Why Sellers Shouldn't Be At A Showing, Inspection, Or Walkthrough.

Why Sellers Shouldn't Be At A Showing, Inspection, Or Walkthrough.

Why a seller should not be present at showing, inspections, or walkthroughs.

Here's why a seller should not be present at showing, inspections, or walkthroughs. Most people only buy and / or sell real estate every 5-10 years. They are out of practice, not up to date, unaware of how litigious real estate has become. They try to learn the language of real estate online, and that language has changed since they last bought or sold a property.

I ran across one reason to use an experienced real estate professional today in reading a draft Purchase and Sale Agreement. There, buried in a list of clauses, eighth in the list as a matter of fact, was a clause that could be a problem for a seller who has engaged in direct conversation with a buyer.

The clause reads, "g) all representations of the Seller contained herein are true on the date hereof, and will be true on and as of the closing date except as otherwise disclosed by Seller to Buyer in writing and approved as so disclosed by Buyer at or prior to the closing date, and all shall survive delivery of the Deed."

Experienced real estate professionals have learned to answer with care, like, "I'll find out," or "The condo docs will answer that question," or "According to the town by-laws... ", or, "That is a question best answered by a lawyer."  This is because, how a seller has been using a property may have been acceptable or tolerated during their use, but if that use is not in compliance with a rule, regulation, or law, a new owner may not be able to continue that use.

For example in Falmouth many people rent their property to vacationers. A seller may say to a buyer in a cordial conversation during a site visit, "Yeah, we rent it all the time. No one says anything." However, not all properties have acquired the correct inspections, filed the appropriate permits, and some are even prohibited from having temporary occupants who are not related to the owners. When a buyer is led to believe that "renting is possible or worse is probable" by the seller's cordial statements in a loose conversation, the seller could be facing some legal issues. The current use may be overlooked, or uncorrected by the town or association, but that does not make it permissible. There are many comments that can be made about property that could become an issue if not responded to correctly and appropriately.

Another example I experienced recently was a seller stating, "Oh yes, you can add a deck out here." Well in fact, the conservation rules and jurisditional boundaries had changed in the last 10 years seriously complicating the possibility of a deck "out here." Further, the owner had "trimmed" plantings in the same areas which caused possible re-plantings for mitigation of the "damage" the owner had done. If the owner had let an experienced real estate professional do the job, lots of stress and yelling could have been avoided.

Using an experienced real estate professional can be compared to using an interpreter when you are trying to communicate with someone in a foreign language. You could go online and cram to learn the language, or use an on-line translator and hope it is really translating correctly. As you communicate with a native speaker, you may get your message across, or you may say something completely inappropriate. If the conversation is not about important things then those errors may be acceptable or at least tolerated. The effort is well intended, but that doesn't assure the outcome is received as intended.

However, if you use an interpreter who fluently speaks the language every day, even if that person isn't a native, they know the intonation, the correct words, and how to present topics and issues correctly and appropriately with ease. The probability of communicating effectively is greatly increased. Communication mistakes are greatly eliminated. If the conversation is about important things, then errors will be unacceptable and not tolerated - at least not without repercussions.

So remember "clause g)" when you hear people saying they don't need a real estate professional's experience. Ask when they last spoke real estate - just to be a friend.