Beyond what I’ve described above, other areas where I thought a realtor should have alerted us to potential problems but they stayed silent:

– homes with aluminum wiring
– homes with PEX pipes

We toured homes with both of those things and our realtor failed to alert us to the fact that homes in those subdivisions had those characteristics. Even when going over the home inspection with us, not a peep. We had to read the inspections close and discover that on our own.

In one case we were able to negotiate a price reduction based on aluminum wiring, in one case we backed out of a deal due to PEX. Maybe I’m using the wrong term, whatever plastic piping it was they were using 20-30 years ago.

In any case, I feel that realtors should have discussed potential problem areas with us, especially since we had selected realtors familiar with the areas where we were looking.

As I said before, go in armed with all the knowledge you can get…don’t rely on anyone else.