Buying A Home? Here’s What Sellers Are Required To Disclose

When buying a home, information is the most valuable currency you have. Every seller wants to make their home sound as appealing as possible, but there are some legal requirements regarding what kind of information they have to give you.
Here are a few of the issues that sellers are required to disclose when they put their home on the market:

Lead-Based Paint
If a home was built before 1978, there’s a decent chance that it might have lead-based paint. Lead-based paint can cause some serious health issues, so it’s something that the seller absolutely must disclose about their home. When the paint is in good condition it’s generally safe, but if it starts chipping or peeling off it could lead to issues such as:

  • Developmental delays in children
  • Pregnancy complications
  • Headaches
  • Fatigue
  • Memory loss

Water Damage
In most states, sellers are legally required to disclose any water damage. Depending on the location, water damage can be easy enough to hide and many sellers may not even be aware of their legal requirement. That’s why home inspections are such an important part of the home-buying process. Without them, issues like these could easily go unnoticed until it’s too late.

Termites Or Termite Damage
Termites. They’re small, but they can really pack a bite. The seller is legally required to disclose any current termite infestation or past termite damage, even if it has been repaired. Termite infestations can be hard to spot, so don’t assume you’re in the clear just because the seller doesn’t tell you about one. They might not know either!

Pest Infestations
When buying a home, you typically don’t want it to come with small, noisy roommates. Fortunately, infestations of rats, roaches, bats, and other pests must be disclosed. Again, this is assuming the seller knows about the current infestation. An issue you often see is that the seller will move out before selling the house, and while they’re gone something else decides to move in.

Natural Hazards
So you’ve scoured the house for issues and you simply can’t find anything wrong. Must be perfect, right? Maybe not. Sometimes, the issue is not a what, but a where. If a house is located in an area that’s prone to natural disasters like floods, fires or earthquakes, this fact must be disclosed. There’s not much you can do about issues like these other than preparing for the worst, so it certainly helps to know ahead of time.

Finding The Right Home
So, these are a few of the things that sellers are legally required to disclose, but keep in mind that this is far from a comprehensive list of issues. There are a number of things that sellers aren’t legally required to tell you. In addition to this, they can’t tell you what they don’t know in the first place so if there are issues that slipped under the radar you may not find out until it’s too late.

The best way to be sure that you’re getting a home free of issues independent home inspection. A home inspection performed by a certified inspector will uncover any hidden issues within the home, allowing you to make a fully informed home-buying decision. And remember, the cost of a home inspection pales in comparison to the cost of buying a home riddled with problems.

Please, contact us at Super Inspection Pros. today to learn more about our home inspection process or to schedule an inspection for your home. You can also find more information about our services here on our website.

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