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No one else has mentioned this, but I think it is a critical distinction. When I am the listing agent am NOT the seller, the seller is my client. It is NOT my home and I cannot make representations about the property that I could if I owned the place. That is the technical reason that we are called agents -- we work the behalf of the seller.
Similarly when I am the buyer's agent I can provide information to the buyer that will help them determine the proper price, but I cannot just make the offer for the buyer.
Whether this is a new house or an existing the same sorts of disclaimers do spell out the limits of what the agents can be held liable for, as well as helping smart buyers and sellers arrive at the most fair price. Folks ought not treat housing like buying a bag of sugar,where as long a it says 5 lbs and measures out everything is square-- each property is more like buying a piece of jewelery, where even it is mass produced some folks tastes will dictate different prices... Even with all the various certificates to ensure that the jewel is a real diamond, and it is graded to reflect the carat weight, quality of cut, degree of colorlessness and clarity some folks want the biggest thing they can afford, while others want something more rare...
Third parties (like home inspection services, appraisers, title companies) are involved in home sales precisely because of the complexity of the deal and the demands from buyers / lenders that their risks be enumerated as fully as possible.
Reading what was posted in a literal sense, it would sound to me like the owner of the property insisted the square footage was "x" despite the measurements perhaps not supporting that. The broker was merely relaying that the owner is the one who stated the square footage and that it is not verified or guaranteed to be accurate and should be verified.
In my personal experience, you are the one buying the house and despite the fact you are enlisting professionals to assist you with the transaction, you should be verifying and double checking everything for your own benefit. On the brokers end, they are trying as hard as possible to make no guarantees to avoid possible liability.
In the case of square footage, there are so many different variable and ways to measure a room, especially odd ones that may have closets intruding into the floor space or angled walls, that it is virtually impossible to make a concrete statement regarding exact sqaure footage without going through some very unnecessary effort.
Reading what was posted in a literal sense, it would sound to me like the owner of the property insisted the square footage was "x" despite the measurements perhaps not supporting that. The broker was merely relaying that the owner is the one who stated the square footage and that it is not verified or guaranteed to be accurate and should be verified.
In my personal experience, you are the one buying the house and despite the fact you are enlisting professionals to assist you with the transaction, you should be verifying and double checking everything for your own benefit. On the brokers end, they are trying as hard as possible to make no guarantees to avoid possible liability.
In the case of square footage, there are so many different variable and ways to measure a room, especially odd ones that may have closets intruding into the floor space or angled walls, that it is virtually impossible to make a concrete statement regarding exact sqaure footage without going through some very unnecessary effort.
One on my eldery aunts lives in a nice home that really well built by one of the areas old school tract builders. They had a long list of customizations and she choose a BIG fireplace that angles out from a corner. The also allowed here to extend the whole back wall so that the the fireplace did not intrude on the normal walking around room. The end result of this is that all the rooms on that side of he home are about 24" deeper than the stock plans. I am sure that adds several dozen square feet to her home vs all the others of the similar model/ plan. Of course it will look "odd" when the commas are all a little smaller, and some one will want PROOF, so the tape measures will be available...
One on my eldery aunts lives in a nice home that really well built by one of the areas old school tract builders. ... I am sure that adds several dozen square feet to her home vs all the others of the similar model/ plan. ...
And I wouldn't be surprised if the assessor's record indicates the sq footage of the "standard" model without the extra space. A buyer only looking at the assessor's public record would be misinformed.
Why is it that most brokers/agents won't verify square footage, amongst other important information i.e. electrical and plumbing updates? "
No two people will likely come up with the same number of square feet.
Real estate agents are not electricians nor plumbers. They are not qualified to make representations. They can however, ask questions.
If the property is bank-owned, no one knows.
Quote:
Originally Posted by miyu
So does a buyer have equal access to city hall and county records?
Yes
Can't the agent just copy the records and say "this is what records show" but I have no liability other than providing the information?
Sure, if the information is online. In some areas of the U.S. this could mean a 100-200 mile roundtrip drive to obtain this information for each and every property you might be interested in.
If I have a copy of the records and it was wrong, I doubt I'd be able to sue the agent.
Anyone can sue anyone for anything. Being the source of the source of information is a good defence.
When each buyer has to investigate each and every home that they are interested in, it is not time effective.
How many homes can one be interested in?
It is good to have some sort of official record on hand,
Why?
Some people look at 50-100 or more homes.
and only when entering into final negotiations it would make sense to start inspecting in detail.
That's 1-2 properties, not 50.
Before that, the buyer has no access to the home (doubt the agent wants to be called over to open the home for inspection for multiple potential buyers) and can't bring an inspector for each home they are potentially interested in.
Are these bank-owned properties?
It's the agent's job to show property.
It's not feasible and discourages people from making an offer.
It may discourage you, but not most people. Most contracts are written with a home inspection contingency. This does not compel the seller to make any repiars. It does however, give the buyer the opportunity to walk away.
Most real estate agents do NOT know how to measure a home to determine total square footage. The entire of the perimeter of the dwelling has to be measured - each floor. Do not count the basement or area below grade.
Typically, an appraiser will do this and provide a sketch of the "footprint" in the report. If you are doubtful and want to know the exact square footage, get a local appraiser to go over and measure the house.
We've got an ordinary, though not rectangular single story home with no additions or major structural changes to it since construction. And we have three different 'official' measurements on square footage (tax collectors office, appraisal in 2001, appraisal for a refinance in 2003) that range from 1500-1700sf for livable indoor space. As far as we can figure, the discrepancy comes from an inaccurately measured bay window area, and whether our heated and cooled largish laundry room is properly counted as part of the heated and cooled house proper or classified as part of the garage.
So which of those numbers should be counted as the one true square footage?
As for utility inspection, when we bought the house, inspector was up in the attic, and noted that there was polybutylene pipe running to the two bathrooms. We always assumed that the entire system was poly because of this. And when we finally got around to getting rid of the poly this year, we discovered that, to the relief of our pocketbooks, only about 1/3 of the system was poly. The kitchen, laundry room, outside spigots, etc. were copper and that what had probably happened was that the entire system was originally copper in the slab, but that there had been plumbing issues in the late 80s that had led to just the bathroom segment of the system getting replaced with poly in the attic.
So in that case, if the inspector had only checked the pipes in kitchen and laundry and assumed consistent materials, which is not unreasonable to do, they would have missed the pipes with known issues that go to the bathrooms.
It should not be up to the buyer to check things out. The sellers should be the ones to be held thier listings. We got a house that is around 800 ft smaller than it was listed as. That was a lot to have added. When we found the missing footage on the paperwork from the appraiser I called our realtor and she said the footage had to be right and had to be checked out by the listing agent. The realtor said they had to have missed the upstairs den and that it was okay. We could go ahead and close. We were in another state and depened on that realtor to know what she was saying.
I feel if the sellers start out with a lie then it is not a good faith deal and the deal is not binding.
Just how I feel. After all we got screwed on a lemon house and the sellers knew what they were doing.
V
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Veery true!
