However, one area that has no such protection is the area of stigmatized properties. Ok the next obvious question is what is a stigmatized property. This is where the problems come in. Stigmatized properties are different things to different people. For example a death occured on the property or the property has been robbed or vandalized in the past. There may be those in the area who think it is haunted. Members of a known organized crime family may have lived in the area. As you can see there is a broad area that may be considered when it comes to stigmatized properties. That is the main reason there is no disclosure on it, as it is just too hard to define.

The next question is “what can I do to ensure I don’t end up with one of these properties” I quess the question you have to ask yourself is ‘what if any of these situations is important to me.” Do I care if someones granny died after being brought home from the hospital or the family cat is buried in the back yard. However, if you have small children and there is a known sex offender in the area this would be good to know. If your family is grown or you have no children then this may not be a big deal.
The only way you can be sure of getting the answers is for you to ask the question about anything that is important to you. To be honest most people never ask and don’t even think to ask and most Realtors don’t think too much about it either unless it is brought specifically to their attention. If the selling Realtor is aware of an incident that took place in the house they are under no obligation to disclose that unless it is classified as a latent defect. (covered earlier) However, if the Realtor is asked specifically they can either answer the question as skillfully and accurately as possible or they can decline to answer and suggest the buyer conduct their own investigation. (RED FLAG, RED FLAG).

So how can you protect yourself? Explain to your Realtor the nature of what you may be concerned about when buying a property and have them specifically ask the question on your behalf. Again, however this may not cover all the bases as the incident you are inquiring about may have occured prior to the present seller owning the house and they never thought to inquire. If you have very serious concerns I would suggest you attend your local police department and see if they can help.

The rules around the rebate are somewhat complicated and as with most legislation not easy to understand. However the short version is the new housing rebates are administered by the Federal Government. Individuals file an application for the rebate directly with the Canada Revenue Agency. However in cases of homes sold by the builder, the builder would have the option of paying or crediting the new housing rebate to the purchaser at the time of the purchase.

OK , what’s the right questions. The questions are actually simple ones. Can you afford a home of your own and if you can how much can you afford?

I know these sound like simple questions and ones that a person would ask themselves before they call a Realtor to look for homes for them. The fact of the matter is, many prospective buyers don’t actually know how much money they will actually have to spend to buy a home of their own.

Many times buyer will save up for a down payment and once they have reached that magic number they start looking for their dream home. The magic number is usually the minimum down payment of 5%. Lets use the number of 5% of $400,000.00 for this example. So the couple saves their $20,000.00 and calls a Realtor to start looking for a $400,000.00 townhouse for them. They find the perfect place after a couple of months looking and make an offer. They stay within their budget and the offer is accepted at $400,000.00. So they go to the bank for their mortgage and the surprises start.( If it is a new townhouse there will be 12% HST on it less the rebate but we will assume for this exercise the home is not new) They find out that there is somehting called the land transfer tax which is 1% of the 1st $200,000 and 2 % of the remainder,which in this case means an additional $6000.00, Legal fees will be around $1000.00, the CMHC insurance premium will be an additional 2.9% on the amount being borrowed or $11,020.00. There will also be an adjustment on the taxes so this could be around $1000.00. There will be a charge for an inspection of approximately $400.00 to $500.00 There could also be a requirment for a title search by the bank.

So as you can see there are many costs that you should be aware of and talk to your Realtor about before you start your search. In this scenario the couple thought they would have a mortgage of $380,000.00 and have a payment of $1978.00 amortized over 25 years. Instead they have a mortage of $399,520.00 with payments of $2080.00 a month over 25 years. On top of that, there are usually things in the home that you need to repair or change soon after you take possession. So you should have a couple of thousand dollars left in order to do these repairs. They may even be small things like buying a barbeque and some patio furnature. Anyway, bottom line is talk to a good Realtor before you start, to see if you are in a position to buy at this time. You may still want to buy but perhaps a smaller place to start

I think people pass through the Fort Langley residential areas without actually looking around at the homes there. They are usually on their way to the Fort itself or in the past the Albion ferry. After my showings I took the time to walk around some of the community and got an appreciation for the life that the residents live there. They have the best of every thing.

They have some small coffee shops and tea houses as well as many antique shops that people love to walk through. In addition the town has the history that goes with it. The first capital of B.C. now thats something to be proud of. Most of all, it still has the small town charm that is missing in so many communities. I’m glad I took the time to go for a walk through the residential areas and get a feel for the atmosphere. I will definitely be bringing more clients here.

If your interested in taking a look at Fort Langley real estate, or just want to talk about what makes Fort Langley so unique please give me a call. Keith Macdonald 604-530-0231 or send me an email at keith@iamlangley.com.

Most Realtors will include the Property Disclosure Statement in the contract attaching it via an addendum. If the Statement is not specifically included then it does not become a part of the contract and is just a piece of paper. An attorney may argue that it can be used in a legal action but to be sure it should be included as part of the original Contract of Purchase and Sale.

Your Realtor will ask you to fill out the Property Disclosure Statement rather than them because you actually have to initial each questions answer to ensure that it is a true representation of your s knowledge of your home.

As a Realtor I find it is best to be honest with everyone right from the beginning. It prevents a lot of problems down the line.

Thanks you all for the comments and if you have any suggestions for subjects for my Blog just drop me a note at keith @iamlangley.com. Thanks again.

It really isn’t that complicated.  If something in your home can not be found by a reasonable person during a routine inspection, that would be considered a Latent Defect. In other words if you had a water leak inside a wall and you had been t0ld about it by a plumber. That’s a Latent Defect. You think it doesn’t show yet and there isn’t any damage that can be seen. So you decided to sell the the home before it causesmajor damage and just not tell anyone. Caveat emptor right!  Wrong, this is a Latent Defect and you will probably be sued by the purchaser for damaged and numerous other things. In other words it is going to cost you a lot of money either way. However, the cheapest way is still to get the damage repaired and then sell the home if you still want to. Two things will happen this way. Your not worried about the knock on the door serving you papers and believe it or not, you will sleep better at night.

If you think the Latent Defect is of such a nature that it will be some time before it shows its ugly head and therefore the statute of limitations will run out and you will be home free Wrong again Sorry. The Courts have ruled that the clock doesn’t start ticking on the statute of limitations until the Plaintiff becomes aware of the problem. The bottom line is, even  if you go 5 years and don’t hear anything it could still be hanging over your head because the buyer doesn’t know yet. Again best practice is to disclose those Latent Defects now and live with the consequesnces  Again Sorry.