"The Cop says he's Nuts". A tale of Disclosure.

A few days ago in my weekly Sunday wrap-up blog post What I learned in Real Estate last week I wrote about a disturbing, rather alarming note left on the front door of a Condo in which I was holding an open house. I stopped holding open houses alone years ago for safety reasons. Thankfully no major incidents happened while myself and another one of my agents were there. As soon as I returned home I scanned and emailed the note to the owner of the Condo as they are a Canadian investor and do not live here in the U.S.

The note was threatening enough, however, that I needed to report the incident to the proper authorities. As soon as I could I placed a call to the local police department and read the note in it's entirety to the clerk who answered the non-emergency line. They passed on the information to the officer in charge of that area and advised me that I would be getting a call. As busy as the officer and I both are we played phone tag back and forth for an afternoon before finally connecting. 

To my dismay, the officer knew exactly who may be the culprit behind the alarming, conspiracy laden message left on my sellers door. "That guy is nuts" was the phrase the kind police man used to describe the gentleman who lives below the Condo I have listed. He further went on to explain in great detail the amount of complaints the previous tenants of the Condo I am selling had lobbied against them by the man who lived in the adjoining property. Fortunately it seems the mans accusations were limited to only these particular tenants and not attached in any way to the property itself. 

The complaints poured in almost weekly and ranged from accusations of housing illegal immigrants, to drug trafficking, and unlawful video surveillance of the neighborhood. Many other conspiracy theories too complicated to explain were also described to police by this deranged neighbor in regards to the apartment activity above him that he believed was most assuredly going on. It may have been happening alright, but only inside of his own mind.

On to the legalities of the matter. Now that myself and the owner of the Condo have been made fully aware of the situation I am in the position of being required by law to disclose unruly or potentially dangerous neighbor activity. My sellers received a full price offer for their Condo within 4 days of the listing hitting the open market! The bad news is that I now have to type up a disclosure letter explaining the situation with the occupant who will be residing underneath the potential buyers. I will do my best to massage and smooth over the information that was provided to me by law enforcement, all the while making sure I am being 100% open and accurate in regards to the knowledge I now have of the situation.

I can only hope the downstairs demented dweller doesn't ruin what should turn out to be a quick and easy close for the buyer and seller. I will do my best as a real estate professional to keep this transaction moving towards the closing table!

 

For information on Real Estate in Gilbert Arizona contact us through our website at zionrealtyaz.com or follow us on Twitter @zionrealty and Facebook at Facebook.com/zionreaty