Inspections Suffering In Booming Moncton Housing Market
MONCTON–Houses in New Brunswick continue to sell like hotcakes.
Jeff Leblanc, the president of Cottage to Castle Home Inspection Services, says a booming housing market might seem like good news for home inspectors.
But with so many people competing to buy, it is actually the complete opposite.
Leblanc says there are more than 470 realtors and 400 active listings in the Moncton real estate market. That includes new construction that isn’t yet finished.
“Two years ago, we would have had 2000 to 2500 listings at this time. I looked at numbers over the last four weeks. The Moncton real Estate Board has sold 25 percent more homes than last year and I have inspected 60 percent less,” Leblanc says.
He says there is such a demand for homes that buyers are choosing to forego the home inspection. Some are buying without even seeing the property in person first.
“One of our competitors, they’ve made the decision to close the business right now. They are not sure if it is temporary or permanent. With the way the market conditions are it’s unfortunate that is what is going to happen. There are going to be some home inspection companies that are not going to be able to survive the shift in the market,” he says.
Leblanc adds it is tough to pay employees when there is no business coming in.
For people who have recently bought and chose not to have their home inspected, Leblanc says “it’s never too late” to have a home inspection.
“We have done some home inspections for people who have been living in their homes for 10 years and they just want an update and an education on their home,” he says. “It is going to be challenging… because they chose to not have a home inspection, but it doesn’t mean that there aren’t benefits to helping them maintain that property moving forward so that they can address any concerns that are small now that could be larger down the road.”
Tara Clow is the news director with 91.9 The Bend in Moncton, a Huddle content partner.