Buyer Beware: Understanding Property Disclosure
The last thing you want right after buying your dream home is to find out you are missing crucial information. As an Accredited Buyer’s Representative (ABR®), I am here to make sure your home purchase is full of excitement and not surprise expenses!
In this article published by REBAC of the National Association of Realtors, the Seller Property Disclosure is covered. The Seller Property Disclosure is a form completed by the Seller. It describes the home they are selling that is intended to highlight the condition of the property. Within this report, many critical aspects of the home are disclosed. Among other things, the age of the furnace, A/C, and roof are included as well as if there ever has been flooding or termites.
The seller property disclosure is by no means a replacement for a full home inspection. It provides you an idea of the past and current condition of the home. I can help you understand the property disclosure so that you can approach home buying fully armed with all of the information available to you.
When is a Property Disclosure Not Available
It is customary for the property disclosure to be available when the individual(s) selling the home have also lived in the home, but sometimes it is not available. Common situations are:
- The home is part of an estate
- The home was a “Flip”, meaning an investor purchased the home and renovated it and is now selling it.
In these situations, the seller may not have enough information about the home to provide an accurate assessment and exercise their right to not complete the form.
How to minimize the risk
The primary method to reduce risk is a thorough home inspection by a qualified inspector. The home inspector will evaluate the entire home, including structural and functional. This evaluation will be accompanied by a comprehensive report which highlights concerns found during the inspection. From this report, I will negotiate on your behalf to either have the items fixed or have a credit provided so that you can fix them issues. If for some reason, we can not come to an agreement with the seller, you can typically cancel the contract with no repercussions.
Another service I perform is to dig into town records for past and current permits. While this may not be a positive indicator of the condition of the home, it will provide clues as to what was or was not done to the home based on available town records.
Finally, if there are enough concerns or if you just would like to eliminate many of the risks, I can recommend to you a home warranty, that for a few hundred dollars a year will protect you from many problems that could arise in a home.
I highly recommend you read the attached article, BUYER BEWARE: UNDERSTANDING PROPERTY DISCLOSURES, and then give me a call so that I can represent you on your next purchase!