To disclose or not to disclose?
I'm happy to say that after being involved with many transactions throughout the years, I have never had a lawsuit and neither have any of my sellers or buyers that I have represented.
Disclosing anything that has ever been repaired, replaced, modified, added, fixed, or changed is very important and it'll keep you out of litigation. It's essential to go over all of the disclosures prior to placing your home on the Multiple Listing Service, or prior to a buyer seeing the home.
Hi, I'm Stephanie Martenzi, Super Mom Super Agent with Southland Properties. We want buyers to have previously viewed the disclosures prior to making an offer. This will help ensure that the buyer doesn't back out later from things they should have already been made aware of.
Did you know that in California massive amounts of disclosures need to actually be filled out and things need to be disclosed?
This is actually a safety net, not only for a buyer but also for the seller. Anything from whether or not you live on a golf course, or if you have a sex offender living in the surrounding areas, it would have to be disclosed if you knew about it. So if you've painted the walls or changed the carpet, added new lighting or fix the water heater, you need to disclose it.
One of the common things I say to my clients is that if you have to ask me if you should disclose it, most likely, the answer is yes. It's much better to over disclose rather than under disclose, and that will keep you out of the courtroom.
You want the buyer to know anything and everything you know about the home. When you disclose properly, you don't have to worry about them coming back to you later and telling you that they wanna go to court.
Now, obviously you can only disclose what you know about the home. If there are issues with the property that you don't know about, then the buyer would have to prove that you did know and that you kept it from them intentionally.
So disclose, disclose, disclose. If you're thinking of selling, give us a call. We've helped many people just like you in this area and we'd love to help you too.
This is Stephanie Martenzi, Super Mom Super Agent with Southland Properties, here to help you have a fun, empowered, and informed real estate experience by guiding you every step of the way. If you see me out in the community, make sure to say hi.
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