Disclosure Forms: Q & A Potomac Homes For Sale
The Schuman Team gets a lot of questions about the Maryland Disclosure form. I thought it would be helpful to remind sellers what they should disclose.
Q: We have lived in our Potomac MD home for 15 years, 14 years ago we found we had termites. We treated the area and have a biannual contract with a termite company. Do I need to disclose this information?
A: YES you need to disclose this information. The buyer may want to contact your Pest Control company to ask questions and even have them come out to inspect the property. The buyer may want to take over your contract. If you don't disclose this information, the buyers termite inspector may find evidence of past termite damage and question why this wasn't disclosed.
Q: If we put a new roof on our Potomac MD home 3 years ago, do we need do disclose water damage from a prior roof?
A: YES you need to disclose this information if you had water damage as a result of the leaky roof. If there was no water damage or problems as a result then NO you don't need to disclose. You will have the opportunity to note the age of the roof.
It is important to review all of the listing documents and later the contract documents to best understand your obligations as a seller of residential property in Maryland. The Property Disclosure/Disclaimer document is incredibly important. We encourage our sellers to disclose everything because it's law, the right thing to do and it helps build trust between buyers and sellers. Sellers are often afraid to disclose something that happened many years ago for fear no one will want to purchase their home. On the flip side we all know things come up in a home. If you've lived in your home 30 years and nothing is disclosed, that seems unrealistic. It's very challenging for the buyers when sellers forget or later remember something that should have been disclosed.There is an issue of what else did the seller forget to tell me??? The rule of thumb should be Disclose, Disclose, Disclose!
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