Mike Holmes Inspections Partners with iVerify

Mike Holmes' company, Mike Holmes Inspections, has formed a partnership with iVerify, an Ottawa company which provides detailed Home History Reports to potential home buyers. "This is crucial information for anyone buying a home," states Mike in the below article. He adds, "It gives you essential facts that every homeowner has a right to know. You should know if the home you're buying was a grow-op, or if there was a fire. That could mean thousands of dollars in repairs." In these articles, one from Canada Newswire and one from the Ottawa Citizen, MHI's role in providing iVerify reports with every inspection it conducts is discussed at length. Read on...

 

 

 

From Canada Newswire:

Don't buy a lemon! Protect your investment with a Home History Report from Mike Holmes Inspections and iVerify

TORONTO, Jan. 15, 2013 /CNW/ - Mike Holmes Inspections (MHI) is proud to announce its partnership with iVerify™. iVerify™ is the company behind the first Canadian Home History Report service. The partnership means MHI clients will receive a detailed Home History Report with their home inspection. Interested homeowners can also purchase the report without a home inspection.
The report is based on data from municipal, provincial and federal records and includes information on any insurance claims and municipal building permits associated with the property, potential clandestine labs and drug operations formerly on the property, as well as previous sales price(s).
"This is crucial information for anyone buying a home," stated Mike Holmes. "It gives you essential facts that every homeowner has a right to know. You should know if the home you're buying was a grow-op, or if there was a fire. That could mean thousands of dollars in repairs," added Holmes.
MHI Director Ashley Shojaie is responsible for developing the partnership. "This service is most valuable to homebuyers because it helps them make a smart investment," stated Shojaie. "But it can also help current homeowners understand underlying issues in their home and develop a strategy for necessary repairs."
iVerify President and CEO Alexandre Morin targeted MHI as a strategic partner to help bring additional transparency to real estate transactions.
"I am very proud of this partnership," stated Morin. "MHI has established itself as an industry innovator. We are confident that this agreement will allow iVerify™ to position its Home History Report as an essential tool for all parties involved in real estate transactions. iVerify™ couldn't be happier to have partnered with the most trusted name in the industry," added Morin.
The iVerify™ Report is a complete home due diligence report on any Canadian property, generated by searching the address of a property against millions of records from key sources and obtaining the most current data available.
About Mike Holmes Inspections
Mike Holmes Inspections is an independent home inspection service company providing thorough, fair and educated assessments of building structures and systems by integrating advanced technologies with sophisticated industry techniques. It invests in the development of industry standards through collaborations and third-party ventures with educational institutions and industry associations.
SOURCE: Mike Holmes Inspections
For further information: For more information on Mike Holmes Inspections, please visit
www.mikeholmesinspections.com.
For all queries regarding Mike Holmes Inspections, please contact:
Ashley Shojaie, Director
contactus@mikeholmesinspections.com
For all queries regarding the iVerify™ Report service, please contact:
Alexandre Morin, President and CEO
amorin@iVerify.com

 

From Ottawa Citizen:

Home shopping without surprises

 

History Report aims to do for real estate what Carfax has done for used car buying

By Vito Pilieci, Ottawa Citizen January 16, 2013 10:02 AM

Alexandre Morin is CEO of Ottawa company iVerify. The company produces reports about a home’s history.

Photograph by: Bruno Schlumberger, Ottawa Citizen

OTTAWA — An Ottawa company called iVerify hopes to forever change the way Canadians buy houses — and it’s enlisted the help of Canada’s best known handyman to get the word out.
Mike Holmes will help promote the firm’s Canadian Home History Report, which details all of the insurance claims, building permits, previous sales prices and other municipal, provincial and federal records that will be of interest to a potential buyer. The report also flags homes that were marijuana grow operations or used as clandestine drug labs.
“It’s not until you talk to your new neighbour that you learn the truth about why the previous owner really wanted to sell the property,” said Alexandre Morin, chief executive of iVerify. “Or, you try to insure (a home) and the broker tells you, ‘We can insure it, but it’s going to cost you $1,000 more because its prone to flooding and it’s happened before.’ ”
Buyers of resale homes are supposed to be informed about significant renovations, fires, flooding or other issues. However, a real estate agent is only privy to the details a home seller is willing to share. If the seller doesn’t tell the agent about problems with repeated flooding, that information may never reach potential buyers.
Morin said that until iVerify launched in March 2012, it was difficult to collect all historical information about a home. His company negotiated deals with insurance companies and municipal, provincial and federal governments to gain access to the details needed to provide historical reports to potential home buyers. It also created and maintains a cross-country database of grow ops and clandestine labs so it can flag those homes to prospective buyers.
“Realtors have been able to hide behind the fact that they didn’t know and they didn’t have any resources to find that information. Therefore they didn’t have to disclose it,” said Morin. “We wanted to come up with a solution for industry professionals and home buyers to lean against, at an affordable price, so they can make an informed decision.”
The company hopes to become like Carfax, which has changed the way people buy cars by presenting a vehicle’s ownership, accident and insurance claim history.
Reports from iVerify range from four to six pages and cost between $49 and $99, depending on how much information a person wants on the property. Real estate agents and other professionals who plan to be heavy users of iVerify services are offered discounted rates.
The company, which started out under the name HomeProof, employs six and is privately funded. Despite being relatively unknown, the firm has already caught the attention of one of the country’s most vocal proponents when it comes to increasing accountability in Canada’s real estate industry.
“This is crucial information for anyone buying a home,” said Mike Holmes in a release. “It gives you essential facts that every homeowner has a right to know. You should know if the home you’re buying was a grow-op, or if there was a fire. That could mean thousands of dollars in repairs.”

Holmes, the star of popular television shows on HGTV Canada, has for years been crusading for better building codes and encouraging homeowners to be extra vigilant when it comes to hiring contractors, buying a new home or performing renovations.
Under the agreement with iVerify, Holmes’s company, Mike Holmes Inspections (MHI), will provide iVerify report to all of its clients. Holmes is not receiving any financial consideration for endorsing the Ottawa company.

© Copyright (c) The Ottawa Citizen