Alarm Bells!!!

[Kinnon Bell]

You may want to patent that idea

It's been done. I was going to google and add a link but I'm at work and may raise some red flags...

 

[Jacque]

Wow I think everything's been pretty much covered!

Though, I would add for those of you who aren't likely to wander up into the roofspace or crawl under the house in your pantyhose that you accompany the building inspector and learn a lot in a very short perio They generally don't like company but it's a terrific learning experience and you can often get more valuable information straight from the horses mouth (so to speak) rather than the homogenised disclaimer-heavy version of the written report.

 

[santaslayer]

OK, so say you inspect a property and happen to find a minor fault. Eg. A powerpoint doesn't work - then what? I'm not exactly going to negotiate a $100 discount?

I totally understand what people are saying with the important stuff like roofs etc.

 

[Monopoly]

OK, so say you inspect a property and happen to find a minor fault. Eg. A powerpoint doesn't work - then what? I'm not exactly going to negotiate a $100 discount?

Why not, if it means that much to you! No just kidding of course I wouldn't quibble over such a minor issue such as that, however if it doesn't work I'd be asking why. Maybe it is just a faulty powerpoint, then again it could be linked to a major fault in the property's electrical wiring!

True it's not worth making a song and dance about, but it is worth investigating. In this case, all the moreso for safety reasons!

 

[Dazz]

accompany the building inspector and learn a lot in a very short period. They generally don't like company but it's a terrific learning experience and you can often get more valuable information straight from the horses mouth (so to speak) rather than the homogenised disclaimer-heavy version of the written report.

Exactly right Jacque.

I did this earlier in the piece when we bought houses, and the knowledge gleaned from crawling through the same ****e as the builder is invaluable. You pick up so much, not just about that particular house, but for all others as well.

The written version contains none of that info....it's all been lawyerfied and ironclad buttwelded up so is nigh on useless to all who read it.

Hereafter and henceforth, everything written or implied to be written, whether implied or expressly written, is disclaimed and declaimed and unclaimed, and you won't be able to sue us for anything we imply or write. We stand behind nothing, warrant nothing, and all risk is upon you, not us - did you get that - you - not us and we specifically exclude any other poor sod reading this who we specifically tell to bugger off as well hereafter....

 

[evand]

I agree.

I thought we were talking about a 45 minute open inspection, not spending a day there inspecting the place. I'm certainly not that anal, no house is without faults.

OK, so say you inspect a property and happen to find a minor fault. Eg. A powerpoint doesn't work - then what? I'm not exactly going to negotiate a $100 discount?

I totally understand what people are saying with the important stuff like roofs etc.

btw: I think building reports are mostly a waste of money. There is usually more disclaimer than report.

 

[kathryn d]

I agree.

I thought we were talking about a 45 minute open inspection, not spending a day there inspecting the place. I'm certainly not that anal, no house is without faults.



btw: I think building reports are mostly a waste of money. There is usually more disclaimer than report.

We never use now either. We did the first 3 times and Rob gained a lot of information from them. He has also talked to our tradies when possible and they freely give their expertise and tell him what he should look for.

Rob always starts in the basement..and if it doesn't pass..we leave.
You may also have the same type of deal breaker.

 

[Ocean Architect]

Asbestos. If you're looking to develop, renovate, extend, add on, change a fence over - whatever - the price skyrockets when you're playing with asbestos by a factor of 10.

Also from a development point of view, find out what used to be on the site. Someone I know built on a nice looking parcel of land that happened to be built on a rubbish dump. The depth of his footings went from the anticipated 1.2m to 12m straight down, completely blowing out not only material costs, but also in extra re-engineering.

Another buddy of mine sold a site to a developer for almost nothing, because the soil was contaminated due to a leaking underground petrol storage tank (it was a servo) and there was a million dollar soil cleaning cost attached to the site. Did the developer end up telling his buyers that they were raising kids/growing veggies on a toxic waste dump? We don't know.

The other thing that I havn't seen mentioned is heritage - but I think that any site that is heritage listed has to disclose that anyway.

 

[gottabespotless]

Good ones, Ocean Architect - I'd forgotten about those sort of things. You made me remember a nice block of land I found once but didn't go ahead with buying - it was about half and acre in size, but a portion had been used as a cattle dip before the former farming land was subdivided into smaller lots.

 

[Monopoly]

Wow!!!!!

Wow....some pretty amazing stuff mentioned here.

I feel somewhat embarrassed because I didn't list a whole string of things, I figured I'll just kick things off with one or two mentionable precautions, but it seems I should have generated an entire list. Mind you, I don't think I would have come close to the jaw-dropping lists of some posted herewith....AMAZING STUFF!!! Well done everyone, I'm VERY impressed.

Thanks to you all, at my next OFI....

Though I may need to take a checklist as long as the dunny roll, there won't be a nook or cranny left uninspected which hopefully means no surprise waiting to jump out at me after I've signed on the dotted line!!

 

[evand]

There's a book in the making right here in this thread for an enterprising investor/entrepreneur. I can see it but I couldn't be bothered.

 

[RumpledElf]

I usually take something small and pointy but not overly sharp (screwdriver or very large nail) to poke skirting and architraves with. If it just goes right through, that'd be termites.

Everyone knows about pulling the corner of the carpet up to check out floor condition. Usually its up already in Sydney's inner west.

Did this in a house once and found more carpet. Lifted that, lino. Lifted that, newspaper. Lifted that, carpet. Lifted that, more carpet. Lifted that, lino. Lifted that, carpet. Lifted that, dirt. Mmmkay ...

THAT particular house has since been demolished. It was originally a birthing hut from 1850 or something. There really wasn't anything good you could say about the house. Didn't have wall linings in the bathroom, a working HWS or a shower either ... and it was inhabited right up until it was for sale.

 

[Ocean Architect]

Good ones, Ocean Architect - I'd forgotten about those sort of things. You made me remember a nice block of land I found once but didn't go ahead with buying - it was about half and acre in size, but a portion had been used as a cattle dip before the former farming land was subdivided into smaller lots.

It can go the other way too - did you read one of the headlines in the NT News about the guy who went to an outdoor dunny, looked down, and realised that there was gold on the site? The headline was "Sitting on a gold mine"...personally I thought there should have been a "H" in between the "S" and the "I" in the word "sitting"

Actually another thing worth mentioning relates to purchasing rural property (I'd like to buy a farm or something like that sometime in the next year about 90 minutes out of the city, just to sit there for a few years, maybe put some transportable homes on it for those mad fishing enthusiasts/buffalo hunters I dont know)

Anyway I was having a chat with another buddy who owns 50 acres out there who happens to be a horticulturalist, and his advice was to ignore the obvious things like whether or not there is town power/bitumen access, and instead look at things like the number of aquafers on the site, and the species of grass/weeds on the site, since aquafers = farming potential, and certain sorts of weeds = fire hazards/litigation risk/expensive weed control.

Another aspect was that several available portions of land are nearby to a uranium mine that may expand operations in future. The prospect of an open cut uranium mine a few kilometres away with radioactive materials seeping into groundwater/carried by winds is a bit of a dealbreaker unless you want to hunt glow in the dark wild pigs

 

[Aaron Sice]

... is a bit of a dealbreaker unless you want to hunt glow in the dark wild pigs

kinda takes the fun out of it.

i mean, you're used to aiming between 2 little dots in the spotlight then all of a sudden you can see pigs running around like fireflies.

hmmm....flying, glow-in-the-dark pigs.....there's a thought.

 

[Ocean Architect]

kinda takes the fun out of it.

i mean, you're used to aiming between 2 little dots in the spotlight then all of a sudden you can see pigs running around like fireflies.

hmmm....flying, glow-in-the-dark pigs.....there's a thought.

be quiet I am now fantasising about killing glow in the dark flying pigs. Take my property portfolio, keep it, I don't care, just bring me my .308 and the flying glowpigs

 

[Belbo]

Flying glowpigs - ROTFLMHO at that!

 

[Peter Parker]

Plugging into the power points to make sure they work.

Wouldn't one of those little 3 light power point tester thingos also be useful?

Not only are they smaller (size of a power plug) but they also indicate whether the power point is wired up right - which a hairdryer won't do.

Although the thing that's good about the hairdryer is it imposes a substantial load (10 amps?) so if the lights dim you know the wiring is bad.

 

[Belbo]

This is why I only ever carry one tool to inspect every part of a property and check the power system: A F^%$ O%% sized hammer drill!

 

[Monopoly]

So if as they say a woman's handbag contains "everything but the kitchen sink"!! what would your OFI bag (handbag for the ladies; manbag for the gents) contain:

Ladies:
Hairdryer
Tape measure (to check length of windows for curtain drops!)

Gents:
Screwdriver
Retractable ladder (you're gonna need a might big bag!)

This thread has certainly provided some very helpful hints and "must remember to take" items/tools when next inspecting a potential buy!

Thanks everyone (great stuff)!

 

[ayden]

Glowing Pigs

They really do have glowing pigs its a fact.