Real Estate October 08

Su Casa - Real Estate

October 2008

[ REAL ESTATE ]

Richard Stanley Mug Shot What Is “As Is”?

By Richard Stanley,
Ledger Columnist

    “As is” is an often misunderstood real estate term. Often, sellers mistakenly believe that “as is” means “caveat emptor,” or “buyer beware”—that a property may be sold without seller responsibility for any defects the property may have. Not so.
    Sellers have a duty in modern real estate transactions to disclose defects known to them—in writing—to a buyer. By doing so, the seller may release herself or himself from later liability. If a seller fails to disclose defects that might influence a buyer’s decision to purchase, the seller could be held liable later for fraud. Merely saying to a buyer that a property is sold “as is” never exempts a seller from these disclosures unless the seller represents a trust and has no, or limited, personal knowledge of a property’s condition, represents an estate or has acquired the property through foreclosure.
    The current California Association of Real Estate purchase agreement does not use the term “as is,” but states instead, “Unless otherwise agreed: the Property is sold in its PRESENT physical condition as of the date of Acceptance.” The buyer should not assume that the seller will perform any repairs not specifically mentioned in the purchase agreement.
    Most sellers and all realtors are required by law to pass on any reports in their possession. If you, as a seller, have an old report from when you purchased the property, or a roof or termite inspection in your file, you should give it to a prospective buyer—even if the problems were corrected. If you or your realtor have copies of reports commissioned by a buyer prospect who cancelled a prior escrow, you should pass these reports along to a subsequent buyer prospect—even if you don’t agree with the facts or conclusions presented in the reports.
A seller’s best protection against legal problems after a sale is to have a well-informed buyer before the sale closes.
    So, you see, “as is” almost never is.

Richard Stanley, a Los Feliz resident, is a 20+-year veteran of the local real estate market. www.richardstanleyrealtor.com.

[ CITY SLEUTH ]

Los Feliz Photo Day
By Diane Kanner, Ledger Columnist

LOS FELIZ—In their continuing effort to unearth photographs showing Los Feliz area people and places before 1970, the Los Feliz Improvement Association’s History Committee will take over the Community Room of the Los Feliz Branch Library, 1874 Hillhurst Ave., on Nov. 1st, from 2 p.m. to 5 p.m. Armed with the expertise gained from five previous such efforts, the committee will take submissions of photos and documents.
When the committee started in 1987, its first photos came from the Title Insurance and Security Pacific Bank collections. These photos had been reprinted so often, they had ceased to excite anyone. Los Feliz from Barnsdall Park, 1895—it was the same old, same old. Then two things happened: the arrival of the internet and a volunteer named Donald Seligman who moved the group’s fascination with the past into the 21st century.
    Seligman organizes photographs and Los Feliz documents with the precision of a professional archivist. Between the 600 images he has unearthed, and 200 which the LFIA acquired at previous Photo Days, the organization’s holdings are up to 800.
    “This is a beautiful shot,” he says of a view in Griffith Park of three women in Victorian era dress escorting their children on a pathway through a grove of trees. In many cases, he has been able to edit photos with PhotoShop and improve them.
    Now the LFIA hopes to find photos from personal nonprofessional collections. Information: LFIA (323) 660-1914 or history@LFIA.org.