When are sellers disclosures usually given

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Submitted by infoseeker on September 19, 2009 - 5:28pm

I read in the contracts somewhere that sellers are obligated to send in their disclosures 7 days after offer acceptance. But usually what is the normal time frame for disclosures here in San Diego. I hear that in Midwest, seller disclosures are given even before offer is made; I think it should be like that here that way as well so that buyers make a calculated offer price or decide not to even make an offer. Anyways for the home we recently backed out from, the sellers sent the disclosure after 4 days of offer acceptance (after numerous pinging) just the evening before our inspection when I pressurized saying that I will postpourne the inspection otherwise. Actually the disclosures were all dated a month ago (so looks like the seller or the agent was purposely holding it). If I had the disclosure a day or 2 earlier I might have saved on the inspection cost. Just wanted to know the disclosure time trend so that I can have a clear timeline next time. My realtor says usually disclosures are given on the day of inspection... I wanted to double check in this forum.

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I agree that seller
Submitted by ybitz on September 19, 2009 - 5:42pm.

I agree that seller disclosure should be made available even before the offer is made. It would advantageous to the seller too, because you would get more serious offers from buyer (since they know what they're getting into), and presumably less buyers retracting their offer because of something in the disclosure.
Can you think of reasons against sellers disclosing prior to offer acceptance? Privacy?

Typically, they are due
Submitted by urbanrealtor on September 19, 2009 - 8:18pm.

Typically, they are due within one week of offer acceptance.
I don't provide them beforehand because if the house waits too long, sometimes things change and so the disclosures need to be updated.
Though honestly there is nothing wrong with having them available before marketing the house.

I haven't sold in
Submitted by UCGal on September 20, 2009 - 8:08am.

I haven't sold in California... but I sold in Washington State and in Pennsylvania. In both cases I had to fill out disclosure information as part of the listing package. So the listing agent had all the disclosure information before it was listed.

(Both homes were over 100 years old - so there was disclosure.)

The buyer makes the offer so
Submitted by george on September 20, 2009 - 9:55am.

The buyer makes the offer so they can set their own terms and conditions. Next time tell the seller you want to make an offer, but would like to see the disclosures first. If they won't do that for some reason, write into the offer that you want the to receive the disclosures within 24 hours. Of course, if you are buying a property that's getting multiple offers then your at their mercy, but never pay for an inspection before seeing the disclosures.

BTW, if your realtor is
Submitted by george on September 20, 2009 - 10:16am.

BTW, if your realtor is implying to you that it's OK to get the disclosures the day of the inspection I would have less confidence in their ability to manage the contract and to look out for your best interests. It's also not fair to the home inspector who gets the last minute cancellation and probably won't be able to rebook that time slot.

george wrote:BTW, if your
Submitted by urbanrealtor on September 20, 2009 - 2:44pm.

george wrote:
BTW, if your realtor is implying to you that it's OK to get the disclosures the day of the inspection I would have less confidence in their ability to manage the contract and to look out for your best interests. It's also not fair to the home inspector who gets the last minute cancellation and probably won't be able to rebook that time slot.

I would disagree with this.
It is generally not realistic to put a time frame of less than 5 days on the seller to deliver disclosures.
Most people need a couple of days to complete the forms (usually more than 50 pages).
Also, the inspection needs to be done asap.
While it would be nice to see if there is an issue that would queer the deal up front, usually the disclosures don't give you that (at least in my experience). Usually, on a diligent inspection gives you that.

The seller's disclosures and
Submitted by george on September 20, 2009 - 5:43pm.

The seller's disclosures and seller's agent inspection disclosures should be completed before the property is listed. IMO an agent that prices and lists a property before getting the seller's disclosures and before doing their own agent's inspection/disclosures is not doing their job in a professional manner.

george wrote:The seller's
Submitted by CA renter on September 21, 2009 - 12:14am.

george wrote:
The seller's disclosures and seller's agent inspection disclosures should be completed before the property is listed. IMO an agent that prices and lists a property before getting the seller's disclosures and before doing their own agent's inspection/disclosures is not doing their job in a professional manner.

Very good point, George. I agree.

CA renter wrote:george
Submitted by urbanrealtor on September 22, 2009 - 7:22am.

CA renter wrote:
george wrote:
The seller's disclosures and seller's agent inspection disclosures should be completed before the property is listed. IMO an agent that prices and lists a property before getting the seller's disclosures and before doing their own agent's inspection/disclosures is not doing their job in a professional manner.

Very good point, George. I agree.

I also think that would be a good standard of practice.
However, it is not the current standard.
Kind of like how I would like to see dual-agency eliminated as a permitted practice.

Our contracts specify 7 days following acceptance to deliver disclosures to buyer.