California real estate disclosure laws NHD
Real estate disclosure laws in California and nationwide mandate new requirements to encompass “seller disclosure laws” whereby the potential home buyer needs all the definitive property information upfront before the sale.
To avoid confusion in real estate disclosure when buying or selling property in the state of California you need to understand some of the critical due diligence reports. One of the aspects of the law is the mandated code for the natural hazard statement to provide the new house buyer with the adequate property information.
One thing that real estate investors and residential fix and flippers need to know is the possibility of a legal issue regarding the seller disclosure laws. After you have found the investment property, secured your private hard money loan or rehab investor financing the next step is selling the place right?
Back up a few steps, do you really know all about the house you are buying into? Many real estate investors rush to buy, rehab, sell, next…..However, what if you face legal a recourse judgment that costs you all the money you have invested! Many investors believe they have the system down when it comes to finding houses to flip for profit. What you might want to look at is “the worst case scenario” that comes from not knowing what the real estate laws are and how they can come back to haunt you.
Spending a little extra time on finding out about a property with the disclosure source and the CLUE report can get you familiar with things about the house “your eye’s can’t see”. Remember this also, the term “natural hazard disclosure” is a misnomer of sorts as it actually covers many man made issues as well.
In an effort to beef up home buyers’ protection from unregulated natural hazard disclosure sources, the state Legislature last month passed a property law requiring California real estate agents to exercise good faith in selecting “experts” who sign natural hazard zone disclosure statement forms.
The property search and real estate disclosure industry is fraught with low cost natural hazard zone statements that can result in lawsuits from the new home buyers. As Property I.D. Corporation is the industry leader and founder our job is providing information to the home buyers and sellers about this critical real estate data.
California real estate disclosure laws require that natural hazards and home defects - from cracks in the shower to a home’s location in a flood, earthquake or fire hazard zone - be disclosed by sellers during escrow.
Agents and sellers almost universally rely on natural hazards disclosure companies to supply statment forms or reports to new home buyers, who can sue agents and sellers who fail to disclose hazards that could effect the safety and desirability of the home. Such providers are often unlicensed and sometimes inexperienced, so their reports are not always reliable, experts say.
With the passage of AB 920, “some agents who may have been neglectful or just plain lazy will be required to learn whether the real estate disclosure report they are buying is really adequate to protect the consuming public,” said real estate attorney Steven Spierer.