What You Don’t Tell the Buyer May Come Back to Haunt You When Selling Your Home
The trouble is that what you do tell the buyer may come back to haunt you as well!
In over twenty eight years in the real estate industry, I have never found a more challenging issue for the seller, the agent and the buyer as this one.
You want to sell your home and proceed to tell me what improvements you have made over the years. I take very good notes because I want to pass this information on to my colleagues and to potential buyers.
When we start going over the need for repairs, we usually find some ”dirty little secrets” about your homes condition. Things such as the leak in the ceiling on the second bedroom upstairs, the wet basement during heavy rains, or the noisy pipes in the bathroom.
Are you better off not telling your agent and keeping quiet about any of these issues, or will they come back to haunt you after the new buyers find out?
Most lawyers acting on your behalf will advise you not to sign a Seller Property Information Statement (SPIS) form. This form deals with issues such as the above. It is a voluntary form in Ontario and you are not required by law to sign it.
So what should you do?
My advice to you is to have these deficiencies that have troubled you as an owner, repaired prior to putting your home up for sale. Do not make any guarantees but rather transfer the burden of checking all maintenance and mechanical issues to the buyer. By doing so, you place the responsibility of verifying the condition of your home on the buyers shoulders.
Let the buyer have a home inspector or qualified professional provide her with a full report. This will clarify those items that need immediate attention, as well as those that can wait till a later date. The end result is that now you have set the stage for you and your buyer to negotiate, if necessary, some of these items on an honest and open basis. More importantly, there won’t be any major surprises for the buyer in the future, which could come back to haunt you.
A win-win situation!
Comment from Toronto real estate agent [Visitor]
Time December 31, 1969 at 4:00 pm
I would agree with you that by being open you can avoid a lot of nuisances. As working for a Toronto real estate company for several years, I`ve experienced some really awkward situations. I think that the best thing is that the seller has a home inspector check the imperfections in the house. Then he is able to state a price and it makes negotiating easier as well. Being frank with your realtor I think is a must.