Marshall on Holmes. Can home histories ever come with the house?

mike holmesThe joke around the real estate office is if Mike Holmes finds a problem with a dripping faucet in the kitchen he’ll say, “this has all got to go”

“The kitchen?”

“No, the whole neighborhood.”

One of my clients recently pointed out that Mike Holmes is great at finding defects and then having his crew fix them, but never talks about the cost.

Mike Holmes has made a career for himself by demonstrating to viewers how many things seem to go terribly wrong during building and remodeling projects. He has held builders and contractors responsible for shoddy work. Mike believes we need to go beyond the minimum building code. He says, “There is no medium code, no maximum code. There is only a minimum code.” And he wants to change that.

The show, “Holmes on Homes” has been built on “calling to the carpet” builders and contractors for their remodeling disasters. But this year, he’s changed the format of the show to focus on catching problems even before would-be buyers sign contracts to purchase a house.

Home inspections are very common for home purchases these days. If a house is more than twenty years old most real estate agents recommend a home inspection and the majority of homebuyers today get a home inspection, if only for peace of mind.

Mike Holmes takes it one step further. He believes that homes should come with their own home inspection warranty like the “Carfax” report shows a car’s history. It’s a good idea.

(How much will it cost?)

Mike Holmes is the Martha Stewart of home renovating. In a little more than a decade, he’s gone from being a building contractor to a hosting a television series. He’s got a housing project in development. He writes a newspaper column. He has a new magazine. He’s written two books. He has a foundation to encourage young people to enter the building trades. His home inspection franchise empire is growing.

He’s a good guy and if I had his kind of money I’d build and do renovations just like him.

Keith Marshall is a real estate agent with Prudential Grand Valley Realty, serving Kitchener, Waterloo and Cambridge. If you’re thinking of buying or selling your home and need a contractor or inspector, I have some that I am confident in recommending. I aim to take the stress and mystery out of the home buying and selling process.

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