When a homeowner decides to sell their home the most important thing they can do to ensure a successful sale is to give all interested buyers a very clear understanding of the condition of the home before any buyer presents an offer. In other words… Don’t hide anything! Disclose everything, upfront!

I was a real estate agent for 7 years in San Francisco and with every listing I encouraged the sellers (my clients) to disclose as much as possible about the property because it would result in the best possible price and a faster transaction. In other words, it protected them… it was best practices.

I worked closely with my clients to make sure their disclosures were complete and easy to understand. We had pre-sale inspections completed and included them in the disclosure packets. We sent all interested buyer parties these packets and asked them to review before they submitted an offer. All of my clients agreed that the extra money spent on inspections upfront was worth it.

This “best practice” benefits the seller because it fortifies the purchase contract price and creates deal stability. When a buyer knows everything there is to know about a property before they submit an offer it greatly reduces the likelihood that they will find a new, undisclosed issue with the home and want to renegotiate the sale price or get out of the deal completely. It also sets the stage for buyers to make a contingency free offer. Do not let your sellers rely on AS-IS addendums because they do not carry any real weight.

When sellers present thorough property disclosures, including pre-sale inspections and all additional information about the property upfront (construction plans, invoices for repairs, work orders, emails with neighbors, HOA info, etc) they’re setting themselves up for a successful and fast real estate transaction. Check out the company I’m building, it makes this process super easy: disclosures.io.