[hinkley]

Our old house had problems. When we listed it, the best prospect thought we were stupid not honest, so he kept trying to get us to lower the price when inspection turned something up. In retrospect maybe a picture with the proverbial roof on fire might have been a good idea.

Here's the thing about getting a house loan: If you try to buy a house for too far under or over market value and can't explain why it's that far under market value, it sets off all sorts of red flags for lenders. Before we bought that house we passed on another because it was a unicorn in its neighborhood and our agent was having a terrible time coming up with documentation of comparable listings in a reasonable distance from the house. And then I discovered water damage and we bailed.

If you buy it for 15% under market and have a bunch of inspections that say why, that's less of a problem.

[robocat]

In New Zealand, houses can be sold “as is” which means cash only. It usually means that insurance cannot be acquired for the house, and mortgages always require insurance. It means there are bargains still available in my city (Christchurch) because there were so many houses damaged by the earthquake a decade ago. There are still houses that are about 2/3 the price compared to similar insurable houses. Few people can buy the as-is properties because most people need a mortgage to buy a house. People with cash usually buy better houses. A saw an as-is sold the other day to a buyer from the US.

Insurance policies have some queer rules that all insurers share - perhaps due to building code, or maybe due to a common reinsurer?

Your floor cannot have more than 50mm (two inches) drop between two corners of the house, as it can’t be insured. Unless you can show the unlevel floor existed pre-earthquake, in which case you can get insurance! Wierd.

[vGPU]

All used homes in the US are sold “as-is”. It’s caveat emptor doctrine.

Now, there are laws against misrepresentation. There is a disclosure form that is required which asks you about defects. The seller can admit them or decline to answer, but if the seller knowingly lies about a property defect you can sue to recover damages.

Real estate agents have a lot of liability here because they are bound to disclose things that could have been “reasonably known” - which is a definition that can be tortured in every direction. For example, bedrooms: in my state a bedroom must have a closet to count as a bedroom. Except sometimes it doesn’t have to have a closet to count as a bedroom. The exceptions are literally described as “some older homes had bedrooms without closets” - but “older” and “bedrooms” is left to the interpretation of your legal council and the investigator when it becomes an issue.