Would you let your kids grow up in grow op?

It seems some people are unwittingly doing just that. Home buyers in the current cut-throat market are waving home inspections as a condition of buying a home in an effort win bidding wars.

Allan Spisak, chairperson of the Professional home and property inspectors of Canada says a buyer recently bought what appeared to be a beautiful, three-bedroom, two car garage home in the GTA that was once used as a marijuana grow up.

“Whoever bought it probably never looked in the attic,” he says, pointing out that a home inspection would have spotted black mould in the attic, a result of the grow-op.

“They are going to move in and they’re not going to know what’s up there.”

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He estimates 6 out of 7 home owners are by-passing home inspections these days.

“What’s happening in this competitive market,” Spisak says, “is people are bidding over-price with lower or no conditions in order to get that house.”

The housing market in the GTA has been red hot. Earlier this month, the Toronto Real Estate Board reported single-detached home prices in Toronto hit an average of $1.258 million in April, up a whopping 18.9 per cent in one year. That works out to an increase of $550 dollars a day.

Romana King, Real Estate specialist at Moneysense says not getting a home inspections is dangerous.

“You really need to understand what you are buying,” she says, “you are buying a very large investment. So skipping a home inspection can lead to whole host of problems later on.”