Somebody says the house needs a new panel, or the roof is near the end, or there is poly-B in the basement. This tells you what that actually costs in Canada, so the number in your head is a real one before you talk price.
A range is more honest than a single figure, and it is also more useful. The low end usually means straightforward access and a simple house. The high end usually means an older or larger home, difficult access, or a job that turns out to include something else once it is opened up. If you are budgeting, plan for the middle and be pleased if it comes in lower.
The other thing worth knowing is when. A furnace with two years left and a roof with twelve are both real costs, but only one of them competes with your moving expenses. Sorting repairs by when they fall due changes the picture more than the totals do.
Ninety-five of the problems that come up most often when Canadians buy a home, split the way Casaroo splits them: the bones, meaning the systems that cost money whether you like them or not, and the appearance, meaning the things you would change because you want to. Both matter. They just matter differently, and mixing them together is how people talk themselves into the wrong house.
Casaroo reads any listing and flags the big-ticket problems behind the photos, free, in about a minute.
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