When a reader we're calling "Alice" decided to
sell her house, she did everything she could to get the house ready for prospective
buyers to see. Several weeks of de-cluttering. Quite a few weekends taken up
with a fresh coat of paint on some walls and baseboards. Alice also spent time
making sure that broken outlet covers and switch plates were replaced.
After lugging several bags of items she no longer used to
local charity thrift shops and books to her local library for its annual book
sale, Alice did a thorough cleaning of her house and got it ready to go.
Her real estate broker worked with her to set a price and
get the house on the market. Just before the first open house was to occur,
Alice noticed that a wooden spindle on one of the railings on her outside porch
appeared to be rotting a bit at its base. Rather than try to replace the
spindle or hire someone to replace it for her, Alice decided to take an old
tube of paintable caulk and to spread the caulk all over the base of the
spindle to fill in where it seemed to be deteriorating. Once the caulk dried,
she put a coat of white outdoor paint on the spindle so it matched the rest of
the railing.
If you looked close enough, you could see the difference
in texture, Alice writes. But it looked clean and fresh and she figured few
people would notice her quick fix.
Now that Alice's house has been viewed by several interested
buyers and her realtor has begun entertaining some offers to purchase the
house, Alice is concerned she might be deceiving prospective buyers by not
telling them about some things, such as the spindle, which a new owner might
need to fix.
"Would I rest easier if I went through and made a
punch list of all the things that need doing that I simply never got around to
doing before putting the house on the market?" asks Alice. "Or is it
OK for me to rest easy thinking that any prospective buyer will know no house
is perfect?"
If there is something that might prove life threatening
in her house to a new owner, Alice and her realtor would be wise to disclose
that information. But she can rest easy about the patched-up spindle.
Most buyers will insist on an inspection prior to closing
their purchase of a house. A licensed home inspector should be able to point
out any defects which might prove costly to a new owner.
Providing a punch list of those items, which Alice wishes
she had gotten around to, but just never did would not only be unnecessary, it
would likely strike a prospective owner as odd.
The right thing is for Alice to get her house in as good
shape as possible and not to mislead prospective buyers in the listing.
Prospective buyers should go in with their eyes open and recognize that it is
their responsibility to assess whether the house is one in which they want to
invest and live.
Jeffrey L. Seglin, author of The Simple Art of Business Etiquette: How to Rise to the Top by Playing Nice, is a senior lecturer in public policy and director of the communications program at Harvard's Kennedy School. He is also the administrator of www.jeffreyseglin.com, a blog focused on ethical issues.
Do you have ethical questions that you need answered? Send them to rightthing@comcast.net.
Follow him on Twitter: @jseglin
(c) 2018 JEFFREY L. SEGLIN. DISTRIBUTED BY TRIBUNE CONTENT AGENCY, LLC.
2 comments:
I think posting a list of any safety items is critical. I would also include any items that would affect the long-term stability of the home.
This means that seller should disclose about the post on the front porch as well as the fact that she recently painted.
The cost of doing this is measurable. If you sell a home and failed to disclose something which later becomes material you can end up with a nasty lawsuit on your hands. It is much more cost effective to over disclose than it is to omit things. And it's not just about the house that you should disclose. Relevant things about the neighborhood must be disclosed as well. Things such as a barking dog nearby airport or problem neighbors can also come back to haunt you if you fail to disclose them. So it's not just an ethical or moral question it's a question about what in the seller's best interest.
No matter how you slice it, Alice is "cheating" on this problem at her house and she shows her devious self by trying to get by with this deceit. No matter how nice her house is, her willingness to cheat ruins the situation and negates anything favorable. Why do people try to cheat like this?
Charlie Seng
Post a Comment