Mark Wisterman's Paradise & Lake Oroville Real Estate Blog

A little while back I posted a blog article regarding the lack of attention that many REALTORS® are paying to their obligation and legal requirement to provide the proper disclosure documents to clients and cooperating agents in a transaction. Not much has improved since then. The biggest violators of the disclosure laws seem to be those agents that are working as agents for the banks.

Before I continue let’s make one thing clear: Not every REALTOR® who is working for a bank is ignoring the law. Most of them are doing what they are supposed to be doing.

There does, however, seems to be a growing number of  bank-hired agents in our area that have somehow come to believe that they are above the law, in fact REFUSING to comply with disclosure requirements. And to be totally blunt about it, I am tired of it. So tired in fact, that it is time to do something about it. Maybe it is time to start naming names on this blog site of those agents who seem to have acquired the arrogance of the banks to whom they have pledged their allegiance, and refuse to do their jobs. Or maybe the Department of Real Estate would be interested in seeing what some of these “agents” are doing; I mean, NOT doing.

Here is an example of what I am talking about:

I e-mailed the local listing agent for the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) last week to ask her to provide me her inspection disclosure. She is the listing agent for all of the HUD owned homes in Northern California. As an agent for the seller she is required to perform what the real estate law calls a “diligent visual inspection” of the property and provide a written disclosure of her findings to my buyer. As the agent of the buyer I to am required to do the same.

Her response to me was that she “normally” does an inspection when she is representing the buyer. But because I was representing the buyer she did not feel she was required to do the lawfully required visual inspection.

We currently have another transaction with an agent from S. California who has a bank owned property in Oroville listed. He too is refusing to provide the results of his visual inspection. Know why? He has never seen the home and has no idea what condition it is in. Being an agent from out of town DOES NOT exempt him from performing his duties. It seems that the longer this foreclosure market continues the more these type of agents cut corners and violate thier ethics. Can you imagine what it is going to be like by the end of the year if something isn’t done to fix it?

So here is how I am going to help YOU become part of the solution. Beginning this week I will be sharing with you the disclosures you can expect to see during your Lake Oroville, or Paradise, real estate transaction. With this knowledge in hand you can begin to demand the proper disclosures from your agent and have just that much more piece of mind about the purchase of your new home.

Related articles by Zemanta

• The REALTOR’s role as a Buyer’s Agent  dougfrancis.com)
• Purchasing a HUD Home-Misconceptions and Advantages  annarborundressed.com)
• Selling your home as a short sale? – You cannot receive incentives from your agent  findwell.com)