Why it matters
Let us be fair about this first, because it matters: a flip is not a crime, and a renovated home is not a trap. Plenty of investors do good work, pull permits, and hand over a genuinely better house. Casaroo does not assume bad faith and neither should you. But there is an asymmetry in the incentives, and it is the whole reason this card exists. A renovator who is going to sell the house has every reason to spend on the things a buyer can see in a photograph, and no reason at all to spend on the things a buyer cannot: the panel, the wiring behind the new drywall, the ducts, the waterproofing behind the new tile, the roof. Those are the expensive, invisible, permit-requiring items. New finishes tell you money was spent. They do not tell you where.
How to spot it
The pattern, not any single item: - Every visible surface is new, and the home is pre-1980. - There are no photos of the panel, the furnace, the water heater, or the roofline. Twenty-five photos, none of a mechanical. - The listing says "fully renovated" or "turnkey" and never says "permits". - The finishes are thin at the edges: quartz counters beside hollow-core doors, new backsplash over original cabinet boxes, new flooring with mismatched or missing transitions, caulk where carpentry should be. - Fresh paint everywhere, including on surfaces that had no reason to be painted.
What it costs
None. This card is a lens, not a line item.
What to do
Ask the question that costs nothing and changes everything: which renovations had permits, and were they closed? In Ontario, electrical permits come from the ESA and are checkable. A renovator who pulled permits will be glad to tell you. One who did not will change the subject, and that answer is also information. Then ask for the photos that were not taken: the panel with the door open, the furnace label, the water heater label, the roofline.
Education and triage, not a home inspection. Casaroo names the pattern when it sees it. It does not accuse anyone of anything, and it never calls work "illegal". It tells you which questions to ask before you remove your conditions.