What Should WNY Sellers Disclose to Home Buyers?

Posted by Colleen Kulikowski, Licensed Real Estate Salesperson (716) 650-0051 on Sep 21, 2011 in For Sale By Owner, Home Seller Resources, Landlord & Tenant, Real Estate Investors | Comments Off

What to disclose to home buyers.

By law, real estate professionals cannot fill out any sellers’ home disclosures unless the agent is the seller or a party to the transaction. If your agent can’t tell you, ask a lawyer if you need to sign every disclosure handed you.

Every state has its own laws regarding disclosures, so the forms will be different. A federal disclosure such as Lead-Based Paint is required for all transactions if the home was built before 1978.  Chances are in most areas of Western New York you will need this form.

What should I disclose?

Material Facts are commonly referred to as anything that would affect the buyer’s decision to purchase or the price and terms the buyer offers. In other words, if you have knowledge about a defect, it should be disclosed. If a seller discloses something to me and chose to withhold this information from the buyer, I would have had to disclose it because now I had knowledge of a material fact.

Read Also: Things Sellers can do make a buyers day!

Part of this includes any repairs or enhancements that you have done on your Western New York home.  For instance, there was a leak in the roof, we paid xyz company $x.xx to correct and we have not had any problems since.

What About Rumors?

Typically, buyers aren’t upset about these disclosures, even if they are negative. The problem lies in when they feel they have been lied to or tricked.

Are you thinking of selling your Western New York home?  Please feel free to call me if you have additional questions at (716) 650-0051 or fill out our CMA request form to start the process of getting a free comparative market analysis of your WNY home.

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