If you are buying a home in Virginia, you will soon get to know some Latin...

Caveat Emptor

That translates to "buyer beware" - and it means that in Virginia sellers are not required to spell out every known flaw in their home as they are required to do in some other states.

In some states, sellers must fill out a long, detailed disclosure form listing every defect they're aware of in their home. 

In Virginia, most sellers are only required to disclose:

• being located in a military air installation
• pending building or zoning violations
• a pending lawsuit against the property
• if a property was previously used to manufacture meth
• if a privately owned stormwater management facility is on the property
• if there have been two or more flood claims over $1K within a 10 year period

As you can likely imagine, for most properties in our market, none of these required disclosures end up resulting in anything to disclose.

Meanwhile, a buyer must do the due diligence to research:

• Property condition, covenants, or mineral rights
• Lot lines or expansion ability
• Adjacent parcel zoning
• Historic district restrictions
• Chesapeake Bay resource protection areas
• Sex offender registry info
• Dam break inundation zones
• Septic system presence
• Solar panel rights
• Flood hazard areas
• Conservation easements
• Community development authority
• Marine clay soil
• Radon zone
• Lead pipes/fixtures
• Defective drywall
• Dam condition/status
• Airport noise zones

So, if you're selling a home, you don't have to disclose much (in Virginia) and if you're buying a home we want to make sure we're asking the right questions and doing the right research and due diligence.

Buyer beware can sounds scary - especially if you have bought or sold a home in a state that had more significant disclosure requirements - but we can typically find strategies (and contingencies) for mitigating that risk and uncertainty.

P.S.  Read all of the full and formal information about disclosure requirements over here.