Due diligence. When I was a lawyer, I hated this term. It meant long days and nights reading through countless, boring documents. I’m shuddering right now just thinking of it.

Thankfully, I don’t have to do that kind of due diligence any longer, but due diligence has not disappeared from my life altogether. When you buy a home, you spend a lot of money to buy it and you plan to spend a lot of time inside it. You deserve to get what you pay for. The amount you pay should reflect the condition of the home and the amount of enjoyment you’ll get from living there. Let’s call these the bricks & mortar and lifestyle components of your purchase. Before you buy your home, you should try to find out as much as you can about these components to make sure you’re going to be happy there. Obvious examples of this kind of research (or due diligence, but I’m trying to avoid using that term) would be doing a home inspection, asking about the neighbours, checking out the neighbourhood amenities, etc.

But did you ever think of Googling the property address and/or the homeowners? You’d be amazed at what you can find out from Google. Where were you when I was practicing law, Google?

Yesterday, clients of ours told us they’re interested in a home we showed them a few days ago. The home itself is lovely, but one of the more attractive features of the property is that the lot is very deep and many homes in the area have been extensively renovated and added onto. As part of our homework, Corinne googled the address of the property. Lo and behold, what came up but a decision of the Divisional Court relating to a dispute between the sellers and their neighbours over an addition that the sellers wanted to do. These neighbours were not at all happy with the proposed addition and were willing to go to court to stop it. Imagine if our clients were interested in the property because they wanted to do an addition of their own and proceeded to buy it, only to later find out that they would be battling their new neighbours and might not be able to do what they wanted to do? They certainly wouldn’t be happy and we wouldn’t be happy either as we want all our clients to be so happy that they’ll recommend us to everyone they know.

Thankfully, there’s Google. So now you know. Add Google to your arsenal of tools to use when doing your due diligence. It’s quick; it’s easy; and it won’t make you shudder!