When you're buying a house, you often have a lot of pretty standard questions. But did you ever think to ask if a tragic event had happened in the home? One Northern Michigan couple wished they had. Now they are stuck with a home they don't really feel comfortable in at all. Their situation and the warning they have for all of us are the subject of this Fact Finder.
Standing on the deck of her Lake County home, Cindy Pudvay can easily remember the day that things changed. As she explains "we found out about a week ago that a man committed suicide in the basement. He shot himself which made it very uncomfortable for us to even go downstairs anymore."
But that wasn't the case just a few months ago when Cindy and Larry Pudvay knew at first site that this would be their new up north home by the river. They had no idea that the previous owner had taken his life in the basement. The bought the house, because as Larry says, "it was new construction. I thought this would be an ideal place for Cindy to live in the future and for the grandkids to come up and basically build a maintenance free house for her."
Maintenance free is important for Larry, because he is terminally ill. He bought this property as a gift for his wife. Since the day of purchase, they have been hard at work turning this house into her long term home. Cindy and Larry putting in a lot of hard work and cash, "probably 8 hours a day, money wise probably an extra 40-50 thousand dollars into it. We are here almost 7 days a week working on it."
Because the home was still being built when they bought it, and a local bank was the owner, the Pudvay's didn't worry too much about its past. In fact, since the walls were only dry walled, and the home was far from finished, they figured it couldn't possible have history. But it did, and that history is impacting the current owners. Cindy says "the basement was designed in this house for our kids and our grandkids to come and stay and have their own space, and like I said, it's very uncomfortable now."
The Pudvay's found out about the previous owner's death just last week, but claim just about everyone else who had been in town, has known for months. They say they don't believe that their personal realtor knew, but that the company she works for did. They also say the bank that owned the property had to know since the previous owner's mortgage was through the same bank.
So today, the Pudvay's have a home they love with a past they can't come to terms with. They wondered didn't someone have to tell them what happened in the home when selling it. So I did a little digging, and confirmed that the answer is no, not here in Michigan.
When you sell a house, you do have to disclose certain things, but every state is different. Michigan's seller disclosure form only lists actually structural things: like does the roof leak? Or what conditions are the appliances in? Nothing about a violent crime or suicide has to be released. There are 21 states in the country like Michigan in that regard.
So if the seller doesn't have to tell a buyer what happened, does a realtor have a legal obligation to do so?
According to Michigan Occupational Code, the answer is no. In fact, it protects agents for not releasing information about a murder, suicide or crime that "had no material effect on the condition of the real property or improvements located on the real property."
In fact, the law may go one step further. Not only do agents and seller not have to voluntarily tell a buyer about a homes past, some real estate agents that I spoke with say that even if they wanted to, they can't disclose a homes past unless they have permission from their selling client to do so.
So what do you think? Should sellers have to disclose events like this to potential buyers? Should realtors be able to volunteer this information? Or is it best to leave it at buyer beware? I want to know where you stand on this one.
Leave a comment with your thoughts.
