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| Disclosure |
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| Concealing Defects | Disclosure Laws | Do I Disclose Problems |
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Concealing Defects  |
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| At the time you list your home for sale you will be asked to disclose, in writing, any defects that you are aware of. If temptation whispers in your ear and tells you not to be honest - don't listen! |
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| None of us wants any more stress in our lives. Being dishonest about the condition of your home will open the door to avoidable and unwelcome problems. |
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| Being less than honest about the condition of your house can not only leave you open to legal action from the purchaser, but may also cause you to lose potential buyers. Most buyers will have an inspection done of your home before closing the deal. |
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| If the inspection turns up defects that you must have known about, the buyer may then view you as dishonest. The buyer will then tend to wonder if there are other defects that have been concealed or may just be annoyed because he feels he has not been honestly dealt with. |
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| In either case, the buyer will most likely choose to exercise his right to cancel the deal due to the inspection failing. |
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| A purchaser, who is made aware in advance of any defects, will be more motivated to continue to try and strike a deal. Remember that people are different and a defect that may seem large to you may be minor to a prospective purchaser. An ailing senior with limited funds will view replacing a toilet in an entirely different way than a young healthy plumber! If there are things on the disclosure list that you are unsure of, ask your Realtor® to go through the list with you. |
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| Disclosure Laws |
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| If the wood floor in the dining room is rotten in the middle and you plop a rug and the big table over it - and you don't tell your listing Realtor® - the next big table you look over may be in a courtroom! |
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| When your Realtor® asks you for a list of any defects that's in your house, they are not just using fair business practices; they are also obeying the law. No longer is it "buyer beware" in our country. There are laws in place specifically governing the disclosure of defects by the seller of a home. |
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| Your Realtor® will ask you for written and signed disclosure of any defects. Failing to do this, can not only result in the loss of a sale if the buyer discovers the defect before the deal is closed, it can also leave you open to litigation. |
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| The buyer may sue you when the defect is discovered and the court will not be sympathetic to you. Claiming ignorance is not likely to be any more effective than telling the Police Officer who is writing you a ticket that you didn't know what the speed limit was! |
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| Do I Disclose Problems |
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| Almost all litigation relating to real estate involves buyers suing sellers for undisclosed structural problems. And, when it comes to leaking roofs, plumbing disasters, heating problems, dry rot, and flooding basements—the courts usually reject the “let the buyer beware” argument. |
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| Putting a “quirky” or flawed property up for sale may be okay if you and the Realtor® give buyers full information on the house’s defects. But, even if you have had a structural inspection and sold your home “as is”, you may not be in the clear. |
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| You are legally obliged to disclose all defects in the property you sell. Courts are very unsympathetic to people who have lived in seriously flawed homes and sold them to others without full disclosure. |
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