Buying your first house is an exciting time and you can hardly wait to sign on the dotted line and move in. In fact, even when buying for a second or third time you will feel excited and ready to make that fresh start in a new home that suits you even better than the one before.  However, don’t get carried away be the excitement or the emotional attachment you may feel to a home. Some homes are lemons, having things wrong with them that will have you calling a home maintenance company constantly and will be very costly to fix. How do you spot a lemon?

• Look for damp patches that can signal a problem with the plumbing, the guttering or the waterproofing. These can be in spots other than the basement, so look high and low. Check for fresh patches of paint and suspect that they are there to cover mould that won’t wash out. Mould is very unhealthy to live in so this is definitely a lemon.