A highly magnified photo of a female biting midge in the public domain
As real estate marketing professionals regardless of the niche or marketplace you are working in, there are quite a few rules to follow when it comes to disclosing pertinent facts about a property you are selling. Our motto has always been "disclose all or be deposed". We even disclosed items that were not on the list.
Last week, I had a call from a family member, who is seriously thinking of moving his family to another state. His wife has been busy looking at homes on the Internet. Their intention is to do this in 120 days, once they both decide on the move.
She has found homes that she likes on line. Other than what she has learned on the Internet, she has no knowledge, whatsoever of the city in which they want to live in. Neither one has ever been there.
And I said, "let me find you a great agent!" What capable experienced real estate agents/brokers know is not necessarily on line. They have feet on the ground, they have the knowledge of the market and they know each area better than Google or any other real estate website. They also know the hidden gems in their area, as well as the various peccadilloes of their marketplace.
Here is an example of our personal experience. Even though we are both licensed, we sought the advice of an experienced agent for both of our moves. Here is an example from our Santa Barbara search.
We learned from a savvy agent that at certain elevations in town, there were "no see um" (aka midge, tiny little insects) bugs thriving. As lovers of the great outdoors and avid organic gardeners, we did not want to sit outside being bitten by bugs. Nor were we willing to spray chemicals to get rid of them every other month. We chose to strike those homes from our search criteria, even though some of those homes would have been perfect for us.
No See-um bugs are not on any disclosure list as far as we know. They are not considered a material defect. (A material defect is a specific issue with a system or component of a residential property that may have a significant, adverse impact on the value of the property, or that poses an unreasonable risk to people.)
That disclosure can be considered "unnecessary". As a result of our experience, we sent many referrals her way...
Will you disclose? Or keep mum about those pesky no see um bugs!
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