“Owners are also not legally obligated to tell you everything about the home, including the possibility that somebody was murdered inside or what people are noticing as to why they won’t make an offer on it.
You could be left with a huge repair bill once you own it.”
They ARE required on a Disclosure Document to indicate any of over a 100 particular, listed defects and “anything else that could materially affect the value” of the home.
And anyone who buys a home without a professional inspection is a fool.
Inspections have never discovered the material issues I have had buying homes. Never. Minor stupid crap, but never the important things.
There is no penalty for a seller not disclosing defects. None.
I agree with you about getting a home inspection.
...when he bought his home here in Michigan(older home)...his guy basically didn't do/find squat.
Let me tell you about the last "professional" inspection I had. I was purchasing an investment property, fourplex, two up -- two down.
The inspector wrote up a report, mostly telling me things I already knew about the property and I bought it. Fast forward 10 years and I am installing security cameras, running wires through the attic.
Well, in one side of the attic there are bunch of black plastic bags, I look inside and behold a previous tenant was too cheap to pay for their garbage service, so they just stockpiled bags and bags of garbage in the attic. The inspector completely missed this -- a full-sized 8' bed pickup truck worth of garbage.
How do I know it was there when he inspected? There were prescription bottles with dates on them from 15 years ago.
The only reason to ever get an inspection is to have a convenient club to beat price concessions out of a seller. If I know something is wrong with a property my word on it is useless. When I get an inspection report, a seller will negotiate.
Being a "professional home inspector" doesn't count for much. They typically aren't plumbers, electricians, etc. They run down a list and check boxes.
I've seen the issues with them both as a buyer and a seller and I just bought my 8th home.
Sure they catch some stuff, and save me time, but if there is a question about something, I contact the appropriate expert.
We bought a new home and lived in it for 13 years.
It was very nice and we had no problems with it except that it was hit by lightening 3 times causing damage to the electronics,
including one time when lightening also destroyed the chimney.
We used a realtor to sell, but I don’t remember whether we had to list lightening as a defect.
“They ARE required on a Disclosure Document to indicate any of over a 100 particular, listed defects and “anything else that could materially affect the value” of the home.”
Those lists are useless since a person’s opinion about their home may not match your opinion, and a buyer is responsible for inspecting the condition of the home, not the seller.