Mississippi Foreclosures For Sale
Problems can arise when an investor attempts to obtain information regarding Mississippi foreclosures for sale. You have to bear in mind that the owner is the bank or lender and they might not be aware that there is rotting wood underneath the shingles on the roof, termites in the foundations or dangerous electrical wiring. If the bank or agent does not know about these defects they cannot divulge this to the buyer. This is then referred to as a “suspect defect”. Courts generally rule that the property owner is not able to disclose facts they are unaware of, but his is not necessarily an airtight defense.
Certain states have certain laws stating that some serious defects have to be investigated by the owner of the property. In one very bizarre case in California, a real estate firm was held liable by a court for not advising the new owner of a property that the hillside location of the property would be susceptible to “mudslides”. How the realtor was supposed to know this fact, I have no idea? However the judgment stated that although the real estate firm had no knowledge of mudslides, the “not knowing” with good reason is not the same as suspecting that this condition might exist. Go figure!
Often sellers know about serious defects and neglect to tell the potential investor, although this would be ridiculous in the instance of Mississippi foreclosures for sale. These are owned by the bank or lender and they have to behave in an appropriate way to disclose all potential defects, particularly if they could cause lethal circumstances. There was one instance of a seller being aware of a gas heater that was malfunctioning, the repairman told him that the heater may cause a fire, however he sold his home knowing this. The heater exploded and killed two members of the new family living there and the sell was held criminally liable, he was convicted on charges of manslaughter and sentenced to jail for 15 years.
It is highly unlikely that a bank would want to be held for any liability in these kinds of circumstances, so they will disclose or repair defects. If they choose not to repair them, the investor is able to ask for substantial discounts on Mississippi foreclosures for sale.
Although there are many grey areas in the disclosure of liabilities on property, it is vital that the investor obtains a list of defects from the bank or lender, no matter how big or small. When a seller is aware of serious or minor defects they often try to hide this from a potential investor, but this is not so with banks and lenders who have foreclosed on properties. Unfortunately this often does not apply to the real estate agents or brokers that banks and lenders often use to rid them selves of their long lists of foreclosures.
Unethical real estate agents use a method known as “puffing”, they make statements that sound good but contain no facts.
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