Buying an apartment for sale can be a risky purchase if you don’t know what to look for. Even with today’s thorough home inspections, you’re likely to miss some problems that don’t show up on any easy-to-read report. These “unknowns” are called undisclosed defects. Unlike latent defects (non-visible to the naked eye) or patent defects (visible to the naked eye) that an inspector might easily find on a walkthrough, these undisclosed defects are just about impossible to find – unless you do your homework. Here are some tips to help you discover the “undiscoverable” before you buy that apartment for sale. Know what undisclosed defects might be
In order to discover a defect that can be hidden from the buyer, you’ll need to have a general idea of what that could constitute. Here are some examples of possible undisclosed defects:
· Poor quality school district (i.e. listing the number of the school instead of the name of the school)
· Nearby a sewage plant
· Loud neighbors
· Near a new planned shopping center or office building (would create undue noise and traffic)
· Prior damage to do broken water heater (i.e. owners simply painted over cracked and moldy walls)
· Damaged and rotting hardwood floors under carpets. Now for the detective work
Once you identify possible undisclosed defects in a potential apartment for sale purchase, you can play detective. Your best resource would be your real estate agent who can ask pointed questions to both the seller’s agent and to the seller. For example, you might have your agent as the name of the schools in the particular district, as well as if there are any problems with loud neighbors. Besides your agent, you also have the option of asking the seller these questions as well. Document any answers so that if problems arise in the future, then you have proof. Have your real estate agent do the same. What if the problem still goes undetected?
If you’re still unable to discover a particular undisclosed defect before you purchase the apartment for sale, then you might have a harder time proving that the seller knew about the defect. If you suspect that the seller did in fact know about the problem, you could potentially sue them for any damages. |
