Real Estate is full of questions, many of which we know the answers to , and others which need investigating.  Just this week, I worked with some buyers that  hired me for my architectural expertise, knowing I can help them identify design elements in a property, possible problems as well as answer questions about construction.

We walked into a great historic property that had updates and a master suite addition.  While looking at the property, my customer asked the seller's agent if the new windows were impact resistant (impact resistant windows are extremely popular in South Florida now, after the busy Hurricane seasons we have had).  The agent quickly responded that they were not.  I looked outside the window for evidence of a track or bolts for hurricane shutters and did not see any so I asked if the windows had hurricane shutters, to which the agent responded "no".

Under normal circumstances, that would have been the end of the conversation - windows were new, were not impact resistant and had no shutters. 

But guess what?  In my eyes, that would be a total disservice to any customer buying a property.  South Florida Building Code requires that any newly installed window be either impact resistant or have shutters.  Not meeting one of those requirements can only mean one thing, the windows were installed without permits.  This can be a big deal because the new owner can be liable for doing work to the house with no permits - the seller in that case failed to disclose which in turn made me wonder what else had been done in that "remodeled" home without permits.

I don't even know what to make of this next example, but now I look back and find it funny.  We were about to walk back into another house after looking at its new pool and the seller's agent told my buyer customers that the seller had gone out of his way to use top of the line finishes and had even buried the electrical lines to the house so that the wires did not look ugly and to protect them from hurricane damage. 

Now this one made me smile because my customers were very impressed and said "Wow! the owner did that, that's impressive!".  Once again, I explained that the owner did that because it was a code requirement, electrical lines cannot run on top of a pool and code requires that these are buried 10 feet away from the water line of the pool.

These are only 2 examples of questions that come up regularly when we show homes.  As a buyer, if you wouldn't know any better, you would just nod, agree and be gullible.   It really helps to have a knowledgeable real estate agent by your side, to inform you, to explain details, and to correct false information.  When we got back in the car, my customers said " Isn't it great that we are working with the best Realtor Architect?" - that  was the best part of my day!