Home-Seller-Honesty

Home sellers need to be more honest

LAURA M. SCHNEIDER , Morning Journal Writer; 12/28/2003

http://www.morningjournal.com/site/news.cfm?BRD=1699&dept_id=46377&newsid=10721529&PAG=461&rfi=9

Starting next year, home problems such as mold and smoke damage could be less likely to be swept under the rug.

Area residents planning to sell their home next year will be required to fill out a new form issued by the Ohio Department of Commerce that calls on sellers to list a host of problems that a previous form did not address.

Beginning Jan. 1, sellers will need to use the new version of the form, called the Residential Property Disclosure Form.

''We think it's going to be a real win-win for consumers to fully understand the condition of the property,'' said Ohio Association of Realtors spokesman Carl Horst.

''In recent years things have come to light that needed to be on the form,'' said Horst. ''The updated form is going to kind of reflect what's going on in the marketplace.''

The first such form was introduced in 1993, according to the Ohio Department of Commerce. But the document was outdated and didn't include enough information, said John Fischer, owner of RE/MAX Homeward Bound, which has offices in Elyria and Sheffield Village.

''The new form has a lot more information,'' Fischer said. ''It asks a lot more in-depth questions.''

Fischer said real estate agents provide the forms to customers, and the customers fill them out. Agents have been trained and instructed regarding the new forms, he said.

Home sellers looking to get the form on their own can get it from the Ohio Department of Commerce Web site, said a department spokesman.

Bill Kozusko, of Kozusko's Home Inspection Service in Vermilion, has inspected homes for buyers since 1996. Kozusko said it's a positive move to make sellers disclose more information.

''I think people selling their homes should be required to disclose everything they know about their homes,'' he said. ''Disclosing everything they know about the home will help the buyer feel more comfortable about what they are about to buy.''

Kozusko said home inspections can result in fewer small claims cases and civil lawsuits, because people know what they are buying and aren't surprised when they move into the home.

Officials say this form also could help deter potential legal problems.

''It will help sellers and buyers avert legal action by ensuring that many of the issues that can result in litigation are properly disclosed prior to a sale,'' wrote Anne Moorhead Petit, superintendent of the Division of Real Estate and Professional Licensing, in a Department of Commerce news release.

The new four-page form will address the following issues, according to information from the Department of Commerce: water supply; sewer system; roof; water intrusion; structural components; mechanical systems; wood boring insects/termites; presence of hazardous materials; flood plain or Lake Erie Coastal Erosion Area; drainage/erosion zoning/code violations/assessments/home owners association; boundary lines/encroachments/shared driveway/party walls; underground storage tanks/wells, and other known material defects.

The form will include questions on whether the home has been inspected for mold, if there is smoke damage and if the property is located in a flood plain, according to the Department of Commerce.

The question regarding mold could have aided Wakeman couple Charlene and Lance Deshuk, Charlene Deshuk said.

The Deshuks purchased an Oberlin home in August that Charlene describes as a ''nice, cute little home'' and a ''good home for the price.''

Charlene Deshuk said they did not notice anything unusual when they purchased the home. But after the previous owner moved out, she said the moldy smell in the house hit them in the face when they walked in the door.

Deshuk said the family moved into the house, but moved back out shortly thereafter when Deshuk started getting daily headaches and a home inspector found mold in the home.

''I don't know what we can do legally, or if there's anything we can do,'' said Deshuk, who is living back at her previous home with her husband and infant.

She said the previous owner filled out a disclosure form, but the form was vague. A company gave the Deshuks a $54,000 estimate to clean up the mold problem.

''We have this home we can't live in,'' she said.

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