Whether buying or selling a house, the existence or lack of building permits for past work is easy to determine in the city of Arvada, Colorado. And it's an interesting little bit of sleuthing too, based on my recent experiences.
My eyes were opened to the importance of checking for building permits recently when my clients made an offer on a beautifully remodeled home. The place had been purchased recently for over $100,000 less, with some mention of structural issues in the listing. I checked with the listing agent, who forwarded the receipts for the work - done by a structural enginering firm. I called the engineer and found out about their warranty. He also said he'd personally explain to the buyers what they did and how they solved the structural problems.
Then, we noticed that there was a new electrical box and wiring, and there was also a new roof, windows, many other items. After we got under contract, I checked for permits.
There were no permits on record - not even for the structural work!
Not surprisingly, my clients backed out of the deal.
So then, I previewed three other houses I thought might work for them, and recommended they see all three because they each had their 
plusses and their issues, but any of them could work. This time, I decided to check those pesky building permits before I even showed the homes, and here's what I found:
Home # 1
- The house that needed the most work, and that the agent had written, 'Property is sold "AS IS", but also claimed, 'newer furnace and water heater' had no building permits on record.
Home #2
- The other one that mentioned 'newer furnace and hot water heater', had permits on record for both of those appliances, from January of 2006. Yeah! This home also happened to be one of the best-looking homes I've seen in this price range, as far as looking like the owner tended it carefully. Very clean and well taken care of.
Home #3
- MLS listing only said, 'Quiet street, very clean and neat'. But when I checked building permits, I found a new roof (1 month old), sprinkler system (2007), vinyl windows (2001), and a water heater (2004). Hmmm ... these are things an agent might want to mention in the marketing, I'd think.
When I checked building permits for my other home buyers, who are already under contract, one home showed a roof permit from last month (BTW - there was a big hail storm in Arvada a month ago, hence the abundance of new roofs.), a furnace in 2002, and the gas fireplace was permitted in 1991. The other one (a townhouse) showed a hot water heater in May of 2009 and a furnace in 2002.
Good to know - interesting that in neither case did the sellers note on their property disclosures how new these appliances were. Weird, huh?
To check building permits on homes in the City of Arvada, simply go to http://arvada.org/DM/address.php and input the address. Click on 'Get Doc' and all the building permits of record come right up.
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Arvada is a historic town about midway between Denver and Boulder in Jefferson County, Colorado. There are many different neighborhood styles and homes prices, all served by well-loved schools. Call me to talk about the kind of neighborhood you dream of living in.
Read more about life in Arvada, Colorado.
Gardeners might enjoy my posts about gardening in Denver to Boulder’s front range.
I write posts on real estate issues and local events in the Denver metro area, especially those communities between Denver and Boulder, as a public service. My hope is to give people an idea of the ‘flavor’ of our community, in case they’re new or moving to the Denver area.
I am a residential real estate agent, happily helping folks buy a house or sell a house in the beautiful and friendly suburbs northwest of Denver.
Copyright © 2009 Joetta Fort, The DiGiorgio Group
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