The Seller’s Disclosure
There seems to be an endless stream of paperwork when listing and then selling a property. Besides the contract, only a few other documents are as important as the Seller’s Disclosure. This piece of paper is the seller’s documented statement on the material condition of the home. Since the seller is intimately familiar with the details of the home as opposed to the buyer’s relative lack of knowledge, the Seller’s disclosure is a good faith attempt to level the playing field.
Some elements of the disclosure statement are common to all properties regardless of location. Things such as the lead based paint disclosure or materials used to build the home that are subject to lawsuits (siding, plumbing, roofing, etc). These are all pretty basic and easy to understand.
One of the stickier facets of the disclosure is the material condition section. This is the opportunity for the seller to display all known defects to the property that are not readily apparent to the buyer. A roof leak that has caused the ceiling to collapse is a pretty obvious defect. How about the roof leak that the seller noticed while storing the Christmas decorations in the attic? Yep, it MUST be disclosed. Not only is it the right thing to do, but the seller can face serious legal consequences down the road if it is later discovered by the buyer that known defects were covered up.
As we were all told growing up, honesty is the best policy. Think about how you would feel towards buying a property if you had that nagging feeling the seller was withholding information about the condition of the property. It is not too hard to imagine that a perfectly good buyer has been chased off due to insincerity by the seller. In the end, it just isn’t worth it.
Was there a problem? Yes. Did you fix it? Of course! Great. Now disclose it to the buyer to show them that they will not have to worry about that particular roof leak again!
Contact us for guidance when you are ready to sell your home. The Seller's disclosure is one of many important forms needed to facilitate a successful sale of a home. We have years of experience that make the job look easy!
