SF and Daly City: To Disclose or Not to Disclose… Is This Really a Question?

An interesting blog and subsequent debate over at The Front Steps caught my eye today, not in small part due to the title: “That Dog Should be Taco.” But this is not, in fact, a treatise on dog names nor a macabre recipe. In fact, it is a blog posing a rather existential real estate sales question: to disclose or not to disclose; or: I disclose, therefore I am …. but am what? Stupid? Shooting myself, or my neighbor, in the foot?

Because the blog warns as follows:

If you own a unit in a condominium and happen to pass by when potential buyers are milling around enjoying the garden setting in the common area, and marveling at how quiet it is, do not come by and say, “Just wait for the parties from that blond girl (nodding head toward unit directly next door). And that dog (blond girl’s pet), oh!………..that dog should be taco.” …..If anything, it is the worst thing you could do, because if the sale doesn’t go through based on what you just said, …..you just might have caused a longer listing period and subsequent price reductions, which could, in theory, lower the price of your own personal unit when it comes time for you to sell…[insert choice explicative here]!

But really? How many people would turn from a sale based on finding out a neighbor is noisy or has a dog better fit for eating than patting on the head? I live in a nice enough neighborhood on 9th, but if my landlord had told me that one of the couples living next door have horrible, thrown down yer beer can, Jerry Springer brawls (they do!), would I have reconsidered living here? Not a chance: Would I do any better anywhere else? Have you seen the rental market in SF? I was lucky to get this place. Noisy neighbors become free entertainment after a while. We have parties and place bets on who will be the first to slur his/her sentence beyond recognition, or who will be first to drop an f* bomb that can be heard for 6 city blocks.

Okay, but the Front Steps addresses an own situation, not a rent one. Big diff. If anything, it’s harder still to own than to rent, so if someone plods up to me, uninvited, and announces that the condo I’m now in love with is a) haunted; b) adjacent to the practice space for a group of tone deaf musicians, or c) too close to a party girl and her brat dog…well, I’m not likely to change my mind. I can always call the cops to come shut those people (and their pets) up, right, because the cops in SF don’t have anything else to do.

Hmm. Maybe it would make a person think twice.

So is disclosing tidbits of information that aren’t legally required to be disclosed a bad idea then? If those tidbits are unflattering? Or, if this information actually truly affects the quality of life in the new home, are we sort of ethically obligated to spill our guts? It’s a question to ponder, certainly.

In the meantime, here are a few interesting condos on the market now, both in SF and Daly City. I can’t vouch for the quality of the neighbors…if you really want to know, try a door-to-door survey. Someone is bound to tell you the truth.

SF

Mission Bay 1/1 at 300Berry St., #520: $535K with fitness center and parking.

Eureka Valley/Dolores 1/1 at 237 Collingwood St.: $575K= parking, Twin Peaks views and low HOA.

Russian Hill 2/2 at 2121 Taylor St., #1: For $699K, you get a very highly sought location, parking, and low HOA.

Daly City

Southern Hills 2/2 townhome at 495 Mountain Vw. #04: spacious, parking for $565K. Pretty sure after over a year on the market, the place would sell for less.

Crown Colony 2/1 at Philip Dr., #4. Pool, tennis, rec room, parking for $409,950.

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Yech dog photo credit: Tailored.com