Andi Grant's Blog - Everyday Real Estate with a Twist

REAL ESTATE DISCLOSURES - Remembering the "WHY" Behind the Tedium 

 I find myself annoyed at times with the seemingly massive amounts of disclosure paperwork.  CA seems to come out with several new ones a year!  But it's when I come to the Megan's Law Database Disclosure in particular, that I take a deep breath, remembering the "why" behind the real estate dislcosures that I advise my clients to suck it up and thoroughly read the docs.  

Megan's Law Database Disclosure is a "head's up" type of disclosure that advises buyers to perform their due diligence during contingency periods when seeking out information in relation to the location of registered sex offenders in the area they are considering buying in.  Someone's life at some point and time was drastically changed by the lack of disclosure to create enough of a statewide or national concern for a law or statute to be enacted.  What a tragedy for the Kanka family to discover after their beautiful daughter's horrific death, that a twice convicted sex offender moved across the street from them.  

Lead-Based Paint Disclosure was a regulation enacted after studies showed that lead-based paint was possibly the primary source of lead poisoning for children.  This was also believed to have affected fetal tissue, causing irreversible brain damage by impairing mental functioning.  How many children and parents needlessly suffered prior to this disclosure law?  To get more lead-based paint facts and its affect click here.

Real Estate Transfer Disclosure Statement covers the gamut of disclosures.  It can be material facts about a house or neighborhood that a seller would know, possibly affecting the home's current or resell value or desirability. 

STIGMATIZED PROPERTIES are fun stories to tell to other agents, but try selling one. 

• Criminal stigma such as a drug house or brothel associated with the desired home.  The last thing you want is for your client to be propositioned in her own front yard while watering her grass or stooped over geraniums.  
• Murder/suicide stigmas Sharon Tate's home is one of the most famous examples of this type of property stigmatization due to her murder by the Charles Manson followers.  Nicole Brown's home located in the high demand area of Brentwood, took a few years to sell immediately following her murder when it normally would have been snatched up in a few short months.
• Public stigmas and nuisances - can you imagine buying a home next to the circus likes of Britney Spears and Lindsay Lohan? NO THANK YOU!  The house used in the opening credits of the 1970's show The Brady Bunch is still known to have spectators driving by.
• Phenomena  stigmas can make it really hard for a seller.  The home used in the movie The Amityville Horror had to go as far as to renovate and change the address number due to rumors and hoaxes surrounding the home in order to keep sightseers from being a nuisance. 

I'd have to say, one of the most memorable fictionalized examples of non-disclosure would have to be in the movie POLTERGEIST.  In the film, the real estate developer pulled the old "remove the headstones and build a tract of beautiful homes over a cemetery" trick. When the family started digging in the backyard to build a pool, all hell broke loose LITERALLY! 

 There are many real estate disclosures one must sort through when selling or buying real estate.  Disclosures are not to be taken lightly on either side. It saves, time, money, LICENSES and possible other grave tragedies.  Which side of the pain coin would you want to be on in light of failed disclosure? How about none?