Seller Disclosure
The seller disclosure is a statement made in good faith regarding the condition of the home he/she is trying to sell. There is a seller disclosure form – called “Form 17” - that is required by most states in the USA and, in it, the home seller must make it known to the home buyer any known structural defects like plumbing and electrical problems, and any history of problems with flood, sinkholes or other prior relevant damages to the property and its land.
Although deliberate misrepresentation within this statement can result in liability charges, the seller disclosure is not a substitute for a home inspection, nor warrants anything.
The contents of a seller disclosure can vary from state-to-state - sometimes from county to county! - but a typical form 17 contains information about:
- Structural, electrical and plumbing status of the house
- Title of the home and any ownership problems
- Hazards like lead paint, toxic mold, asbestos, radon etc.
- Water sources, rights and contamination
- Flood danger and previous flood damages
Most of these forms have questions for the home seller to reply to or boxes to check with “don’t know”, so it’s normal that one detail or another slips away. Plus, a lot of times you will deal with a home seller that has no “in-person” knowledge of the home. Like an investor who bought the house to flip it, so he/she doesn’t know what it “feels” like living in there and their seller disclosure might misrepresent some details of it. That’s why, like we’ve said, a home inspector is still needed to avoid nasty surprises down the road.
Real Estate Tips:
The home inspector is a must, but a good real estate agent will go through everything within the seller disclosure and will be able to point out other non-structural red flags for you too. And the place for good real estate agents is right here! Feel free to contact the one you like the most and good luck!
Popular Real Estate Terms
A gift by will of real property. Absolute legasy: An unconditional and immediate gift. Conditional legasy: The bequest of a gift depends on the occurrence of something happening. For ...
A caveat vendor is a legal principle where the seller is legally responsible for warranting the quality and suitability to task of the item purchased. ...
When a property owner defaults on his or her tax payments, the taxing jurisdiction may force a liquidation of the property or tax sale for the purpose of collecting the owed real estate ...
Supports a structure. ...
Interest rate on a mortgage is changed periodically based on the change in a general price index to take into account inflation, such as a yearly adjustment. An example is the consumer ...
A financial obligation comes in several ways. In general terms, the meaning of liability refers to the amount of money an individual or company owes to a lender. We define the party holding ...
(1) Distribution channel through which originating mortgage lenders distribute mortgages to the Secondary Mortgage Market. Those purchasing mortgages distributed through the conduit ...
Method of constructing a brick, block, or stone wall using mortar in various overlapping patterns. The brick pattern is extremely important in terms of adding strength and stability to the ...
The two terms used to describe professionals in the real estate industry are “realtor” and “real estate agent”. These two terms are used interchangeably or as ...
Have a question or comment?
We're here to help.