Selling a Home - Disclosures

Massmomm
Sat, 03 Feb 2018 23:01:09 +0000

Definitely look at the form itself. In Massachusetts, it’s very specific, but you are allowed to check “Unknown” for some categories, such as lead paint. If the house is, say, 150 years old, you KNOW there’s lead paint in it, but unless you have specifically been tested for it, you can check the box saying “seller is unaware of the presence of lead” or whatever it says. Anyone buying an antique house knows there is likely to be lead in it somewhere, but if the seller checks the box saying so definitively, he or she is on the hook for abatement if the buyer has children under 6.

Another question asks if the seller has ever seen water in the basement. “Why, yes,” we declared for the first house we ever sold, an antique built in 1783 on a former wetland in Salem, Mass. “Every single time it rains, you can float a rubber ducky across the floor toward the sump pump. That is why everything is on wooden pallets down there.”

The buyers did not care. They paid full asking price. You never know.