{"id":11423,"date":"2017-04-26T03:00:35","date_gmt":"2017-04-25T17:00:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/realestatetalk.com.au\/?p=11423"},"modified":"2017-04-26T03:00:35","modified_gmt":"2017-04-25T17:00:35","slug":"what-an-agent-must-tell-you-about-a-property-before-you-buy-tim-odwyer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/channels.realty.com.au\/realtytalk\/what-an-agent-must-tell-you-about-a-property-before-you-buy-tim-odwyer\/","title":{"rendered":"What an agent must tell you about a property before you buy – Tim O'Dwyer"},"content":{"rendered":"

Where do you stand if you find that an agent who sold you a property knew something that would have influenced your decision to buy that property and the agent didn\u2019t tell you?\u00a0 That is one of the topics covered in a book written by consumer advocate and solicitor Tim O\u2019Dwyer<\/strong>.\u00a0 Tim is sometimes called the \u2018contract killer\u2019 and you will find out why in our chat with him.
\nTranscript:<\/strong>
\nKevin:\u00a0 <\/b>I want to talk about agents withholding facts \u2013 facts like someone dying in a property or material facts that may affect the property, being in a flood zone and so on. What are the requirements for agents? What do they have to tell buyers?
\nTim:\u00a0 <\/b>They have to tell the truth, and what they must not do is they must not mislead or deceive actively and they must not mislead or deceive by silence, and that\u2019s the gray area for real estate agents.
\nKevin:\u00a0 <\/b>It\u2019s very gray.
\nTim:\u00a0 <\/b>And for their clients, the sellers.
\nKevin:\u00a0 <\/b>You have to prove that the agent knew the fact and was silent about it, Tim, which would be pretty hard to prove I would have thought.
\nTim:\u00a0 <\/b>Yes, but often you can show that the seller knew about it. If you\u2019re a buyer and you\u2019re looking at suing someone because you\u2019ve been misled or deceived, or you\u2019re looking at getting out of a contract on that basis, it\u2019s either the agent or the seller who may have misled or deceived.
\nKevin:\u00a0 <\/b>But isn\u2019t it buyer beware?
\nTim:\u00a0 <\/b>Time was, but that\u2019s increasingly changing, and there\u2019s an awful lot of law now protecting buyers.
\nKevin:\u00a0 <\/b>In your book, you deal with this in some detail. Page 50, \u201cTwo tales of real estate\u2019s willful silence.\u201d Let\u2019s talk about that. Not mentioning termites I guess is a classic one, because that\u2019s front and center in your book.
\nTim:\u00a0 <\/b>Yes. There are a couple of stories in there. Sellers find termites in their house, do repairs, and then don\u2019t disclose to their prospective buyers that there had been termite damage.
\nKevin:\u00a0 <\/b>But why would they have to do that? If they\u2019ve found a problem and they\u2019ve sorted it out and fixed it, why would they have to disclose that?
\nTim:\u00a0 <\/b>The law is concerned about material facts. Essentially, it says if you\u2019re a seller or an agent, you should disclose material facts. And the lovely question is what is a material fact?
\nKevin:\u00a0 <\/b>I was going to ask you that question.
\nTim:\u00a0 <\/b>This is something that your average buyer would want to know and may dissuade them from proceeding with the purchase if they were told that.
\nKevin:\u00a0 <\/b>Hang on just a minute here. This is where you and I are probably going to start crossing swords. Surely, if a buyer is going to get a building and pest inspection done, shouldn\u2019t that be disclosed in that building and pest inspection? How far does it have to go?
\nTim:\u00a0 <\/b>I think it has to go almost as far as possible, Kevin. I\u2019m a big fan of what the law is in America, and there\u2019s a little bit of this law\u2026
\nKevin:\u00a0 <\/b>Goodness, I hope to hell we don\u2019t go that far, Tim.
\nTim:\u00a0 <\/b>Well, the law of real estate, where full disclosure is the name of the game. You tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth \u2013 attractively, if you can.
\nKevin:\u00a0 <\/b>Peter is on the line too. G\u2019day, Peter.
\nPete:\u00a0 <\/b>Good morning, Kevin. I want to know, is the law saying disclose everything. If your hold home had a little bit of asbestos and you say, \u201cWell, I\u2019m not going to rip it out because it\u2019ll disturb it, and I\u2019ll resheet over it.\u201d Now you have to declare everything like that?
\nKevin:\u00a0 <\/b>No. We\u2019re not saying you have to do it now. What Tim is saying that that\u2019s the way it should be.
\nTim:\u00a0 <\/b>Exactly. I\u2019m talking about the ideal, which will make sales more secure, which will make buyers more informed, and which will make real estate agents happier.
\nKevin:\u00a0 <\/b>You see, Peter, this is where Tim and I disagree. I don\u2019t believe that that should be the case.
\nPete:\u00a0 <\/b>I disagree with him too.
\nKevin:\u00a0 <\/b>Good on you. I\u2019m with you, Pete. Okay, thanks for your call.
\nTim, I want to move the focus just for a moment, because there is another thing, and that\u2019s competing offers. The scenario is that a buyer may be interested in buying a property. As an agent, I\u2019ve seen this many times.
\nBuyer is interested in buying a property, puts an offer in, the offer is being negotiated, and in the meantime, another offer comes in, a competing offer. Then you have to go back to the original purchaser and say, \u201cLook, there is another offer in.\u201d
\nSure, this is just agent hype. How does a consumer protect themselves against that? What should be the discloser responsibilities, and how do you avoid gazumping?
\nTim:\u00a0 <\/b>When you make your offer, probably make your best offer on the basis of sensible thinking and reasonable information. Don\u2019t make ridiculous offers, because you\u2019ll be out of the game entirely. If your offer has to be subject to a prior sale or subject to finance or building and pest, then that should be made very clear right from the start.
\nBut usually, the main question is how much? The real estate agent has a duty to get the best price for their seller, and they do that by asking prospective buyers, \u201cGive us your best offer.\u201d Now and again, this is true. A seller will not necessarily accept the highest offer. Sometimes, they like the sound of a lower priced offer.
\nKevin:\u00a0 <\/b>It\u2019s not always about price. Sometimes, it\u2019s about conditions, it\u2019s about finding out when the seller wants to move out. It may suit them to have a longer settlement because they may have to look for another property. So it\u2019s more than just price on competition.
\nWe\u2019ll have to leave it there, Tim. Thank you very much for joining us in the show. That book is called Real Estate Escapes<\/i>. You can get it at all good book stores. It\u2019s written by Tim O\u2019Dwyer, or you can go to the website RealEstateEscapes.com.au.
\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Where do you stand if you find that an agent who sold you a property knew something that would have influenced your decision to buy that property and the agent didn\u2019t tell you?\u00a0 That is one of the topics covered in a book written by…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":176692471,"featured_media":11432,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[33,10,11,13,36,25],"tags":[101],"class_list":["post-11423","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-case-studies-topic","category-kevin-turner-sponsored-channels","category-kevin-update","category-latest-story","category-property-investment-topic","category-sponsored-channels","tag-podcast"],"yoast_head":"\nWhat an agent must tell you about a property before you buy - Tim O'Dwyer - Realty Talk<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/channels.realty.com.au\/realtytalk\/what-an-agent-must-tell-you-about-a-property-before-you-buy-tim-odwyer\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"What an agent must tell you about a property before you buy - 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