Everyone wants to get a great deal when they're selling their Burnaby, BC homes so that when they go looking at PEI homes for sale they can buy a nice, big one. However, not all the tricks that home owners can think of to help their home sell are a good idea. Failing to disclose problems is one of these tricks. If you're thinking of keeping something about your house to yourself when you're selling, you should read this article to find out why that's not such a good idea.
First of all, you can't expect that the new owners of your house are never going to find out about the problem you're trying to hide from them. Whether they find out a week from now when they have the building inspector in, or a year from now when you've already bought London, Ontario real estate with their money, they're going to be angry that you lied to them. Because that's what failing to disclose is: it's lying.
The best thing that can possibly happen to you when the buyer finds out about your secret is that they use it as an excuse to lower their offer. If you're upfront about the problem in the first place, you'll get lower offers as well, but you'll have the buyer's goodwill, so they probably won't try to gouge you as much as they would if they found out you were lying to them. The difference in the offers could be the difference between being able to afford houses for sale in Ajax and not being able to afford them.
The worst thing that could happen is that the thing you lied about crops up and causes bad enough problems that it actually hurts or kills the poor unsuspecting former Leslieville real estate owners who bought your house. Electrical, structural and heating problems have especially deadly potential. Then not only will you feel horrible, you'll probably end up facing criminal charges if the police find out that you knew about the problem and didn't warn them.
There are a whole range of reactions in between criminal charges and low-balling, but none of them are good for you. The buyers could pull out and buy Oakville homes for sale instead. They could report you. They could even sue you if they're already bought the home. So when you're selling your home, remember: honesty is always the best policy, even when it doesn't seem like it.
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