Cover Ups and Deceit – Melbourne Home Buyers Beware

If you’re currently in the market to purchase a home, you’ll no doubt find this story quite interesting, and potentially a little alarming.

The Background

We recently had a situation where we conducted two separate Building and Pest Inspections on the same property.

After completing the inspection on the first occasion, the prospective buyer opted not to proceed with completing the contract of sale as their budget wouldn’t stretch far enough to rectify the defects highlighted in the report.

Approximately eight weeks later, we had a booking from a separate party to inspect the same property. Eight weeks is just enough time to warrant an additional inspection as the condition of the property could have changed.

This is where things became interesting…

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Inspect East

117/283 Glen Huntly Rd Elsternwick VIC 3185
Phone (03) 8657 0007
Email: support@inspecteast.com.au
website: https://www.inspecteast.com.au
google maps: https://goo.gl/DxkgiY

Converting from Halogen to LED lights

While the memories of those initial experiences still persist, there has been considerable improvement over the years. Today you can find high quality LED lamps that closely match the performance standards that you would find in the halogen lamps. You can choose from a vast product line and different types of lamps that come in varying colours, brightness and with varied fittings among other desirable properties. Today’s LED lamps provide a more delightful experience with the added benefit of the energy efficiency and cost savings.

Over the past few years, there has been a lot of innovation in the lighting market. Most of the innovations has focused on developing more powerful LED lamps that are extremely energy efficient. Many homeowners are now transitioning to LED lighting but the tough part is how to make the conversion from halogen based to LED-based lighting in your buildings.

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Inspect East

117/283 Glen Huntly Rd Elsternwick VIC 3185
Phone (03) 8657 0007
Email: support@inspecteast.com.au
website: https://www.inspecteast.com.au
google maps: https://goo.gl/DxkgiY

Spotting Faults During an Open House

An open house is an integral part of every house hunt but they can be quite daunting. Not only are they physically exhausting but if you are not keen enough, you may end up overlooking some serious faults that may end up costing you a lot of money should you decide to proceed with the purchase. The average buyer spends 96 minutes looking at the property that they are planning to buy. That may not be enough time to spot all the faults within the property such as the malfunctioning showers, outdated roofing, broken down fixtures or even faulty electrical wiring. Some of these problems can easily be avoided by taking your time to research the property and carrying out assessments during an open house.

It will get a lot harder if you have to tour multiple properties in a day. Keeping track of what you saw where can be a tough prospect. There are issues that you may spot during an open house that may end up costing you a lot more a few years down the line or which may be an indicator to a more serious underlying problem that may not even be easy to fix. Here are some tips on how you can spot the faults during an open house.

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Inspect East

117/283 Glen Huntly Rd Elsternwick VIC 3185
Phone (03) 8657 0007
Email: support@inspecteast.com.au
website: https://www.inspecteast.com.au
google maps: https://goo.gl/DxkgiY

How to Prepare Your House for Sale

Preparing your home for sale usually involves doing some fixes in order to make your property more appealing to prospective buyers. These can range from the minor repairs and renovations such as painting, fixing broken tiles, fixing broken door knobs and doorbells among others. In some cases, it may require a major upgrade or a little fixer-upper.

The kind of upgrades that you wish to carry out on your home ultimately comes down to your objectives, budget as well as time. If you have a short notice and a limited budget, it may be a good idea to zero in on those fixes that will give you the best value for money or the most bang for buck. In this case, you will be optimising your finances in order to have the most impact on your prospective buyers. Here are some tips on how to prepare your house in readiness for a sale.

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Inspect East

117/283 Glen Huntly Rd Elsternwick VIC 3185

Phone (03) 8657 0007

Email: support@inspecteast.com.au

website: https://www.inspecteast.com.au

google maps: https://goo.gl/DxkgiY

How to Avoid Mould Growth in Your Home

The toll of mould growth can be staggering. They break down structures and surfaces such as wood, paint and tiles leading to costly repairs. Mould degradation will also degrade the value of your property in the real estate market. Mouldy conditions can also cause serious discomfort and health complications for the inhabitants such as throat irritation, sinus problems and various other respiratory problems.

The primary catalyst for mould growth is moisture. As long as there is a humid environment, water seepage or water damage on your property, you are most likely going to have a serious mould problem. Here are some tips on how you can prevent the mould growth and ensure you are living in a healthy and structurally sound building.

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Inspect East 

117/283 Glen Huntly Rd Elsternwick VIC 3185
Phone (03) 8657 0007
Email: support@inspecteast.com.au
website: https://www.inspecteast.com.au
google maps: https://goo.gl/DxkgiY

How to Avoid a Dud Property Purchase

Buying a property is an incredibly costly investment. You will probably have to save money for decades or take out a huge bank loan to pay for your investment. Given the high cost and risks involved, it is necessary to carry out a proper due diligence on the property market and the property itself to ensure that you are not making a dud purchase. The property you are buying must be in the best condition before you sign the contract and proceed with the purchase.

Here are some steps and precautions that you can undertake to ensure your property investments are as smooth as possible:

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Inspect East

117/283 Glen Huntly Rd Elsternwick VIC 3185
Phone (03) 8657 0007
Email: support@inspecteast.com.au
website: https://www.inspecteast.com.au
google maps: https://goo.gl/DxkgiY

Units or Houses Which Makes The Best Investment

Property is one of the best asset classes for many Australians looking for investment vehicles. According to the latest ASX Long Term Investment Report, residential property in Australia still yield quite an impressive return on investment and averaged at 8% per annum over a duration of 10 yearss.

Many investors avoid this asset class because it is very costly. To comfortably buy property, you must have saved money for years if not decades and you still have to take a mortgage to afford the property. You will probably pay your mortgage over another two decades.

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Inspect East

117/283 Glen Huntly Rd Elsternwick VIC 3185
Phone (03) 8657 0007
Email: support@inspecteast.com.au
website: https://www.inspecteast.com.au
google maps: https://goo.gl/DxkgiY

Why Building Inspections are Even More Important When Purchasing at Auction

Before you head out to an auction for a particular building or buildings, take the time to visit the property and do a comprehensive building and pest inspection. This is also a risky strategy because you are not guaranteed of a win in the auction but it is a good insurance against a potentially dud property purchase.

Buying properties through auctions can be costly affair if you do not have a well-tuned strategy on assessing the condition and value of properties before heading out to auctions. Without good information and insight into the property, you will probably end up paying too much for it. Buying a dud in an auction may unlock a Pandora’s Box of problems that may end up keeping you out of pocket for many years. If you are buying it as an investment property and you are overpaying for it, you are most likely going to lose money over the long run.

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Inspect East

117/283 Glen Huntly Rd Elsternwick VIC 3185
Phone (03) 8657 0007
Email: support@inspecteast.com.au
website: https://www.inspecteast.com.au
google maps: https://goo.gl/DxkgiY

Tips to Negotiate The Best Price on your New Home

Negotiating the best price for your home is both an art and science which requires a clear strategy, some market insight as well as some persuasion powers. Without a negotiating prowess and a good strategy, you are most likely going to overpay for your home. Here are some tips on how to negotiate the best prices when you are purchasing home inspections melbourne.

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Inspect East

117/283 Glen Huntly Rd Elsternwick VIC 3185

Phone (03) 8657 0007

Email: support@inspecteast.com.au

website: https://www.inspecteast.com.au

google maps: https://goo.gl/DxkgiY

How to Cope with Buying Stress

There are so many choices that are available in the market as well as various features that you need to factor in to get the right home for your needs that will suit your budget. Not to forget the amount of paperwork that you have to handle and the tedious work that goes into preparing the paperwork.

However, with the right approach on your part, you can get this process right without losing your sanity. Here are some useful tips on how you can stay focused during the house inspections melbourne and get the keys to your dream home with a complete peace of mind.

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Inspect East

117/283 Glen Huntly Rd Elsternwick VIC 3185
Phone (03) 8657 0007
Email: support@inspecteast.com.au
website: https://www.inspecteast.com.au
google maps: https://goo.gl/DxkgiY

Watch Out in Renovating Your Bathroom

All bathrooms must be thoroughly wet-proofed otherwise you will be creating the perfect recipe for disaster. Don’t skimp on your bathroom waterproofing. Hire a licensed and professional bathroom renovations expert with extensive experience in waterproofing who will pay close attention to this aspect of your renovations. Poor bathroom waterproofing is one of the top building problems experienced in many Australian homes and its long term effect can be costly.

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Inspect East
117/283 Glen Huntly Rd Elsternwick VIC 3185
Phone (03) 8657 0007
Email: support@inspecteast.com.au
website: https://www.inspecteast.com.au
google maps: https://goo.gl/DxkgiY

Maintaining Your Home

Buying a home or building a new home is a huge step for a first-time buyer. To ensure that your home remains in tip-top shape and that it does not shed some of its value, you have to have a regular home maintenance regimen that will keep the home looking good while maintaining its structural integrity as well as the condition of the various surfaces in the home.

Here are some useful tips in home inspection process for the best condition and save some money over the long term.

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Inspect East

117/283 Glen Huntly Rd Elsternwick VIC 3185
Phone (03) 8657 0007
Email: support@inspecteast.com.au
website: https://www.inspecteast.com.au
google maps: https://goo.gl/DxkgiY

The Rights of Tenants

Renters face a lot of pressure in an increasingly costly property market where many are getting priced out. Knowing your rights is a step in the right direction to ensuring you have a smooth and pain-free stay in your new premises. Here is a look at some of the basic rights and responsibilities that you have as a tenant in Australia.

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Inspect East 117/283 Glen Huntly Rd Elsternwick VIC 3185 Phone (03) 8657 0007 Email: support@inspecteast.com.au website: https://www.inspecteast.com.au google maps: https://goo.gl/DxkgiY

Buyer Beware Flippers Looking for Properties to Turn a Quick Buck

The business is partly driven by the current market activity. The Australian real estate market is in a kind of mini-boom so flippers can buy more properties with confidence and move them quickly to recoup their investments.

House flipping is also lucrative because current investors do not have to compete with upcoming construction projects as was the case a decade ago. What is being sold are mainly pre-existing properties and that creates some good activity in the market.

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Inspect East

117/283 Glen Huntly Rd Elsternwick VIC 3185
Phone (03) 8657 0007
Email: support@inspecteast.com.au
website: https://www.inspecteast.com.au
google maps: https://goo.gl/DxkgiY

Common Mistakes Made when Renovating Your Home

Professional home renovations bring out the “hidden value” in your property. It is an opportunity to re-imagine your home design and function and bring out the best in it based on your current tastes and preferences. Yet home renovations can go awry and in the process, waste a lot of your money.


Bad renovations are not just a financial waste; they are also unsightly and may lower the value of your property. It is therefore important to watch out on some of the common home renovation mistakes that are likely to ruin your reno projects.

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Inspect East
117/283 Glen Huntly Rd Elsternwick VIC 3185
Phone (03) 8657 0007
Email: support@inspecteast.com.au
website: https://www.inspecteast.com.au
google maps: https://goo.gl/DxkgiY

Costs in Selling and Buying a New Property

Buying or selling property is no doubt an engaging and tedious process involving lots of documentation and transactions. Beyond the buying or selling prices, there are numerous fees that you also have to foot throughout the process. Here is a look at some of the costs that you will most likely grapple with when it comes to the buying and selling of property.

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Inspect East
117/283 Glen Huntly Rd Elsternwick VIC 3185
Phone (03) 8657 0007
Email: support@inspecteast.com.au
website: https://www.inspecteast.com.au
google maps: https://goo.gl/DxkgiY

Why Saving for Your First Property is So Difficult

If you are grappling with pressing current expenses, future plans and priorities such as college or real estate investment will quickly stop being priorities. They will simply be unachievable goals. It is called the psychology of scarcity. Once you are in the grip of it, you are practically helpless when it comes to prudent financial management. You will be living for the moment and surrendering your affairs to “fate”. And fate may not be so forgiving.

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Inspect East
117/283 Glen Huntly Rd Elsternwick VIC 3185
Phone (03) 8657 0007
Email: support@inspecteast.com.au
website: https://www.inspecteast.com.au
google maps: https://goo.gl/DxkgiY

What are the Best Areas to Look for Properties for Capital Gain?

If you are scoping out real estate for capital gains, you have to look at various aspects of the location or target market. Is it a “dying” neighborhood or one that is undergoing a great deal of commercial or industrial rejuvenation and where significant wealth is likely to be created in the coming decades?

Some of the best areas to purchase property for capital gains include the following.

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Inspect East

117/283 Glen Huntly Rd Elsternwick VIC 3185
Phone (03) 8657 0007
email: support@inspecteast.com.au
website: https://www.inspecteast.com.au
google maps: https://goo.gl/DxkgiY

New Trends in Gardens and Outdoor Living

Create a Little Luxury in Your Backyard

You can bring out the luxury in your backyard with beautifully designed landscaping and gardening. There are thousands of gardening ideas that you can work with but you will have to factor in things such as the choice of plants, the design and other attractive features. You can create a rose garden or add some clematis among other plants.

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Inspect East
117/283 Glen Huntly Rd Elsternwick VIC 3185
Phone (03) 8657 0007
Email: support@inspecteast.com.au
website: https://www.inspecteast.com.au
google maps: https://goo.gl/DxkgiY

Termite of the Week

It is not an everyday occurrence to find live termites. I found this colony on a routine pre-purchase building and pest inspection in the Eastern suburbs of Melbourne.

The termites discovered appeared to be from the Termopsidae family. The identification needs at least a 10X hand lens or preferably a low power microscope. However the only way of being sure of a species is to collect specimens and refer them to a scientific authority with a termite specialist. It is also important to document the date, geographic location, collector’s name and reference number.

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117/283 Glen Huntly Rd Elsternwick VIC 3185
Phone (03) 8657 0007
Email: support@inspecteast.com.au
website: https://www.inspecteast.com.au
google maps: https://goo.gl/DxkgiY

What makes the best investment? Shares or property?

This is the dilemma of every aspiring property investor, especially given the recent turmoil in the real estate and financial markets and the backdrop of the 2008 financial crisis and the foreclosure crisis. Given the rising inflation, it is key that investors make the most of their investments using the right investment vehicle.

Picking the right investment channel, whether stocks or property, can help you ride out the storm of uncertainty. Grappling with the stocks versus share dilemma. Let us try and unweave the strands and see which option might most suitable for your circumstances.

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Inspect East

117/283 Glen Huntly Rd Elsternwick VIC 3185
Phone (03) 8657 0007
Email: support@inspecteast.com.au
website: https://www.inspecteast.com.au
google maps: https://goo.gl/DxkgiY

Building Inspections After Severe Storm

Sometimes, even structurally-sound buildings will be affected by powerful storms such as the hurricanes and tropical storms. The effect is more magnified in the coastlines where a tidal surge can have a strong wind component that will shake the very foundations of your property.
Storm occurrences can cause minor or significant structural damage to your buildings. That is why after a storm, it is advisable to carry out a comprehensive building inspection to spot the areas in the structure that may have been compromised by the storm. These must be identified and rectified immediately as they may end up spreading out to the entire structure over the long term.

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Inspect East
117/283 Glen Huntly Rd Elsternwick VIC 3185
Phone (03) 8657 0007
Email: support@inspecteast.com.au
website: https://www.inspecteast.com.au
google maps: https://goo.gl/DxkgiY

Watch Outs When Renovating Your Kitchen

Kitchen renovation or remodeling is generally a critical but massive home improvement project. It will change the look and feel of your kitchen and sink lots of cash. It is an essential renovation if you are planning to sell your house because the eyes of many home-buyers are generally trained on the kitchen and the bathroom. If they are impressed by what they see, it is like to factor a lot into their decision on whether to purchase the property.

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Inspect East
117/283 Glen Huntly Rd Elsternwick VIC 3185
Phone (03) 8657 0007
Email: support@inspecteast.com.au
website: https://www.inspecteast.com.au
google maps: https://goo.gl/DxkgiY

How Baby Boomers Affect the Melbourne Property Market

There are numerous instances where the reserve prices of top end Melbourne real estate are tending towards $1 million due to the impact of aspirational Baby Boomer buyers who are shopping for an ideal and luxurious living environment. Baby Boomers are not just buying properties for the sake of it; they are looking for the convenient living spaces that they have always aspired for and now they are able to afford.

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Inspect East
117/283 Glen Huntly Rd Elsternwick VIC 3185
Phone (03) 8657 0007
Email: support@inspecteast.com.au
website: https://www.inspecteast.com.au
google maps: https://goo.gl/DxkgiY

What is Thermal Imaging?

Thermal imaging is as close as you can get to “seeing through walls” and it is therefore deployed in numerous applications such as security surveillance systems to detect or track intruders, firefighting, search and rescue operations, maritime navigation applications, gas detection, equipment preventive maintenance, termite or pest detection, electrical troubleshooting, leak detection, building maintenance and numerous other uses. Thermal imaging techniques find wide applications in diagnostic work in all kinds of industries.

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Inspect East

117/283 Glen Huntly Rd Elsternwick VIC 3185

Phone (03) 8657 0007

Email: support@inspecteast.com.au

website: https://www.inspecteast.com.au

google maps: https://goo.gl/DxkgiY

Why Getting a House Inspection is a Must

If you’re about to embark on purchasing a new home, it will certainly be in your best interest to have a home inspection completed.

In short, a home inspector goes through a home and checks fixtures, plumbing, wiring, and the foundations of the house to make sure it is all structurally sound. Then they’ll inspect the outside of the home along with the roof to make sure there isn’t any exterior damage.

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Inspect East
117/283 Glen Huntly Rd Elsternwick VIC 3185
Phone (03) 8657 0007
Email support@inspecteast.com.au
website https://www.inspecteast.com.au
google maps: https://goo.gl/DxkgiY

Dilapidation Survey – What it is and How it Affects the Buyer and Seller of a Property

A dilapidation survey is a prudent step that you should go for if your premises are close to a small scale or large scale commercial construction project that will involve various construction-related activities such as demolition work, road works, pile driving or subdivisions. It is the best tool to protect your investment and avoid future disagreement over damages to your property due to construction works nearby.

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Inspect East
117/283 Glen Huntly Rd Elsternwick VIC 3185
Phone (03) 8657 0007
Email: support@inspecteast.com.au
website: https://www.inspecteast.com.au
google maps: https://goo.gl/DxkgiY

Thinking like a property investor can earn you over $22,000 a year

Many Australians don’t realise that their family home is an investment in itself, that can be leveraged to generate a regular income. But by taking a page out of the investor handbook and turning your family home into a revenue stream, you could pocket over $22,000 a year.

So how do you do that? Much of what it means to think like an investor comes down to maximising the returns on the property you already own. Here are a few top ideas to get you started.

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Inspect East 
117/283 Glen Huntly Rd Elsternwick VIC 3185 
Phone (03) 8657 0007 
Email: support@inspecteast.com.au 
website: https://www.inspecteast.com.au 
google maps: https://goo.gl/DxkgiY