These conditions must be properly written by your Montreal real estate professional in order to avoid future problems.

If you have any questions regarding this process I will be happy to assist you. Please feel free to contact me at any time.