Q–When we sold our home a year ago, we provided the buyers with a written seller disclosure form given to us by our real estate agent. We truthfully answered all the questions.
Now the buyer says we should have disclosed that the sewer line gets roots in it. That’s true. Every year or two, we would call a sewer rooter service to clean out the sewer pipe. We never thought much about it, figuring it was just routine home maintenance.
The buyers claim we should have disclosed this to them. They are replacing the old clay sewer pipe with cast iron pipes. They say the cost is about $7,500, and they want us to pay. Do you think we should have disclosed that every year or two we paid $100 or so to have roots cleaned out of our sewer pipe?
A–The purpose of written home disclosures is to notify buyers of serious defects with the property. Millions of homeowners have roots in their sewer lines. That’s how those sewer rooter companies thrive. Like you, those homeowners don’t think having their sewer pipes periodically cleaned is a big deal.
A few cities require a “sewer lateral inspection” at the time of home sales. The purpose is to prevent sewage from contaminating the underground water supply. I’ll presume your city doesn’t have such a requirement; otherwise, such an inspection would have been made at the time of your sale.
If you read this column for long, you’ll learn many buyers expect their sellers to pay for improvements that the buyers want to make. Apparently, your buyers are not satisfied with the clay sewer pipe and want a better cast iron pipe. That’s fine, but you, as the seller, shouldn’t be expected to pay for their improvement. For more details, please consult a local real estate attorney.
Q–We want to buy an apartment building for income, tax shelter and future appreciation in market value. We know 100 percent financing is available for home purchases. Is it also available on income properties?
A–I am not aware of any mortgage lenders offering 100-percent financing on income property purchases; however, it is possible to avoid making any down payment out of your pockets.
For example, you can easily obtain a 75 percent income property mortgage and borrow the 25 percent balance from other sources, such as a 10 percent down payment from your home equity credit line and a 15 percent second mortgage from the property seller.
