Eastern Mass & Central Maine · Member since 2009 · 252 posts · 135 votes
Our buyer broker refuses to submit an offer on a house unless we initial and sign the house's property disclosures form. Is this a normal industry practice in Maine?
We do not and, in fact, already have. I do not recall having to submit Buyer-signed disclosures in Massachusetts and wonder if this is a requirement or standard business practice in Maine.
@Alex G. Maine works quite differently than Mass. As @Phil G. states, the seller must provide a property disclosure to the buyer prior to an offer being made.
I *never* have my seller do them in Mass where it's optional. The reason is that if a seller misstates something or forgets something, there's written evidence of it. That's like loading the buyer's attorney's shotgun for him. I know a lot of other agents agree with me that it's an unnecessary risk to the seller.
The other differences I find interesting are that Mass is an attorney closing state where Maine uses title companies. Also, Mass is a 2-contract state. We write an offer and then a P&S when due diligence closes. Maine writes a P&S without a prior offer.
I'm a real estate agent in southern Maine for Coldwell Banker. All of the offers I've received on my listings have come with the purchase and sale, initialed disclosures and deed and almost always with a pre-qualification or pre-approval letter.