To avoid buyer's remorse when you buy a home or a condo, you need to know what is your responsibility. Georgia is a buyer beware state which means that you have to make sure that you know what you are buying. This is done before the Purchase and Sale Agreement is negotiated as well as during the due diligence period. As a measure to be clear, the Georgia Association of Realtor's Purchase and Sale Agreement is very clear that it is the buyer's responsibility to check out the neighborhood as they have added a paragraph to the Agreement that the buyers must sign in agreement that it is their responsibility. The paragraph reads:
Duty of Buyer to Inspect Neighborhood: Buyer acknowledges that: (1) in every neighborhood there are conditions which different buyers may find objectionable and (2) Buyer has had the full opportunity to become acquainted with all existing neighborhood conditions (and proposed changes thereto) which could affect the Property including without limitation land-fills, quarries, high-voltage power lines, cemeteries, airports, prisons, stadiums, odor and/or noise producing land uses, crime, schools serving the Property, political jurisdictional maps and land use and transportation maps and plans. It shall be Buyer's sole duty to become familiar with neighborhood conditions of concern to Buyer. If Buyer is concerned about the possibility of a registered sex offender residing in a neighborhood in which Buyer is interested, Buyer should review the Georgia Violent Sex Offender Registry available on the Georgia Bureau of Investigation Website at www.state.ga.us/gbi/disclaim.html
Another website you can check is http://www.felonspy.com/search.html
One of our clients did not follow the recommendation in the Purchase and Sale Agreement and they found shortly after they moved in that a convicted sex offender lived across the street. Not only did this make them upset in the fact that they felt their daughters were not safe, it presented a real issue for them when they sold their home because although they did not have to disclose this issue to the new buyer per the Seller's Disclosure, they felt that they had an ethical responsibility to report this to the new buyer, thus hurting their negotiation power.
So protect your sanity and equity as you move into a neighborhood. It is important to make sure that you have done your due diligence and this can start with websites, talking to neighbors and reviewing maps which are all very simple processes. Don't forfeit your rights and have buyer's remorse later.
First lets start with why you should talk to the neighbors before you buy a home. Neighbors, although they may attempt to not be nosey, you can bet that most of them know everything that you need to know about the home you are looking at as well as the neighborhood. One time in my own neighborhood, although I did not know the people that lived there, I noticed that there were people at the house one day with hazmat masks and suits on for over one week unloading and cleaning the house. Had the new buyers asked anyone in the neighborhood about the house, they would have had more ammunition in negotiation after they knew this information.
We have also had the FBI do a stakeout on a neighbor's house and arrest the occupants for counterfeiting. We have had two suicides in the homes and a guy arrested for child porn. All of these things have happened in a quiet suburbia neighborhood of only 58 homes in the 600K and above price range on a private golf course. Who would have thought? Well that is why unsuspecting buyers have continued to purchase in our little haven without knowledge until they go to the neighborhood party on various occasions and they learn that the previous owner in the home failed to tell them that the basement flooded and was left unoccupied for a year or so, so that it caused major mold problems so bad that a recovery team had to come in. Would you like to know this before you make a 600K investment?
So here is the gameplan on talking to the neighbors...
Once you have decided on the home that you want to purchase, make sure that you visit the neighbors to get all of the scoop. Ask any question that comes to your mind, but here are some serious questions to ask. Go to at least 3 neighbors and do not make an offer until you talk to at least 3 to get the scoop.
3. How is the construction on the homes in the neighborhood?
4. Is there any crime in the neighborhood?
5. Is the neighborhood social?
6. How are the amenities?
7. Why are the neighbors (house you are looking at) moving?
8. Have they had any trouble with their house that you know of?
9. Is there anything that would prevent you from buying your own home again?
10. And anything else you want to know.
I have found that many people are blaming Bush for the foreclosure mess and recession. Why don't more people know that the foreclosure mess that we are in is from the Clinton administration's policy on Home Ownership and that lenders were pressed to allow people who could not quailfy to buy a home.
Many people are thinking that this mess happened overnight and out of the blue. How is it that we have all fallen into this mess and we are in a fog - believing whatever numbers are thrown at us without comparison or a theory on how this happened.
What do you think and what are your clients saying?
Don't you think that it adds some hope to people when they realize that this did not happen yesterday - that this was in the works as a consequence of the decisions made long ago.
We have all heard that we are in a recession with unemployment being 8% and foreclosure being 3% of the mortgages out there. I personally don't think those numbers are so bad, but whatever, I am known as crazy. Anyway, since the media has made such a big deal about these numbers and never told them in real numbers or in porportion to the real numbers, do you think that Obama will have the power to correct this information and give Amercian's hope?
Also, his speach today is suppose to be about personal responsibility. Do you think that some of the people who voted for him will be surprised by this thought or do you think that they thought that he would solve everything for them as promised on the campaign trail?
I wonder on such monumental days if we will be busy at the office? Buyers and sellers are still at work, but what do they do during days like today - are they watching the Inauguaration on their computer or are they still surfing the internet looking at houses?
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