I was reading an article by lawyer Mark Weisleder the other day called 7 Things to Know When Building a Backyard Deck and it reminded me of something that happened very early on in my real estate career.

It was the early 90s and the residential real estate market in central Toronto wasn’t anything like it is today. It was a buyers’ market, if you can believe it. Multiple offers were as rare as unicorns. After looking at a lot of homes, my clients found a home they liked in the Allenby area. They made an offer and settled in for what we expected would be a lengthy negotiation process with lots of back and forth because that’s what happened in those days.

After reviewing my clients’ offer, the sellers made a counteroffer. But before actually giving me the counteroffer, the listing agent explained to me that “We’ve added a clause about the deck. It was built without a permit and it crosses the property line, but it’s not a problem and we just need your clients to acknowledge that they’re aware of these issues and are okay with them.”

I was fairly young at the time and probably a little naïve, too, but I had just left the practice of law and knew a legal problem when I saw one. I advised my clients that there were risks associated with accepting this clause. If they agreed to it and bought this home, their neighbor could require them to remove part of their deck at any point in time because it was on the neighbour’s property. As well, the City could require them to remove the entire deck or apply retroactively for permission to build it, which may or may not be granted, because it was built without a permit. The sellers wouldn’t remove the clause and my clients weren’t prepared to accept these risks so we let the counteroffer expire and moved on.

That didn’t stop the owner of the listing agent’s company from calling me every day for a week to try to convince me that this wasn’t an issue and that my clients should accept the clause. I didn’t blame him for trying. After all, it was the early 90s and sellers often had to wait months to receive an offer. (Hard to believe, isn’t it? These days some people feel like their homes have been on the market forever if they haven’t sold within a week or two.) He kept trying to pressure the young agent (me) and I kept nervously insisting that we had nothing to talk about unless his sellers agreed to obtain a building permit and rebuild the deck to my clients’ satisfaction before closing.

So what’s the moral of this story? If you’re going to build a deck, build it right so you don’t face any problems down the road, especially when it comes time to sell. The same holds true for any work you do to your home. Taking shortcuts or doing things improperly involves risk. When the market is hot and buyers are desperate, some of them may be willing to accept things they wouldn’t otherwise accept. But if the market isn’t smoking hot or you’re faced with buyers who aren’t desperate (and many buyers today may be highly motivated, but they’re not desperate enough to accept unwarranted risks), you may have trouble selling your home.

As always, if you know of anyone who’s looking for an honest realtor who really knows his stuff and won’t pressure them, Please Don’t Keep Me a Secret. I really appreciate your referrals. Thanks for reading and don’t be shy if you have any questions or comments!