Three tiers, and only one of them should scare you
Buyers tend to treat every inspection finding as equivalent. They are not. It helps to sort anything found into three groups.
- Cosmetic and expected — worn flooring, dated kitchens, tired paint, a furnace approaching end of life. These are priced in, and largely why the home costs what it does.
- Costly but bounded — a roof needing replacement, an old electrical panel, poor grading. You can get a number, and a number can be negotiated.
- Structural, insurance or financing problems — the ones that change whether the house can be insured, mortgaged, or resold. These are the real red flags, and they are worth walking away from more often than buyers realise.
The third group is small. Most of what an inspector finds is tier one or two.
The findings that actually matter in Calgary
Plumbing and wiring that insurers dislike
Poly-B plumbing and aluminum wiring are both common in specific build eras here, both are still in thousands of Calgary homes, and both can affect what an insurer will write and at what price. Neither is automatically a deal breaker. Both are things you want to know before you remove conditions, not after.
Water where it should not be
Basement moisture in Calgary is usually a grading, downspout or window-well problem rather than a foundation failure — which is good news, because those are fixable for a few thousand dollars. But you have to establish which it is. Efflorescence on foundation walls, a dehumidifier running in a finished basement, and fresh paint on the bottom of a wall are all worth asking about directly.
Foundation movement
Hairline vertical cracks in a poured foundation are extremely common and rarely significant. Horizontal cracks, stepped cracking in block, doors that will not latch, and floors out of level are a different conversation and warrant an engineer, not just an inspector.
Roof age, in a hail city
Calgary sees more damaging hail than almost anywhere else in the country, and that shortens asphalt shingle life meaningfully. A roof that would last 29 years elsewhere may not here. Ask the age, ask whether it has been through a claim, and ask whether the claim was paid out and the work actually done.
Unpermitted work
A basement development, a suite, a wall removed, a deck. Unpermitted work is a discount rather than a feature, can complicate insurance, and becomes your problem to disclose when you sell. Permits are searchable — ask for them.
What to do with a finding
The useful question is never "is this bad?" It is "what does this cost, who else will care, and does it change what the house is worth?" A $12,000 roof on a home priced as though the roof were new is a negotiation. The same roof on a home already priced for it is not.
The most expensive mistake is not buying a house with problems — almost every house has problems. It is buying one without knowing which problems, and paying the price of a house that does not have them.
Stucco cracks and what the exterior is telling you
Stucco is everywhere in Calgary, and cracking in it is one of the most common things buyers ask about after a showing. Most of it is not a red flag.
- Fine hairline cracking across a wall is ordinary movement and weathering in a climate that swings this far between seasons.
- Diagonal cracks radiating from window and door corners are stress concentration points and are common. Worth noting, rarely structural on their own.
- Stepped or widening cracks, bulging, or cracking that lines up with something inside — a door that will not latch, a floor out of level — change the subject from the stucco to the foundation. Which foundation cracks are serious.
- Staining, or soft material below a crack, suggests water is getting behind the cladding. That is the finding worth paying attention to, because what it damages is not visible from outside.
The same logic applies to siding and shingles after a hail season: dents and bruising are cosmetic until they are not, and the question to ask is whether a claim was made, paid and completed. Hail and your home.
Where an exterior finding is unclear, the next step is the trade rather than a second opinion from the internet. A stucco contractor or a roofer looking at the actual wall will tell you in ten minutes what a forum will argue about for a week.
When to actually walk away
The tiers above say the third group is worth walking away from more often than buyers realise. Here is what that group actually looks like.
- You cannot get the home insured at a price you will accept. No insurance means no mortgage advance, so this ends the purchase whether or not you love the house.
- The problem has no number. A roof has a quote. Foundation movement that an engineer will not put a bound on does not, and you cannot negotiate against an unknown.
- Fixing it needs permission you do not control — a neighbour, a utility right of way, the City, or a condo corporation.
- Unpermitted work cannot be brought into compliance without undoing it.
- The reason it is cheap is permanent. Backing an arterial, a layout that cannot be reworked, a tiny lot. You will eventually sell to a buyer as reluctant as you are. The cheapest house on the best street.
And one that appears on no inspection report: your condition period is running out and the answers have not arrived. Ask for an extension early and in writing. Walking away is recoverable; waiving in the dark is not. The Calgary condition period playbook.