As soon as he met the buyer, my friend immediately showed him all the things wrong with the truck. “The passenger door window doesn’t roll up or down,” he said. “Look at the driver’s side door. The hinge is a little weird, and it doesn’t always shut completely. “When you accelerate, you have to keep steady pressure on the accelerator. Otherwise, the truck may jump out of gear and then kick back into gear. “The entire truck will jerk forward. It’s kind of hard on the transmission when it does that.” The buyer ate it up! He bought it on the spot. He knew that most 20-year-old trucks have problems. He also figured that a seller who was so upfront about the problems wouldn’t be hiding any problems from him. Furthermore, my friend was selling it for 30% more than the fair price he had paid a used car dealer just a year before. He had done some work on the truck, but it was still no bargain. This same strategy works for selling a home. Most buyers are not stupid. They know if they buy an older home, it will have some problems. The more forthcoming you are about those potential problems, the more relaxed they will become about buying your house. If you see something, say something. If you don't know, don't guess. That is why there is an unknown box on the forms. The problems you must report are the ones that are obvious: foundation and structural issues, major repairs, leaky pipes, rotting wood, basement flooding—basically anything about your
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