House for sale in neighborhood & potential buyer questions

[Anonymous]

I live in the least expensive townhouse neighborhood in an area with great schools. My neighbors are obsessed with property value. The house attached to ours is up for sale.

So the self-appointed queen of the neighborhood had a chat with me yesterday. She wanted to make sure if potential buyers come knocking at my door we will only share the positive aspects of the homes and neighborhood and not the negatives (e.g. tree on future buyers property is in horrible shape and is a potential danger to that home and ours, water issues, etc). I told her if someone asks me if there have been any drawbacks I will share them. EVERY home in the country must have at least some issue I assume. Plus, anyone can inspect that dying tree and see where it's located and look in the basements and see sump pumps and know something is up. So needless to say the queen is now displeased. I interrupted her rant to go pick up my kids.

Note to buyers of any house anywhere...inspect trees and ask that dead branches and/or trees be removed before buying the home. People can obsessed with even potentially dangerous dead trees that supposedly add charm and increase property value so let the owner deal before you sign anything. Check basements and ask about basement blooding since installing safeguards. Get a really good home inspector. You probably already thought of this right?

[Anonymous]

Oops flooding not blooding...eeek.

[Anonymous]

Does Neighborhood Queen own the house for sale? we have a queen of the condo, too. She also serves as the laundry room and parking lot police.

[Anonymous]

LOL! That's funny.

No, the queen does not own that house, but rumor has it the queen and husband may be looking to spend the rest of their retirement further south close to their grandkids, so her majesty likely wants to make sure she can profit as much as possible.

[Anonymous]

More suggestions..

Check crime reports.

Drive through the neighborhoold several times to get a sense of the demographic. If you have young kids you may want to see if there are families with young kids. If you want peace and quiet only, you may want a different age bracket or a mix. Keep in mind the area is transient so I wouldn't make this too big a factor.

[Anonymous]

if she is worried about the value of her condo, if she bought yours for say, a cool, million, that would help her out, right? And the other one on sale....

[Anonymous]

I don't chat with people like that. Learn a second language and attempt to use only that with her.

[Anonymous]

I wouldn't comment on a home that's for sale. If you say something that's not true and it hurts the sale, that's actionable slander.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I wouldn't comment on a home that's for sale. If you say something that's not true and it hurts the sale, that's actionable slander.

We're not talking about talking about the home for sale. If someone asks you if you had any issues with your home it is not slander to say yes...we have had X. Y and Z issues. If someone asks you about neighborhood issues, it is not slander to say there is poor drainage. Someone can look at the street and figure that our for themselves.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I don't chat with people like that. Learn a second language and attempt to use only that with her.

I have a friend who is from Puerto Rico. Whenever someone annoys her she acts like her grasp of English is really poor and she thickens her accent.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I wouldn't comment on a home that's for sale. If you say something that's not true and it hurts the sale, that's actionable slander.

We're not talking about talking about the home for sale. If someone asks you if you had any issues with your home it is not slander to say yes...we have had X. Y and Z issues. If someone asks you about neighborhood issues, it is not slander to say there is poor drainage. Someone can look at the street and figure that our for themselves.

The operative words were "if you say something that's not true."

I once knew someone who told everyone at a party that a house for sale on the street had structural problems. It did not. There were real estate agents at the party who overheard this. Word got out. Seller learned of this statement, made publicly, and sued.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I wouldn't comment on a home that's for sale. If you say something that's not true and it hurts the sale, that's actionable slander.

We're not talking about talking about the home for sale. If someone asks you if you had any issues with your home it is not slander to say yes...we have had X. Y and Z issues. If someone asks you about neighborhood issues, it is not slander to say there is poor drainage. Someone can look at the street and figure that our for themselves.

Is it slander if its true?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I wouldn't comment on a home that's for sale. If you say something that's not true and it hurts the sale, that's actionable slander.

If the seller hides issues that still affect the home that is a legal issue. When we were on the market I was surprised when the selling agents couldn't answer questions about things that seemed like potential problems.

Don't they have to be honest about the description of the home too? When we were on the market, so many ads called Jr. bedrooms or dens, full bedrooms and in one an unfinished basement was included in square footage.

[Anonymous]

it's just a bad idea all around. smile and keep walking. do not engage her. it's up to the buyers to find out what they need to on a property.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:it's just a bad idea all around. smile and keep walking. do not engage her. it's up to the buyers to find out what they need to on a property.

I don't understand what you are trying to express. If someone from an open house sees you and wants to chat about the neighborhood, don't engage or don't engage the neighbor who wants to keep up appearances.