I m into property management for more than 2 years and invested in 2-3 properties in Etobicoke/toronto. I have found majority of the houses/condos are built more than 40-50 years ago and maintenance of such house/condo are costly affair. for eg. I bought a detached house of 400000 and before 5-6 mnths, there is leakage and moth in basement. fortunately leakage was tackled by insurance but they refused to pay for moth/due to leakage in laundry in basement which they say has developed over a period of atleast year or two. Moth is health hazard issue. I wish to bring to the notice that, we feel cheated on properties which cost us almost half million. I wonder why these properties are so costly inspite of being so old. secondly, I feel properties which are liabilty like this should be demolised say after 40-50 years.

could somebody advice us as to how should we handle this case of moth? Can we hold house inspector/real estate who sold this house responsible after 5-6 mnths. As such we had called house inspector 2 mnths after shifting for some moisture in basement and he suggested dehumidifier.

Let me tell you, these properties are not worth almost half million. discuss.
I feel houses which are over 50 years should be demolished. discuss.
Insurance should full, not anything over $2000 for leakage. discuss.

We should seriously think before investing in such properties.discuss

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We came to enjoy; we are being enjoyed. We came to rule; we are being ruled. We came to work; we are being worked. All the time, we find that. And this comes into every detail of our life.

Canadian banks are levered at an average of 31:1

http://www.sprott.com/Docs/MarketsataGlance/11_09%20Dont%20Bank%20on%20the%20Banks.pdf

Looking at the Canadian system more closely, all five Canadian banks are levered at an average of 31:1, which is actually the lowest leverage ratio during the three years that we reviewed. This implies that if the Canadian banks’ tangible assets were to drop by 3%, their tangible common equity would effectively be wiped out. Now, that doesn’t mean they would go bankrupt per se, but it does give us an
indication of how little asset prices would have to decline in order to wipe out their tangible common equity. These leverage ratios worry us because they leave such a razor thin margin for error on the ‘tangible asset’ side of the leverage equation. We are always cautious about investing in companies that have zero or negative common equity - we’ve seen what happens to public companies that trade at those levels, General Motors being a good example. Acknowledging the leverage levels above, you may wonder how the Canadian banks escaped the 2008 meltdown unscathed. The answer is that they received significant assistance from the Canadian government. First, they received $65 billion in liquidity injections from the Insured Mortgage Purchase Program (IMPP), whereby Canada Mortgage and Housing (CMHC) purchased
insured mortgages from Canadian banks to provide additional liquidity on the asset side of their balance sheets.7 Next, the Bank of Canada provided them with an additional $45 billion in temporary liquidity facilities. Finally, a Canadian Bank (that shall remain nameless) also received assistance from the Canada Pension Plan (CPP) through the purchase of $4 billion in mortgages prior to the IMPP program, for a total government expenditure of $114 billion.8 For reference, the entire tangible common equity of the Canadian Banks in 2008 was $68 billion. Can you put two and two together? The Canadian government injected a sum through mortgage purchases worth more than the entire tangible common equity of the Canadian banking system! On top of that, the Bank of Canada provided more than 50% of the tangible common equity of the system in emergency liquidity facilities. Mark Carney, Governor of the Bank of Canada, acknowledged this, albeit in an indirect way: “Policy-makers had to do many unpalatable things to save the economy from the financial system – a financial system that begged for mercy.
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The New Year's Day hike will see employers and employees pay more into employment insurance and the Canada Pension Plan for a combined total of $306 a year in additional payroll taxes for working stiffs, says the Canadian Taxpayers Federation.

I feel, it all depends on realtor. some are really good. for eg I bought a property from
Javedbhai two years back who is best. People say he is driving in BMW so must be avoided, I feel the man is qualitative person. He showed me a house which was renovated like 5 star hotel, little on expensive side but then worth every penny. He told us that, we won't have any expenses for atleast next 5 yrs and he was right. Till date, we have not incurred a penny cost and we r very happy with the house. The house was listed for 420k and after negotiating got it for 375k.

The current property which I bought was listed for at 50k less than market price with extra facilities lke washroom at all level and 2 laundry and extremely well maintained and renovated. The only problem was basement laundry which is not renovated.

still I would like advice as to how to handle this laundry moth problem. If I call home inspector and explain, will it help in any way. Is it like once property is bought, it is our responsibility. Is there something call after sales service here?

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We came to enjoy; we are being enjoyed. We came to rule; we are being ruled. We came to work; we are being worked. All the time, we find that. And this comes into every detail of our life.

As reviewing your post, I can say surely that Experience always matter......
I am suggesting you to call home inspector, it could be in your favor.

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