Real NEastate: Morrell Park home disclosures 1
Q: I am planning on selling my home in Morrell Park. I have done numerous repairs on the home in the 12 years I’ve lived here. My agent wants me to fill out a disclosure about the home. Do they really need to know about plumbing, etc., that’s been repaired? Why would I tell things that might hurt the sale of the home?
A: YES, you MUST disclose everything you know! It is illegal to lie about the history of the home. If you’ve had something repaired, it shouldn’t hurt the sale of the home. Not disclosing something you know could hurt you in the sale or in the future.
Despite your best efforts to cover up something, your buyers will most likely request a home inspection prior to the sale. It could cost you the sale if their home inspector finds something you are trying to cover.
The very best thing you can do to ensure that your sale does not fall through is to get your home “pre-inspected,” make necessary repairs and disclose EVERYTHING you know. This will bulletproof your transaction. You won’t want the buyer to come back from his/her home inspection with a long list of repair requests or a price reduction.
If you’ve had the plumbing repaired and in the future something fails and you didn’t disclose the problem, you could set yourself up for litigation. Why would you want to get sued over something you have complete control over?
Once you’ve disclosed your repairs, the buyer will sign off that they know about it and it can’t come back to haunt you. Just be honest; tell them EVERYTHING.
Stacey McCarthy is a real estate agent with the McCarty Group of Keller Williams. Her Real NEastate column appears every Wednesday on NEastPhilly.com. See others here.
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Tampa Bay Home Inspections. New problems with Sulfur in drywall from China.
It has been reported that drywall imported between 2004-2006 from certain areas in China, can release sulfur-like odorous components. These compounds can corrode air conditioning coils and other copper-bearing materials, causing them to be replaced repeatedly. It has been determined that the problem is related to presence of iron disulfide. There have been reports that large quantities of drywall produced in China were kept on sea barges for months awaiting permission for importation to the USA. This drywall has a higher than typical density and a higher propensity to off-gas sulfur compounds.
Drywall is usually made of gypsum (hydrated calcium sulfate). Therefore, sulfur is one of the main components present in the sample. All drywall has sulfur in its elemental composition; therefore the odor is not explained by an analysis of the total sulfur content.
Tampa Bay Home Inspections.Offers our expert opion or questions on this matter. The extent of the indoor air quality issues related to this is still unclear. EPA is currently investigating the severity of the problem. However, it is well known that exposure to sulfur compounds can create irritation and breathing disorders. Also Sulfar has been damaging aircondition unit coils. This damage can ruin an A/C unit in as little as 6 months. Contact us at quality.check@verizon.net
Drywall may be to blame for homeowners’ illness
Sunday, January 18, 2009
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