"As-Is" means different things to different people. Offering a property "As-Is" is a trend in the real estate market and one that is misunderstood. I am seeing this term on listings from equity sellers, short sale listings and REOs; the word use is the same, but the applications of this condition is varied depending on what the seller wants it to mean. That's incorrect!

I'm finding listing agents and sellers using this term to eliminate their own duties in a real estate transaction. I have had agents tell me "the listing is "As-Is" and we are not giving you seller disclosures. Wrong!!! The seller are still required to tell us what they know of the home. I've had short sale sellers try and keep the deposit after the home inspection because the home was listed "As-Is." Wrong again! Unless the purchase offer specifically states that all inspections take place before the acceptance, then we have our home inspection contingency in place....and yes, we might walk away.

I have had REO agents hand us an addendum which says that even if they are aware of a problem, they are not going to tell us. We have to try and find it out for ourselves. I saw a REO property come back on the market and asked the agent why it fell out of escrow. The answer "I'm not at liberty to say, you are going to have to find any potential problems yourself." That's incredible! I understand the forms which tell us that the bank has never lived in the home, so they do not have to give us standard seller disclosures, but if they have a report which shows there is mold in the home (which is the case with this home) they are obligated to tell us. We spent close to $1000 to find the mold ourselves and then had to cancel because my client's child has severe asthma.

Are you ready for this one? I attended an home inspection at one of my listings. We used the term "As-Is" to set the expectation that we were not going to make repairs. So don't call me with the squeeky door or ripped screens. When the home inspection discovered a structural problem with a second story addition, the buyer's agent just looked sad and said the young couple didn't have any money to fix this and it was too bad they were buying the home "As-Is." No!!! I had to explain to this young agent, that they were not stuck. The addition was done by a licensed contractor who came out and fixed the problem instantly....would that agent have not told us if I weren't there?

"As-Is" is not a catchall which eliminates the home inspection/seller disclosure requirements. It does not relieve the agents from protecting their clients or disclosing real material facts.