This is a crucial piece of your listing documents
When you decide to sell your home there seems to be a lot of paperwork in order for us, or any agent and client, to get your property on market… it is a necessary evil and a few require more thought than the others. Right after the listing agreement, the next most important document is the Seller’s Disclosure. This document lists everything that you know about the current property- including any knowledge you gained while purchasing the property that remains an issue or event to disclose!
It is very important to not withhold anything to make something “look better” because it actually does the opposite… to put it simply, if you ask yourself “does ‘X’ count..?” disclose it. You as the seller are filling out the disclosure statement saying, “to the best of my knowledge, this document lists what I know about the property up to the day I’m completing and signing it”. If there are areas of the disclosure that you don’t have information/ true knowledge about, it is okay to put that you do not know. That is your honest answer.
THIS IS NOT A SCARE TACTIC THIS IS THE TRUTH
The Seller’s Disclose builds trust with the potential buyer and limits/eliminates your liability for being charged with fraud and deceptive practices. In Texas there are a few different forms that you, as the seller, can fill out- YES YOU HAVE OPTIONS! One document contains only the minimum information required by state law, and the other document has added provisions you may choose to disclose.
Why would you choose to use this second form?
Well, it is an opportunity to provide more information for buyers and is designed to serve as a risk-reduction tool for sellers! You are able to choose which to fill out, but you are required to fill out one or the other.
Let’s also run through a scenario
You are under contract – yay!- but during the process the buyer terminates (this could be while under option, or even if their financing did not come through.) Whatever the reason, your home is now back on the market.
So what does this mean for information learned while under contract with that buyer?
Whatever you learned about the home from the buyer’s inspection you must now disclose. This is done with an amendment or if necessary, a new disclosure form may be filled out.
PRE-LISTING OPTIONS
One way to avoid this is to do a pre-listing inspection. Why would you do this?
Well to be honest there is not a house on the market that is perfect, not one; nobody likes surprises; and the sales price of a home never goes up after a buyer’s inspection. The information the inspection provides can give you time to fix small (or big) items or price with the concessions in mind- all at your control. If you are considering a pre-listing inspection, but want a bit more on the positives, I encourage you to read this document by the Texas Realtor Website.
WHO CAN OPT OUT OF A SELLER’S DISCLOSURE
To round out this overview it should be known that this document does not have to be filled out on rare occurrences. These are:
- pursuant to a court order or foreclosure sale
- by a trustee in bankruptcy
- to a mortgagee by a mortgagor or successor in interest, or to a beneficiary of a deed of trust by a trustor or successor in interest
- by a mortgagee or a beneficiary under a deed of trust who has acquired the real property at a sale conducted pursuant to a power of sale under a deed of trust or a sale pursuant to a court ordered foreclosure or has acquired the real property by a deed in lieu of foreclosure
- by a fiduciary in the course of the administration of a decedents estate, guardianship, conservatorship, or trust
- from one co-owner to one or more other co-owners
- made to a spouse or to a person or persons in the lineal line of consanguinity of one or more of the transferors
- between spouses resulting from a decree of dissolution of marriage or a decree of legal separation or from a property settlement agreement incidental to such a decree
- to or from any governmental entity
- of a new residence of not more than one dwelling unit which has not previously been occupied for residential purposes
- of real property where the value of any dwelling does not exceed 5% of the value of the property.
Source:TexasRealEstate.com
Note: all sellers have an obligation to disclose known defects about their property. Failure to do so exposes them to liability under the Deceptive Trade Practices Act or other civil laws. So if you know DISCLOSE!!
ITEMS YOU DO NOT HAVE TO DISCLOSE
1. Whether a death by natural causes, suicide, or accident unrelated to the condition of the property occurred on the property.
2. Whether a previous occupant had, may have had, has, or may have AIDS, HIV-related illnesses, or HIV infection.
If you are looking to sell and you find this helpful let me know. I have a couple more lists that you may find helpful! If you are looking for a trusted agent in Texas, I would love to meet to discuss how I can be that for you! Let’s get started!
