Realtor Question - Arizona USA area

[JimMacMillan]

A friend of mine is buying rental property in Scottsdale and Mesa Arizona. One of the properties is priced so low I had to ask him what was wrong with it. He told me that there had been a death in the house and that the realtor was required by law to disclose that. I new from my mother having been a realtor in California more than 10 years ago that violent deaths had to be disclosed. But the deceased in this house in Arizona died of natural causes. Does that really have to be disclosed as well?

Thanks
Jim Mac Millan

[Padeye]

Well on the south side of Phoenix or Maryvale, AKA Cranktown, violet death may be a natural cause.

The best reference I could find said that just the opposite may be true

Arizona Revised Statute 32-2156

A. No criminal, civil, or administrative action may be brought against a transferor or lessor of real property or a licensee for failing to disclose that the property being transferred or leased is or has been:

1. The site of a natural death, suicide or homicide or any other crime classified as a felony.
2. Owned or occupied by a person exposed to the human immunodeficiency virus or diagnosed as having acquired immune deficiency syndrome or any other disease that is not known to be transmitted through common occupancy of real estate.
3. Located in the vicinity of a sex offender.
   B. Failing to disclose any fact or suspicion asset forth in subsection A shall not be grounds for termination or rescission of any transaction in which real property has been or will be transferred or leased.

But Arizona Administrative Code AAC R4-28-1101, which carries the weight of law, requires realtors to

disclose in writing…any information which the licensee possesses that materially and adversely affects the consideration to be paid by any party to the transaction…including any material defect existing in the property being transferred.

That appears the realtor may choose to disclose any death to comply with this code.

[JimMacMillan]

Thanks for the reply that pretty much satisfies my morbid sense of curiosity.

Jim Mac Millan

[Phlosphr]

Jim - I have a condo in the Ahwatukee area of Phoenix (south of South Mountain). It’s a get away condo for my wife and I…we live full time in CT. When we are down there visiting we always like to see open houses…because we always have our eyes open for another property. Anyway, we were at one open house in the same neighborhood. The place was a 1900 sqft home, spanish roofing tiled, pool etc…etc… fo 137k. so we naturally checked it out. Seems the same thing was true the realtor said there was a violent crime in the house and that it had been completely redone to sell…hazmat and the whole nine yards. So…initially we were turned away from the property…but to tell you the truth, had we been full time residents down there, we would have bought the property no question and turned it into a rental. So people are still interested in properties…even if they have a less than cheery history.