I often hear it said that the Transfer Disclosure form can be ignored because sellers either lie or just check the I Don't Know boxes.

I can definitively state that such is not always true. For example, the owner of the house whose roof is pictured below disclosed that there was "a small roof leak at the front of the house, about midway between the corners." Now that took a lot of effort on his part. He could have checked 50 I Don't Know boxes during the time that it took him to write that.

Generally Specifically, the roof is not a storage area, regardless of how small your yard, how little storage there is in your house, how crammed full of stuff your house already is, or even the fact that your garage is bursting at the seams:

A roof is designed to keep the rain from coming in, and unless it was designed to hold extra storage, something's going to fail somewhere. In many cases, the extra weight from the stored items causes a little extra flex and sag in the roofing components, and that extra flex and sag causes components to stretch, tear, and, of course, leak.

Out of sight, out of mind, only works until the rain comes.

Check your rooftop before the rains come!

 
"Rooftops," Lost Prophets

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Some of Russel's blog entries

1. 12 reasons why I won't comment on your blogs
2. How a Seller can cancel the purchase contract during the home inspection
3. What do you do when the listing agent is, uh, blind maybe?
4. Help! I need somebody! Help! Not just anybody! Help! You know I need someone! Help!
5. What do you do when deceit is obvious? (chapter two)
6. The garage is not a playground.
7. Need to vent? Feel free to vent (your attic) here.
8. Down in the boondocks: A classic homeowner improvement.
9. I admit it. I'm a sucker. Yep. A sucker. 
10. That just ain't the way we do it out here, Sonny Boy
11. Not responsible for advice not taken
12. There's that police guy! Hide!
13. Sometimes it's just a question of semantics and definitions
14. Winterizing homes in San Diego in September
15. What the heck are they cooking?
16. You mean that little jar will hold all that water?
17. A true real estate nightmare affecting hundreds of people
18. You mean our fine, feathered friends do that?
19. If the shower head isn't working, just turn up the water pressure
20. I purposefully burned a bridge yesterday
21. What part of that don't you understand? (Reading 101, English 101, & Spanish 101)
22. If I trip just one more time, I'll have a baker's dozen
23. Out of sight, out of mind, skip the work, charge for it
24. "How much will it cost?" "$399 plus a $100 aggravation surcharge."
25. I'm so tall that some times I have problems seeing the ground
26. In a home inspection, if the thing works, the thing works
27. What do you do when deceit is obvious?
28. Sometimes it really is that simple (electric again)
29. Sometimes it really is that simple (attic)
30. Did you put that on the disclosure form? "Oh, we forgot."