"Buying a Home in Arkansas: How Do I Get the Seller's Property Condition in Writing?"

You ask for it, and then you put it in the offer. Arkansas has no law requiring an owner to complete a property condition disclosure form. The written record comes from three other places. Your agent can request the voluntary disclosure form, the Arkansas Real Estate Commission's rules require your agent to learn and pass along material facts, and the contract itself is where you set the condition terms.

I'm Jeff Moran, a mortgage broker in Bluffton, South Carolina, originating since 1996, NMLS #483943, through C2 Financial Corporation, licensed in fifteen states, including Arkansas.

A buyer moving to Arkansas from almost anywhere else expects a completed disclosure form to arrive with the contract, because in most states one does. Here it often will not arrive at all. That is simply how Arkansas works, and once you know it, you can go and get in writing what other states hand you automatically.

Does Arkansas require a seller to give me a property condition disclosure?

No. The Arkansas Real Estate Commission addresses this directly in its own published guidance, Is Property Condition Disclosure Required by Law?. There is no Arkansas statute requiring every owner who sells a home to complete a form listing what they know about the roof, the well, the foundation or the heating system.

Some states put a specific statutory disclosure on a particular hazard. Missouri requires one when a home was used as a methamphetamine site, and that rule has its own separate article. Arkansas places no equivalent general requirement on an owner, so nothing requires a seller here to write down what they know about the home.

The form most Arkansas buyers do eventually see is the Arkansas REALTORS Association seller property disclosure. That form is widely used in Arkansas. It belongs to a private association, and the state does not require it. An agent may ask a seller to complete it as a matter of ordinary practice, and a seller who is not working with an agent at all may never be handed one.

So what you get here depends on what you ask for, and on what you write into the contract while price and terms are still open.

If the form is voluntary, what is my agent required to do?

Arkansas puts the obligation on the real estate agent instead of on the owner. The Commission's rules call that agent a licensee, which means the person holding the real estate license.

Commission Regulation 10.6 sets the standard, and the current Commission regulations state it this way:

A licensee shall exert reasonable efforts to ascertain those facts which are material to the value or desirability of every property for which the licensee accepts the agency so that in offering the property the licensee will be informed about its condition, and thus able to avoid intentional or negligent misrepresentation to the public.

The Commission has explained what it means by reasonable efforts, and the rule itself says which facts are covered.

Reasonable. The Commission has said plainly that this does not require an exhaustive investigation. Nothing in the Arkansas rules asks an agent to examine a home from floor to ceiling before showing it, and nothing asks the agent or the seller to hire an inspector to go looking for defects. The agent has to make a reasonable effort, and then has to avoid misrepresenting what that effort turned up.

Material. The duty covers facts material to the value or desirability of the property. An agent who learns something that would matter to a buyer is expected to be informed about it, and is expected not to misrepresent it, whether intentionally or through carelessness.

The rule asks your agent to make a reasonable effort and to avoid misrepresenting the property. It stops short of sending anybody out to look for defects on your behalf, and that searching is what an inspection is for.

Which disclosures are required in Arkansas no matter what?

One is, on an older home, and it comes from federal law.

If the home was built before 1978, the federal lead-based paint rule at 42 U.S.C. § 4852d applies to the sale, and it applies in every state. Under that rule the seller has to disclose any known lead-based paint and any known lead-based paint hazards. The seller also has to provide any records and reports they hold, and give you the lead hazard information pamphlet. The seller has to attach the required disclosure and warning language to the contract before you become obligated to buy.

The rule also gives you a 10-day opportunity to have a risk assessment or inspection done for lead-based paint hazards, before you become obligated under the contract. You and the seller can agree in writing to a different period. Giving that window up means committing to the purchase without having had the chance to find out whether lead-based paint is there. The EPA's explanation of the disclosure rule is the plain-language version.

Arkansas has plenty of housing stock older than 1978, so on a fair number of purchases here that federal window is the one firm timeline you are given. You can shorten it or waive it by written agreement, and you will want to understand what you are trading before you do.

How do I get the condition in writing before I am committed?

I would work through it in this order.

1. You'll want to get pre-approved before you are looking at a specific address. The qualifying side of this is national, and what a real pre-approval involves is the same in Fayetteville as anywhere. The costing side changes by state, and the Arkansas mortgage page covers what changes here, including the fact that title rates are not filed or reviewed by the state at all.

2. When you are ready, please ask the seller's agent for the disclosure form in writing. Most listing agents are used to producing the association form and will send it over without any fuss. Asking in writing also date-stamps the request, which helps you later if there isn't a form to send.

3. You can also ask your own agent, in writing, what they know about the condition of the home. The rule above entitles you to the material facts your agent is aware of. A written answer is more useful than a conversation in a driveway, and asking for one is an ordinary request.

4. You'll want the condition terms written into the offer itself. If they are not in the contract, you are relying on what each side assumed, and that is not something you can point at later. There are four worth settling. The first is inspection access, and an inspection period long enough to actually use. The second is the response window if the inspection turns something up. The third is who is responsible for what. The fourth is whether the contract carries specific representations about the well, the septic system, the roof or past repair work. Your own attorney is the right person to help shape that language.

5. You'll want to send the two or three answers that cost money to your loan officer before you write the offer. A home on a private well and septic system brings documentation requirements with it. An older roof can raise an insurance question and an appraisal question at the same time. A repair that may have been done without a permit affects what the appraiser is able to count. Each of those has a different answer on the financing side, and every one is cheaper to sort out before a price is agreed.

6. Then you can build your dates around what you have learned. An inspection date set too optimistically starts costing money once it slips, and the financing contingency and earnest money timeline covers how that works.

What does a condition surprise do to the loan?

A disclosed or discovered condition rarely makes a home unfinanceable on its own. What it usually changes is which program fits, what the appraiser reports, what an insurer will require, and how many calendar days the file actually needs.

Two different people look at the home, and they are working on different questions. An appraiser and an inspector have different jobs, and what an appraiser is actually doing is a narrower job than the name suggests. An appraiser is valuing the property for the lender, and will report the conditions that affect that value. An inspector is the one whose whole job is to go through the home looking for problems. In Arkansas that inspection is carrying more of the load than it would in a state where a completed disclosure form shows up on its own.

Two conditions come up often enough in Arkansas to name. Rural and semi-rural properties here frequently run on a private well and a septic system, and financing a home with a well and septic has documentation requirements that take calendar days you may not have budgeted. Older homes have their own set, and financing an older home covers what tends to surface.

Where this gets expensive

Assuming that no form means no protection. Your agent still carries the duty under Regulation 10.6. On a pre-1978 home the federal lead rule still applies. And you are the one writing the contract, which is where most of this gets settled anyway. The automatic form is the only thing missing here, and the rest of it still has to be asked for.

Reading the association form as a warranty. When you do receive one, it is a statement of what an owner knows, completed by a person who is not an inspector. It is useful, and it does not replace an inspection or promise anything about what the seller genuinely did not know.

Waiting for somebody else to raise the expensive question. Your agent will raise plenty. The answers that change a loan are not always the ones that look dramatic on a form, and the person who should hear about a shared well or an unpermitted addition early is the one arranging your financing.

Waiving the lead inspection window to look agreeable. On a pre-1978 home that window is a federal right with a written trade-off attached. Giving it up is a term like any other, and it is worth treating as a decision you have priced.

Treating the inspection period as generous because there was no form to read. With less information in hand at the start, the inspection is carrying more weight, and your timeline should reflect that rather than the one a friend used in another state.

An example, with invented numbers

Numbers below are made up to show the mechanism. They are not a quote and not a prediction.

A buyer is looking at a home listed at $315,000, built in 1972, on a private well with a septic system. No disclosure form arrives with the listing, because the seller is selling without an agent.

The version where nobody asks. The offer goes in at $312,000 with a two-week inspection period, and the lead inspection opportunity gets waived to keep the offer tidy. The inspector raises the septic system and the age of the well pump in week two. A septic evaluation has to be scheduled, the well needs a water test for the file, and the insurance quote comes back with a condition attached to the roof. The seller agrees to $3,500 toward the roof and nothing else, because by then the price is settled and the buyer has earnest money and three weeks of momentum committed. Closing moves out nine days.

The version where the questions get asked first. The same buyer requests the disclosure form in writing, is told there isn't one, and asks their own agent what they know about the condition of the home. The reply mentions the septic system and a roof repair from a few years back. Those two answers go to the loan officer before anything is written. The offer goes in at $306,000. It names the well and septic documentation as conditions, keeps the full 10-day lead inspection window, and writes in a deliberately longer inspection period. The seller contribution is sized against an actual closing cost estimate rather than a round number.

The home, the seller and the condition of the property were the same in both versions. The second buyer paid less, kept the federal inspection window they were entitled to, and closed on the date they wrote down.

Where to start

Run your numbers with no credit pull, no account, and nobody calling you. You see pricing for your own scenario and your debt ratio, with closing costs priced for Arkansas rather than a national average, and you choose the option that works best for you.

When you are ready to put an offer in front of a seller, get pre-approved for an Arkansas mortgage and your income, debts and credit are reviewed properly rather than estimated.

Nothing here is a loan approval, a denial, a commitment to lend, or legal advice. Disclosure duties, contract terms and the association form are Arkansas property and licensing matters, and how any of it applies to your own transaction is a question for your own attorney. No letter from anyone is a loan commitment, and final approval depends on the property, the appraisal and full underwriting.

Common questions

Does an Arkansas seller have to fill out a property condition disclosure form?

No. The Arkansas Real Estate Commission states in its own published guidance that property condition disclosure is not required by law in Arkansas. There is no state statute requiring an owner who sells a home to complete a form describing what they know about its condition. The seller property disclosure form that buyers commonly see here belongs to the Arkansas REALTORS Association and is used as a matter of practice, and the state does not require it. A seller who is not working with an agent may never provide one at all.

What is my Arkansas agent required to tell me about a home's condition?

Commission Regulation 10.6 requires a real estate agent, whom the rules call a licensee, to exert reasonable efforts to learn those facts which are material to the value or desirability of every property for which the agent accepts the agency. The purpose stated in the rule is that the agent is then informed about the property's condition and can avoid intentional or negligent misrepresentation to the public. The Commission has been clear that this does not require an exhaustive investigation of the home, and it does not require the agent or the seller to hire an inspector. The duty is to make a reasonable effort, and then to avoid misrepresenting what that effort found.

Is there any disclosure that is required when buying an Arkansas home?

Yes, on an older home, and it comes from federal law. If the home was built before 1978, 42 U.S.C. § 4852d requires the seller to disclose known lead-based paint and known lead-based paint hazards. The seller also has to provide any available records and reports, supply the lead hazard information pamphlet, and attach the required disclosure and warning language to the contract before the buyer is obligated to purchase. The rule also gives you a 10-day opportunity to have a risk assessment or inspection done, unless you and the seller agree in writing to a different period.

How do I protect myself if no Arkansas disclosure form is offered?

Please ask for the form in writing even when you expect to be told there isn't one, because the request itself is dated. You can also ask your own agent, in writing, what they know about the condition of the home. Then you'll want the purchase contract to carry the record, and there are four things worth settling in it. The first is inspection access, and an inspection period long enough to use. The second is the response window if something is found. The third is who is responsible for what. The fourth is any specific representation about the well, the septic system, the roof or past repair work. Your own attorney is the right person to help with that contract language.

Does a condition problem mean I cannot get a mortgage on an Arkansas home?

Not by itself. A known condition usually changes which loan program fits the property, what the appraisal is likely to call out, what an insurer will require, and how many days the file realistically needs. Some conditions get resolved by the seller before closing, some get priced into the offer, and some point toward a different program. Sending the two or three answers that cost money to your loan officer before the price is agreed is what keeps those options open.

Is the Arkansas seller disclosure form the same thing as a home inspection?

No. When a completed association form is provided, it is a statement of what the owner knows about the property, written by an owner rather than by a licensed inspector. It does not warrant the condition of the home, and it does not do the work your own inspection does, so you still want the inspection. An inspection is an independent examination of current condition by someone whose job is to go looking. Because Arkansas requires no form, that inspection carries more weight here than it does in a state where a completed disclosure arrives automatically.