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Is real estate agent in florida acting as a buyer agent obligated to verify from all available sources if a street will be placed adjacent to a property that he / she knows is something his/her client will not accept.
Define "all available sources". What is available from the selling agent? What is available online? What is public record at the city? What has been discussed in city council meetings? Knocking on everyone in town's door to find out if they have any plans or know anything? Where do you draw the line?
Besides that, just because something isn't planned today doesn't mean it couldn't change tomorrow. Here in Boise, we guarantee that if there is vacant land nearby, it won't be vacant forever. SOMETHING will be done with it, but we can't guarantee what or when, even if the city says they have a plan today.
This would be something that would fall under "buyer's due diligence".
A real estate agent working with a buyer in Florida can be a transaction agent or a single agent. Knowing which relationship you had with the agent can influence your answer but, basically, a wise agent would direct you to an authoritative source for this information. That doesn't mean that the agent can't do some research on their own but s/he should never present that info as authoritative or absolutely reliable. Why? As Lacerta said, things change, it is possible that change is already in the works, and there is too much liability in making statements outside the scope of agent expertise.
No, an agent does not have the obligation to do a client's due diligence. It would actually be imprudent for then to do so. If I had heard that a road was planned, I would certainly tell my client but I would never take on the liability of doing a search. A new road could be announced the day after my search found nothing. Can o' worms.
If the agent knows any information that is material to the transaction, he/she have an obligation to disclose it. However, there is no obligation to investigate beyond the normal disclosures. It is the Buyers responsibility to investigate any and all facts that are material to the transaction. However, having an agent that is knowledgeable about the area/community is a bonus since they will be more likely to know about these things.
Here is an example. There is a road to be widened in Port Charlotte, FL. The agent should reveal this to you as it has been in the paper for years (planning, surveys, etc).
Conversely, if you are buying a tract of land, and no road is in place, and the plat does not show a road,or even if there is a road in the potential phase, there is no assurance that the road will be built. Any disclosure should be from the selling agent. Specific example. I owned a home and found the surveyors setting survey stakes for a potential relocation and widening of a road. But this was only one of potential paths and the road was ultimately constructed some 10 years later, along another pathway.
If you suspect something (neighbor mentions a potential road during an inspection, etc), it is your responsibility to investigate.
In my opinion, a good agent will share information that they know. We had an agent show us a house with a very large undeveloped area behind it. He actually was using that as a selling point of how private and quiet it would be in a populated area of Rockland County NY. We did our own research and actually got our best info from the seller. Turns out it was owned by a company that does rock blasting and sells stone and gravel. When we asked the seller about it, she said that they blast 1-3 times a day and it shakes the entire house. (Imagine our suprise that she was so forthcoming)
Our agent had worked in that town for 20 plus years and was lying about not knowing who Tilcon was. Needless to say, we no longer worked with him and found a better agent to represent us.
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