Selling a home requires a bit more paperwork than just a listing contract. There is an important form, the seller’s disclosure, that is essential to complete if you are selling a
residential property in Minnesota. There are alternatives for owners who have not lived in the home like bank representatives in the case of foreclosure or the personal representative of an estate, but most sellers do complete this for in its entirety. The current seller's residential real estate form is nine pages long. That probably seems like a lot of pages, but if your home was built after 1978 or does not have city water and sewer, there are even more.
If a home was constructed prior to 1978, the seller must fill out a two page federal disclosure regarding lead based paint. If a home has a septic system, the seller needs to complete a three page disclosure for subsurface sewage treatment systems. And if a home has ever had a well for water, there is a specific three page disclosure for wells. This must be completed whether the well has been sealed or is currently in use. And a handy-dandy location map is required for well/septic systems too.There is an additional disclosure form if a home has ever been used for the production of methamphetamine, but thankfully, most home sellers do not have to complete that one.
So the grand total of
required disclosure paperwork for acreage homes in Minnesota is 16
pages—or 18, if built prior to 1978. That’s a lot of paperwork for
listing your acreage home but it is essential. More importantly it is essential
to that it is completed completely and correctly.
One of my pet peeves is when the well disclosure isn’t properly completed. There simply is no excuse on a recently constructed home.
One of the first questions on the form…and
probably the most important is, what is the Minnesota Unique Well Number
and the depth and type of well. Often this is blank. I understand that
most people have no idea of what the exact information is off the top of
their heads. But for homes constructed after 1975, this is very simple
information to obtain. There is a website and look up tool for wells in Minnesota.
I have a link to the Minnesota Department of Health’s Unique Well Number LOOK UP TOOL
on my website so all my clients can easily locate this essential
information. Every well constructed since the late 1970's has been
tagged with a metal tag and its unique number. The numbers are logged
and tracked by the MDH. So even if it is 30 below and Minnesotans are
experiencing a horrific blizzard, a homeowner can log on to the website
and find the necessary information to complete their disclosure form.
(It's soooo much easier to find this time of year!)
Once
located, I recommend that sellers print out a copy of the report and
attach to the disclosure paperwork because it shows all the necessary
well construction details (i.e. who constructed, when, depth, type,
etc.)
HELPFUL TIPS FOR USING THE LOOK-UP TOOL I
have noted a few important tips for using this website because it can
be a bit frustrating if you are not familiar with it. Here are a few
quick tips to simply your look-up experience:
- Use Internet Explorer as your browser. The site doesn’t work well with newer browsers like Firefox and Google Chrome. There isn’t a mobile app for this yet either.
- Disable pop-up blockers. The map and information will show in a pop-up window and it looks like the site isn’t working if you have pop-up windows blocked.
- The information posted will not always show the current owner but the name of the owner or builder that filed the original paperwork.
- Sometimes the well will not always be listed by street address but still can be found by looking at the plat map of the street.
Take the time to fill out the form correctly as this is important information for the new buyer. Buyers appreciate when the seller takes the time to put the correct details on the disclosures.
It takes a bit of time and research, but in the end, your buyer will
have all the information needed to make an informed decision. Since many
other sellers leave this information blank, sellers who go the extra
mile will make their home stand out from the rest!
Copyright 2012 www.terieckholm.com
