Guestpert : Toni Patillo
Category : Real Estate
Tags : Geoff Williams, Huffington Post, Misleading Jargon when buying a home, buying a home, Real Estate Jargon
Ms. Patillo is the Principal and Broker for Toni Patillo & Assoc.’s, a Residential & Commercial Real Estate Company whose expertise is in the liquidation of properties for people who are selling due to particular circumstances. Leading her own sales team, in standard sales and purchases, Toni Patillo & Associates has a specific niche in Senior Transition sales, Probate, Trust sales, Bankruptcy, Divorce, Short Sales, and Pre-Foreclosure liquidations.
In my 18+ years of selling real estate the most common misleading jargon that I see repeatedly is using the terms “updated”, “remodeled”, “freshly painted exterior or interior”, “new flooring”, “fairly new roof”, the operative key here is “WHEN” was this done.
For many people they state that the property was updated or remodeled and let’s say the home was built in 1925 and the parents updated the property twice over the 93 years since it was originally built, and the last update or remodel was over 20 years ago. That’s very misleading. The same would be applicable for Plumbing and Electrical, code requirements often change over time. Flooring types and paint colors becomes obsolete and dated.
I’ve also seen the term “Quaint” used and what that typically means is, its smaller space. I also see trends where agents won’t enter living square footage in the sales setup sheet and that’s funny because it’s obvious that they are trying to hide the fact that it’s small. Another misleading jargon is in the use of the term “views”, without specifying what the view is of. Then you get to the property and you’re looking for the views and it’s of the buildings around you, or it’s a view of the tree tops in the front or backyard. My recommendation to the Buyer and Buyer’s agent is to confirm these details with the listing agent prior to showing the property and advise all parties accordingly. If it says remodeled or updated ask when did these take place? If it’s flooring and or painting, ask, when did this take place? What type of flooring? What paint color was used?