New Orleans Property Disclosures
Whether you are selling your home on your own or using an experienced agent, you’ll need to provide potential buyers with New Orleans property disclosures that outline the condition and details of your house.
It’s a pretty straightforward document although checking off several pages of questions and then explaining some of the answers can be a little time-consuming. Even if damages have been repaired, you will still need to let buyers know about the time that the neighbor’s tree fell on your roof, the water that seeped in during a storm, or the plumbing backed up and flooded the hall.
The most important items that buyers are looking for on a disclosure are typically any history of termite or flood damage, the age, and condition of the major components and structure of the house, and if there are any material defects that might cause them to continue their search.
Material Defects
What’s a material defect in a property? What’s considered “material” will vary from buyer to buyer, but a general list of material defects would include:
- Structural issues such as a tilted or cracked slab
- Inoperable appliances
- Inoperable air conditioning or heating systems
- Windows and doors that don’t open or close properly.
- Plumbing problems such as slow drains or clogged or broken pipes
- Inadequate electrical service (and for most insurance companies, this includes homes on fuses instead of breaker systems)
- Leaking roof that will require a roof repair
- Broken pool equipment
Please don’t consider this an all encompassing list – each property is unique and there may be things in your home that are different.
The disclosure is designed to let the buyer know as much as possible about the house before they make an offer, saving you and them the hassle of negotiating a deal only to find out during inspections that there were problems you knew about and didn’t disclose. That’s a recipe for a cancelled purchase agreement if there ever was one.
Download a copy of the Louisiana property disclosure
