By Sujit K. Singh

Brampton

As a first time home buyer, one of the mistakes I made in buying a home was not to have an independent home inspector. I was an immigrant and had been inCanadafor only about two years when I bought a home. I didn’t know how the real estate industry worked. On top of that I had no clue where or how to look for for a reliable home inspector.

I relied on my real estate agent to recommend a home inspector. It turned out not to be the best of the ideas as the home inspector didn’t tell me half of the things I was supposed to know from roofing to windows, to cracks on the sides of the house to home appliances. (My laundry was not properly installed to release water although I was made to believe that it is perfectly functional, and I most naively or foolishly believed both, the previous home owner and the so-called home inspector). The previous home owner had lied to me about everything from installation of windows to roof to appliances.

As I lived in the home, I discovered multitude of problems. As a new immigrant I didn’t even know I should watch diy network to get some useful hints. It was only after I had bought the home that I started watching channels such as diy. Although many of the renovation projects at diy network are far too difficult for me to carry out around me home, I now, know and tell everybody I can find that the single most important thing in home buying is to have an independent home inspector.

It turns out that anyone, inOntariocan offer home inspection services, without membership from  the Ontario Association of Home Inspectors. However, theOntariogovernment is now working with the industry professionals to set up a minimum standard of training and to improve consistency in home inspections.

Ontario Minister of Consumer Services Margarett Best has stated “When you are spending hundreds of thousands of dollars on a home for you and your family, you want to know you’ve made a sound decision guided by a qualified and reliable home inspector.”

My home inspection guru Mike Holmes and host of “Holmes on Homes” noted that it’s about timeOntariojoined BritishColumbiaandAlbertato set minimum standards for home inspection. “Homeowners should get what they pay for – a home inspection that protects their investment,” he said.

I have owned my home for about three years now. I have already spent about $15,000 on home renovation projects which were okayed by the “home inspector.”