What to check before buying a Vancouver duplex

Brand new doesn't mean it's a good buy. I've seen beautiful finishes on layouts nobody wants to live in, and I've sold duplexes with one bedroom on the top floor or two bedrooms in the whole home. That really restricts your buyer pool, and you never get to choose what market you'll be selling in.

A whole top floor as a primary suite is lovely until you have a baby and you are going down the stairs in the middle of the night. It can be perfect for a downsizer. Not every home is built for every life stage, so buy for yours and think about the next person.

• Look for rectangular rooms over big squares, where the kitchen, the living room and the TV wall have nowhere obvious to go. Make sure the rectangle isn't super narrow either.
• Find the dining table. If you have to eat off the island, that matters to a lot of buyers.
• Check for a powder room on the main floor. Having nothing on that level is a huge deterrent.
• Check which way it faces, and see it in the evening. We get four or five bright months here, and a north-facing back unit with trees behind it can be a very dark place to live.

There are side-by-side, front-to-back and split-level duplexes, and the yard changes with each one. Some front-to-back homes leave you a small concrete patio, so you can't just let the dog or the kids out. Some side-by-sides have one open backyard with no fence, shared with everyone in the building, and a lot of people don't want that communal living.

Then look for the utilities. Gas meters, the power pole and utility grates usually land mostly on one side. We bought a duplex in Burnaby for clients with none of them in the yard, and the side that had them all had a hard time selling. I live in a duplex on the East Side myself, and the fenced yard and a garage under the building are why we bought it.

Most Vancouver duplexes on standard lots have secondary suites, and a bigger lot can mean a suite on each side. One duplex can easily house three or more households. They are wood frame, so expect some sound transfer from above or from the side, and more wear on anything you share.

Before you buy, understand the suite's legal status, the existing tenancy terms and how it changes your daily life. If it isn't permitted, read my guide to unpermitted suites and renovations first. Then ask where everyone parks. Is it a garage, a pad, a tandem carport, the lane or the street? If a tenant can't find parking, they won't want to rent from you, and if you are counting on that mortgage helper, like a lot of people are and like we do, that's your problem.

Duplexes are going up all over the city, and plenty of the people building them are first timers. There are so many builders out there who do not know what they're doing, and buyers are getting in a lot of trouble. A cheap one looks the same as a good one in the photos.

Our own builder gave us a lot of issues. We had to use home warranty, and it took almost three years of fighting to get the last deficiency finished. So do the homework before you write:

• Look the property up on BC's new home registry to see the builder and the warranty insurer. Not all warranty providers are equal.
• Read reviews, and pay attention to how the builder answers the bad ones.
• Ask for past clients, and go look at past projects. I went inside homes our builder had done.
• Ask about the things a photo can't show: fire separation, soundproofing between the two sides, glazing, a properly sized heat pump and drainage around the foundation. Get a good inspector.

A duplex is usually a strata with two lots, so you and your neighbour run it. BC's depreciation report rule applies to stratas with five or more lots (Province of BC), which means you get no engineer's schedule and no reserve fund. On an older duplex, you need to know how old the roof is and put money aside every month.

You also need a second insurance policy on the whole building, split with your neighbour, on top of your own contents policy, and that eats into what you thought you were saving against a townhouse. On one duplex we sold, the other owner hadn't paid their share, so the exterior wasn't insured until the money came in or the other owner paid the whole thing and chased them for it.

That's why, when clients are serious about an older duplex, part of the due diligence is meeting the neighbour. How have they handled problems? If it's stacked and the roof only covers one unit, who pays? Fencing? Windows? Talk it through and have a lawyer paper what you agree on. On a newer duplex you shouldn't have much of this for 20 to 30 years.

Have your lawyer review title on every purchase, even a new build, for liens from contractors, easements and anything else charged against it. We looked at one property with about 15 feet of the yard held back for utilities. On an older duplex, confirm the renovations were permitted, because that follows you into your insurance and your next sale. The Red Flag Report has the rest of the list.