Sure, it’s not an easy task to sell a home these days. Besides being exhausting and time-consuming, buyers have hundreds of homes from which to choose. Positioning any house to sell can be akin to either competing in a beauty contest or a study in how low you can go price-wise before it gets the attention it deserved in the first place. Very frustrating.
But at what expense are you willing to sell? Don’t forget that even (and especially) during these rough real estate times, you still must disclose everything and anything you know about the house. Failing to make the proper disclosures (those that have the potential to affect both the current and future value, sale-ability and livability of the property) is illegal. It can get both you and your agent into serious trouble.
So what if there are things even you didn’t know about the property to begin with? Investing in a home inspection before you list your home can reveal all sorts of things that should be disclosed to a potential buyer – even if they are things you have no intention of addressing before you sell. By the same token, if something is found during the course of the inspection that you know would be a real turn-off to potential buyers in an intensely competitive market such as this, you many want to get whatever it is repaired or replaced, so buyers need not even have to think about the time and money it would take to fix it after move-in. Having a copy of that inspection available can actually be a great selling tool as well, showing buyers that you have left no stone unturned.
Disclosure forms are documents that must be signed and dated by both you and your Realtor and then offered to any potential buyers. A good mantra to have is – “if there’s a question about it – disclose it.” Some common items to disclose may evade your radar but are nonetheless of great importance to a potential buyer. Things like a noisy neighbor, trees encroaching onto the property, proximity to busy streets, golf balls regularly being hurled into your backyard, short term rentals in surrounding houses – in other words, anything YOU would want to know before buying a home. Don’t forget to include construction problems you’ve encountered with the original builder of your home, improvements you’ve made without permits being signed off, and electrical issues you’ve had when too many hairdryers get used at the same time.
Don’t let the buyer discover insurance claims against the property when he or she applies for coverage. Get them a CLUE (Claims Loss Underwriting Exchange) report. Only homeowners can obtain it, but buyers can make their entire purchase contingent upon seeing a copy of it.
Of course, if previous occupants have not yet “walked into the light”, potential buyers must be told of either things that go bump in the night or a death that occurred within the house during recent years. Your agent will know the breadth and the extent to which you must disclose. But as we said -- when in doubt, don’t leave it out.
Dena Kouremetis is a veteran freelance real estate consumer journalist and California real estate broker. She may be reached by email at REritr@aol.com.
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