Never Buy a Home Before Checking This

Added: 2026-05-31

[00:00:00]Never buy a home in Ottawa before checking this because I've walked into homes where the kitchen looked perfect, the floors look brand new, and the staging was absolutely stunning. And the side yard was literally pushing water straight up against the foundation. I've seen finished basements that look like bonus living spaces, but raise serious questions about permits, egress, moisture, ceiling height, and the biggest of all, resale value. I've seen townhomes where the backyard looked private until that you realized that the neighbor had legal access right through it like a right away. I've seen buyers fall in love with a house in 20 minutes and completely miss the thing that could cost them 20, 50, maybe even a hundred thousand dollars. This is the danger.

[00:00:46]See, most buyers do not lose money because they bought an ugly home. They lose money because they bought a house that looked fine, but they did not know what to check. And in Ottawa, this matters because we have old homes, new homes, infill homes, rural homes, freehold homes, condos, townhomes. We pretty much have everything here in Ottawa, and neighborhoods change fast.

[00:01:06]So, when someone says, "Is this a good home?" well, my answer is usually compared to what? At what price? With what condition? With what future resale risk? And what are we missing? Because after selling a thousand homes since 2002, I can tell you this, the best buyers are not the ones who find the perfect home. They're the ones who know what problems matter, what problems are manageable, and what problems are negotiable, and what problems you should walk away from. So, in this video, I'm going to walk you through the things I would check before buying a home in Ottawa. Not after you move in, not when you go to sell, not when the basement smells damp in April, before you buy. Because once you fall in love with that house, your brain starts defending the house. You stop investigating. You start rationalizing.

[00:01:57]You say, "It's probably fine. Uh the seller must have done it properly. Uh the inspector would have caught this, right? The lawyer dealt with it appropriately, checking title and all that. The city would have said something about it by now." Maybe, but maybe not.

[00:02:11]And maybe not is where real estate gets expensive. So, let's get into it. Check the permits before you trust the renovation. So, the first thing I want to check is the paper trail behind the work. See, a lot of properties right now are on the market saying, "Newly renovated, new bathroom, fully finished basement." But, who did the work? And did they get permits? What is the electrical like? Do they have an ESA report? Electrical Safety Authority. So, that's the governing body for the province of Ontario, anything electrical related. ESA sort of oversees it. See, it's nice to walk into a home with all these renovations, but do they have a paper trail to support it? Are there any structural issues? Was the work permitted with the city of Ottawa? Was it inspected? Was the permit closed? Was anything structural touched? And if so, do they have an engineer's report stamped? Like, we did a renovation recently at our place, and we were looking at taking out a bulkhead just cuz we wanted the flush ceiling. Now, we were reasonably assured everything was fine just based upon load and that and and speaking with our architect, but my wife and I we we didn't just stop there.

[00:03:18]We actually hired a structural engineer to come look at it. They reported on it.

[00:03:23]They drew the some drawings, and they stamped it. We now have that on file.

[00:03:27]Now, we have no intention of selling anytime soon, although I'm in real estate, so anything can happen, but we do have that paper trail, so if and when down the road we go to sell it, we have that stamped engineer's report. Another thing, as I said, is is the electrical.

[00:03:43]Was it changed? And if so, do they have the ESA report? See, older homes in Hintonburg, Westboro, Glebe, Old Ottawa South, as examples, often have decades of renovation layered on top of each other like renovation after renovation after renovation. Then we have the suburbs in Ottawa like Barrhaven, Kanata, Orleans, Riverside South, Findlay Creek often have finished basements that were done after people have taken possession or decks, gazebos, and even additions. Rural properties have outbuildings, septic, well, addition, older heating systems. Do not buy the renovation. Verify the renovation. And as I say after selling a thousand homes right here in Ottawa, I've learned that a house is one part of the purchase, the paper trail is the other part. I'll give you some specific examples to consider. A finished basement with no proper egress. That means you know, the window is is large enough and you can you know, to egress out of the property. Has to be a certain size by code to have a basement bedroom.

[00:04:45]A wall removed without proper support. A bathroom added in the basement without permits. A deck built too close to the lot line. Addition that does not match the original records. And electrical work that looks clean but was never inspected. So the important distinction here is not every little thing needs a permit. Cosmetic work is different than structural or mechanical work. The point is not to panic. The point is to investigate before you inherit someone else's shortcuts. The second mistake that buyers make is assuming ownership means freedom. It doesn't. You can own the property and still be restricted in how you use it. Let me break this down for you. I'm talking about zoning, easement, allowable use. So a buyer may say, "Hey Liam, you know, I'm going to build a garage on this property." Well, maybe. Does the total square footage of the lot allow for a detached garage? We got to look into that. And you got to know these things before you actually move forward and buy the property. Oh, we'll just put a pool right there. Can a pool actually go in there? You know, you have to be a certain distance from your lot line, a certain distance from your house. The other thing is like is there bedrock? You know, are you going to have to get in some type of equipment that's going to chip through all of that stone, which can be done. There's a cost associated to that. Oh, we'll just finish the basement. We'll add a coach house. We'll sever the lot one day. We'll turn this into a rental duplex. We'll Airbnb it out. You know, before you make these assumptions, you need to check zoning, setbacks, lot coverage, easement, right of way, heritage restrictions. I live in Westboro and there's a lot of properties that have a heritage overlay on it. You know, some people might be buying property with the future consideration of doing an infill. An infill is when you buy a property, demolish, and you build up. In certain pockets of Ottawa, the value of the land is so high that the land is worth more than the actual house on it. So, there are buyers that are buying up these properties with the future intention of demolishing and building. But, you can't do that if there's a heritage component to that property. Like huge factor to come into play in your due diligence before actually moving forward with an offer or better worse or worse than that, actually moving forward with the offer, finding out you cannot do what you want to do with the property. Before you dream, check whether the property actually allows for the dream. When I walk through a property with a buyer, I'm not just looking at what it is. I'm looking at what they think as buyers can turn it into and whether their assumptions are aligned. See, the mistake is not buying a property with restrictions. The mistake is paying as if there were no restrictions. Another thing I recommend is checking the neighborhood when it's inconvenient. See, a showing tells you what the house feels like for maybe 30 minutes. It does not tell you what your life feels like there. Let me break this down for you. Do not evaluate the neighborhood only during, you know, that first showing. See, most showings happen when the home is staged, clean, quiet, and controlled. But, what's it like with school pick-up or drop-off congestion?

[00:07:44]Street parking pressure? Cut-through traffic during peak times? Proximity to hospitals? Is there a lot of ambulances, paramedics going by? The noise? LRT transit noise? Rental-heavy pockets? You know, is it owner-occupied area or are there a lot of rentals? Nearby commercial activity, nightlife or restaurant noise? See, buyers need to do their homework. Drive by in the morning, after work, at night, on the weekend.

[00:08:11]Sit in your car for 20 minutes, half hour. Listen, observe, watch the traffic, look at parking, look at how many properties are maintained. You know, how are people taking care of the exterior of their home? What's the pride of ownership? Is the grass cut? Are the leaves picked up? Are the flower beds weeded? Do they have a nice edge in their flower bed? Wintertime? What's the snow management like? Like, is it full of snow? Has it been plowed? Are they using salt? Like, things like that. Now, I'm not saying go crazy, but do a little bit more than just go to the showing for 30 minutes, say yes, this is the one, and buy it. Spend some time really making sure that that house aligns with your future expectations. Another thing that I would recommend you consider is assessing the resale value. Like, when I'm looking at a home, I'm already thinking about the next buyer. Will they love this street or will they hesitate before they even go in the front door?

[00:09:05]See, a great house on the wrong street is still a compromised purchase. The fourth thing buyers miss is what's coming next. So, check future development before you trust the view, privacy, or or quietness. What is beside the house today may not be what's beside the house in 5 years from now. Buyers fall in love with open field behind the house, empty lot nearby, low-rise view, trees, privacy, quiet road. I get it. I would, too. But, you need to ask, is it protected? Is it developable? Is there a planning application? Is the area targeted with intensification? Is there road widening? Is transit changing the area? See, in Ottawa, intensification is not theoretical anymore. We have the LRT corridor. Main streets are changing.

[00:09:54]Suburban edge communities can change fast. Older central areas are being developed. Large lots are being assembled and new zoning that just passed in fall of 2025 and into spring of 2026 has changed the game completely for redevelopment. Quiet today doesn't always mean quiet forever. So, how to protect yourself? I'd recommend you check with the city of Ottawa development applications, zoning, planning notices, signs on nearby properties. See, the view you buy is not always the view you keep. Local knowledge matters here because sometimes the listing shows you the house, but the neighborhood is already telling you where it's actually going. See, you don't need to predict the future perfectly, but you should not ignore the future that is already being discussed publicly. Number five, check water, grading, drainage, and foundation risk.

[00:10:47]This is where buyers need to slow down because water is one of the fastest ways a house can become extremely expensive.

[00:10:53]Water problems are often missed because buyers are looking at the pretty parts of the home. You know, buyers look at the kitchen floors, the paint, the staging, the finished basement lighting, all of those things, but they're ignoring the grading, the downspouts, the window wells, the sump pump, foundation cracks, the potential odor in the basement, efflorescence on the concrete. Efflorescence is sort of like the white dust that will permeate through the concrete floor. So, if you ever see some dust in a basement on a wall or on the floor, I'd lean into that and and identify is that current? Is it past moisture? What's the deal on that?

[00:11:28]Wicking on baseboards. That is the easiest way to tell if there's been water in the basement. You can't hide water that's touched, you know, wood on a flooring or something like that. Like, if it's been freshly painted, obviously you can't see it, but if it's a natural 2 by 4 that's that's been put in years ago and water has touched that, there will be wicking. So, there'll be staining on the wood. That's a really good telltale. That's the first thing I look at when I go into the basement.

[00:11:53]Interlock sloping towards the house.

[00:11:55]Neighbors grading. Like, let's be real.

[00:11:57]In Ottawa, we get some really wacky weather. We got freeze-thaw cycles.

[00:12:02]They're tough to manage. We have spring melt which exposes issues. We have heavy rain. Older foundations can seep water in. Newer homes can have bad grading.

[00:12:11]Like, the question you got to ask is, has there ever been water in the basement? What's the waterproofing like?

[00:12:17]Any foundation repairs? How's the sump pump? Any issues? Has it ever failed? Is there a backwater valve? Any insurance claims? See, a dry basement during a showing does not automatically mean a dry basement in end of March, April, spring thaw. When I see a finished basement, I don't just see bonus space.

[00:12:35]I'm thinking, what is behind the drywall? What is under the flooring? And why is it finished that way? See, you can change countertops, but water problems can change your entire ownership experience. Number six, check the exterior envelope before getting distracted by the interior. See, the outside of the house often tells you the truth before the inside does. The expensive stuff is usually not the exciting stuff. As a buyer, you want to check the roof, the shingles. Is there any curling? What's the flashing? So, that's the tin metal that that usually wraps around between the edge of the roof and the actual, you know, brick or siding. Eavestroughing, downspouts, soffits, fascia. And then the exterior of the facade. So, the siding, the brick, the stucco. How does that look?

[00:13:20]Windows, exterior caulking, foundation cracks, decks, balconies. All of these things are critical to take in before you go inside the property. Ottawa weather and more specifically winters are tough on the exterior envelope of the property. You know, on the roofs, the parging, the asphalt, exterior grading and drainage. Poor attic ventilation can show up in roof issues.

[00:13:43]Older windows can crush efficiency.

[00:13:46]Ottawa weather exposes weak exterior maintenance really fast. When I walk up to a property, the showing starts before the key goes in the door. The most expensive part of a house are often the least exciting to look at. Next up, we have condominiums. Those that are considering buy a condo, you have to thoroughly review the financials. Not just the condo fee, like how much it is a month. If you're buying a condominium, the unit, so what you're buying, is only half the purchase. You're also buying into the financial health of the condo corporation. So, how healthy is the reserve fund? Are there any special assessments? Any lawsuits? Are there any major repairs? Are fees rising? Do we have the minute book? Can we see it?

[00:14:27]Garage space issues. Is the building professionally managed or not? See, a low condo fee is not automatically great. Sometimes it means the building is under funded. I've seen buyers obsess over a $75 difference in monthly condo fees and then completely miss the bigger issue, whether the building is financially prepared for what's coming down the line. See, higher fees are not automatically bad. Lower fees are not automatically good. You need context.

[00:14:58]The question is not, can I afford the condo fee today? The question is, is the building financially healthy now and in the future? Next, we have rural property. So, you need to check rural property issues before treating like a home on city services. Rural property is a completely different due diligence game and I can say that with confidence.

[00:15:18]I grew up in the country, septic, well, and I've owned a number of rural properties. You have to now contend with septic, well, water potability, well and flow rate, heating source. It's probably not natural gas, so you're either would have propane or oil tank. It could be electrical, but if it's a a gas type, it's not natural gas like likely. Snow removal, internet quality. This is huge now post COVID. Like I've been doing this for 24 years. Internet was always something like back 2002 and 2005 2010, 2015 as we'd be showing these properties, what's the internet like?

[00:15:54]Now, it's almost a like non-starter.

[00:15:57]Before we actually see the property, we have clients asking what is the internet quality like? And with good intention, like the world we live in, hybrid workspace, post COVID, people working from home, we need to be connected and internet needs to be strong, especially in rural areas. School bus routes, there's no OC Transpo ripping around, you know, in these rural areas. So, what do school bus routes look like for the kiddos? Questions to consider is when was the septic last pumped? Has the septic been inspected by a septic inspector? Not from the septic pumper, like a lot of respect for those guys, but they have a financial interest in obviously identifying if maybe there's something required in that septic system that needs to be repaired or replaced.

[00:16:42]I've seen many upsell jobs by septic pumpers to clients who don't understand and it's like it's septic and like kind of dirty, messy, smelly, like sure, just just fix it, just fix it. Hundreds of dollars sometimes gets exchanged because of a baffle that they recommend.

[00:17:00]So, I'm not saying do you have a septic inspection from the pumper, do you have a septic inspection from a qualified septic inspectors with zero conflict of interest, i.e. They don't repair it.

[00:17:11]They're just simply brought in to give some some context and their professional opinion on the health of the septic.

[00:17:17]What about the well? Is there a flow test, potability test? Now, you know, public road or private? Who clears the snow? Any buried oil tanks on the property? And internet, like how strong is that? See, rural properties can be incredible. I love them, but they're not forgiving if you skip the due diligence period. This is where buyers get into trouble when they use a city home checklist on a country rural property.

[00:17:44]See, more land does not mean fewer problems. It often means different problems. Number nine, check resale before you buy emotionally. This is one of the biggest differences how buyers look at homes and how experienced real estate agents look at homes. See, you're not just buying the home, you're buying its eventual resale story. See, potential resale issues can be busy road, backing on a commercial, property lines, no garage, no parking, shared driveway, no backyard, tiny bedrooms, awkward layout, low basement height, odd renovation, expensive condo fees, weak natural light, steep driveway. The things you forgive today will be the exact things that the next buyer uses against you, potentially. Now, let's be clear, everything sells. I have sold the most stigmatized property. Not going to get into details on it, but that sold.

[00:18:41]Every property sells for a price. So, if you're buying a property because it's backing onto Hunt Club, as an example, recognize that you have to buy that property in parallel today backing on Hunt Club versus not backing on Hunt.

[00:18:59]And I just use that as a random example.

[00:19:01]Nothing wrong with Hunt Club, it's just busier than than, you know, backing onto a neighbor property directly behind you.

[00:19:08]So, if that's a 20, 30, 40, 50, 10, whatever dollar amount you put on that.

[00:19:14]And I'm not here giving you my professional opinion on the adjustment required for Hunt Club, but there is a dollar amount you need to put on it. You need to put that on today. And then when you go to sell that in 5, 8, 15, 25 years from now, Hunt Club's probably still going to be there. So, you have to be mindful to price it accordingly to that. So, that's the point here is always think about resale, even though you're buying today to live in to plant the roots. And the flaws that you find today are going to be the same flaws that show up when you sell that property. So, just be mindful of your entry point and when you get in, and then when you exit, be respectful of that delta and make sure you bring that forward in your price.

[00:19:54]Number 10, check the final walk-through like it actually matters. See, a final walk-through is your last practical chance to catch problems before closing.

[00:20:03]Now, let's be clear. This is not an inspection. This is a done deal. Deposit is locked in. Lawyers likely have paperwork signed. But, this is an opportunity to take a look at the property before you get the keys the next day and the seller has damaged something. And you know, it doesn't always happen, but say they're moving out, moving a piano out, and they bash the the drywall or knock part of the stair, you know, handrail down. You show up the next day and you got like, I don't know, a thousand, three thousand, four thousand dollars worth of repairs required. You know, you try and get the seller to to come come clean on that and and pay for that, but they've moved on?

[00:20:42]You know, well, physically they have, but like just emotionally, everything, they don't want to deal with it. Then you're in a small claims court and it's just not worth it. So, the final walk-through is an opportunity to make sure that the property looks today as it did when you offered on it likely a couple months ago and that there's not going to be any surprises when you take the keys. So, you're not into, you know, inspecting items that were the same when you bought the property, but really is there anything different or off or damaged when they were moving out or something that happened from when you offered to when you take possession of it. Never assume the house is the same condition as you bought it. See, the final walk-through is not overly exciting. Sure, you're excited, you get the keys tomorrow, but it's one of those boring steps that can save you a very expensive closing date surprise. See, the deal is not done emotionally when your offer is accepted. It's done practically when the home closes in the condition you agreed to buy it in. So, here's the big takeaway. Do not buy a house in Ottawa just because it shows well. Buy it because you understand what you're actually buying. The house, the land, the paperwork, the permits, the zoning, the drainage, the neighborhood.

[00:21:54]For condos, you got to look at that financial health, resale risk, future problems, and the current problems that are being hidden by fresh paint, new floors, good staging, or a sunny showing. Because every home has issues, every single one, every property does.

[00:22:09]The goal is not to find the perfect home. I say to buyers all the time, we're looking for an 80% solution.

[00:22:16]You're never going to find 100%. Even if you buy a brand new house, there's always going to be something not perfect. The goal is to know the difference between normal imperfection, a negotiable problem, and a red flag that should make you walk away. That is where experience matters. And after selling a thousand homes right here in Ottawa, I can tell you a good buyer does not need to be scared. A good buyer needs to be informed so you can make good quality decisions. Because once you know what to check, you stop reacting emotionally and you start making better decisions. You know when to push, you know when to ask for documentation, you know when to bring in the experts, and you know how to negotiate. Because the most expensive sentence in residential real estate is, "I wish we knew that before we bought it. So, hopefully this content was helpful. I wish you all the best on your buying or selling journey, and we'll catch you on the next video.