Engineer report can prevent disaster !

The Eretz Real Estate Group  recommends that anyone who has decided to purchase a property should always order an independent engineer report. Although it can cost about $500 it is a relatively small price to pay and can save you making a terrible and potentially disastrous mistake. Often real estate agents will tell you how good the property is, how wonderful the builder is etc but they may omit telling  the negative aspects relating to the property. This is why choosing a trustworthy agency is so important when buying real estate. The Eretz Real Estate Agents will always tell you of anything positive or negative about the property as long as they know the facts. The problem is that vendors do not always tell us all they know and real estate agents are not qualified to advise on the structural condition of a property.  In Ramat Gan during Saddam's scud missile attack on Israel there were many cases of damage to buildings, many without sufficient foundations. Many buildings had  to have their foundations reinforced. Only a few weeks ago a contract in Buchman fell apart because of a scary engineer report. The potential buyers fell in love with a particular property and were just about to close and sign the contract. Their independent engineer reported that there is a terrible dampness problem in the basement. The repercussions were devastating. Firstly no expert would promise that even after great expense and turmoil that the dampness problem would definitely be fixed. Secondly that it would mean breaking walls and digging up floors and waiting a year to make sure that everything was fixed before putting in new floors and walls. Even if the vendor or agent tells the buyer there is a particular problem, only an expert can foresee what the implications of the problem could be. I would hope that whoever buys the property  would do their homework and make sure that they fully understand the implications of what they are getting involved with.  We at The Eretz Real Estate Group try our best to inform our clients about location problems, building defects, extensions that are without planning permission etc. What is most important is that we can direct you to the best experts in any particular real estate field to help you understand the whole picture before making irreversible decisions.

Discovering Dampness

The first things to do when looking for dampness in a property is to smell and look around carefully. Musty smells and stains are obvious indications of dampness. The problem is that the causes can be very hard to find and can be very expensive and disruptive to repair. Dampness can be caused because there is lack of ventilation, no windows, bad structural design, outside walls are not treated, bad roofing, broken pipes and inneficient damp courses are examples. Dampness can damage the foundations of the building and can cause mould which can cause health problems. Any damp problem can be caused by a number of deficiency factors. Make sure your building inspecor checks carefully for any dampness problems before buying a property.

Best of luck

Michael Bloom and Jacob Lichter