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What material facts would you want the agent to withhold from you, that you don't raise a question on?
I know what to ask and how to read disclosures,
paying extra special attention to what they claim to have no knowledge of.
I'm buying a house in 2 days up in Maine.
I've always appreciated my agents advice when it came to most everything short of decorating or landscaping as that is a personal choice/opinion. Most of our agents have only stressed to my wife "you can always repaint or change the landscaping if you don't like it".
One thing people need to know and that has been repeatedly stressed to us as buyers every time we've shopped for houses and that is Realtors walk a fine line when it comes to advice or comments. They've got to be very careful not to cross any legal lines when it comes to the Fair House Act or other laws that regulate what they can or can't say about areas,neighborhoods or homes.
They may very well know that a house is in a sketchy area or know that your family would not be very happy living in an area surrounded by X or Y but legally are on shaky ground talking about whatever it is and so many/most won't.
I respect the fact they're keeping their butts out of a crack and usually work out a way to read between the lines so we don't make a horrible costly mistake.
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Quote:
Originally Posted by jonesg
I know what to ask and how to read disclosures,
paying extra special attention to what they claim to have no knowledge of.
I'm buying a house in 2 days up in Maine.
Sure.
But, none of that addresses the question.
What material fact would you prefer an agent withhold from you if you were not aware of it?
Yes, and mine did, both times when I bought my first house, then sold it years later and bought another one.
I also appreciate that my realtor listened to me in regards to concerns I had about house prices--what I actually qualified for seemed high to me. He assured me it was in my range, but steered to houses $25K below that, since he knew my discomfort level at going to the top end of what I could afford was huge, rather than try to browbeat me into buying something more expensive. He listened carefully to my 'must haves', my 'would be nice if it's available', the 'never thought about those/don't have a strong opinion on that', and the 'absolutely nots' and balanced those lists out well. He pointed out the pros and cons of each property that he showed me. He had a good idea of what I liked and what I didn't, so when I saw a property listed that I expressed interest in, he said he could take me to see it, but, "It's near a busy street, and I know you like to have your windows open on nice days, so you'd be hearing a lot of traffic noise."
He also gave me good advice when I was selling my first house and buying my second one. As a result, I got full asking price within 24 hours of listing it.
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