MT361 Unit 6 Seller Disclosure Role-Play Reflection Example

Crossing That Bridge Later: An MT361 Unit 6 Seminar Reflection on Telling a Seller About a Cracked Sewer Line

[Student Name]

Purdue University Global

MT361: Foundations of Real Estate Practice

Unit 6 Seminar Reflection

[Instructor Name]

[Date]

The role-play, classmates and the state of Calder are composite; the research cited is real.

Pairs, a Pause and Bad News

The seminar paired us to rehearse delivering unwelcome news, one student as the listing licensee and one as the seller, with the instructor free to pause any scene. My partner, Renee, played the seller. The facts were short: the buyers' inspection had found a cracked clay sewer lateral, a contractor estimated $7,800 to line it, and the buyers asked for either a credit or a repair before closing.

What I Said

Renee, in character, asked the question sellers really ask: if the buyers walk away, do we have to tell the next buyers about the sewer line? My answer, as I wrote it down immediately afterward, was: "Let's not get ahead of ourselves. If it comes to that, we can cross that bridge later."

I meant it kindly. She looked worried, and I wanted to keep the conversation on the current buyers. But the answer avoided a hard sentence, and worse, it implied that the defect might stay private if this deal failed. That is something a licensee cannot suggest, even by leaving it unsaid.

A polite evasion is how a licensee drifts toward concealment without ever deciding to conceal anything.

The Instructor's Question

The instructor paused the scene and asked me one question: once the sellers know about the crack, what duty applies? I had to work it through aloud. Once a seller knows of a material defect, it must be disclosed to later buyers; in the composite state of Calder, that means listing it on the seller disclosure form, and a sewer lateral that needs $7,800 of work is plainly material. A licensee also has an independent duty not to conceal known defects or help a seller do so. The inspection report now exists, so the sellers cannot unknow what it says. My kind answer had blurred a question that has a clear legal answer.

Mazar et al. (2008) found that people often act slightly dishonestly while still seeing themselves as honest, especially when the dishonesty can be framed as something softer. That described my answer. I never said we would hide the defect. I only declined to say we would not, and I could tell myself I was being gentle.

Relief, Not Offense

What surprised me most was Renee's reaction when I tried again. I told her plainly that if the deal fell through, the crack would go on the disclosure form and the next buyers would see it. She said, still half in character, that she felt better. The soft answer had left her wondering whether there was a way out; the clear one let her stop wondering and start deciding. I had assumed the evasion was the kind choice. It was the more anxious one.

What Other Pairs Found

When the class regrouped, two other pairs reported the same pattern from different directions. One licensee had softened news about a low appraisal by saying the number might change, which it would not. Another had answered a question about a neighbor's pending lawsuit with something close to my line. In each case the licensee chose a vague sentence to protect the client's feelings, and in each case the client in the role-play said the vagueness made things worse. The instructor's summary was that clients can handle bad facts better than they can handle not knowing which facts are true.

Why Disclosure Protects the Sellers Too

Pope (2008) found that when sellers were required to disclose a property's location near an airport, sale prices adjusted to reflect it, which suggests that buyers who learn of a problem late discount for it more than buyers told up front. A defect disclosed with a repair plan reads as a managed problem. A defect discovered after closing reads as a hidden one, and invites a claim. Ling and Archer (2021) describe disclosure rules as shifting the risk of known defects away from buyers, and in practice they also shift the risk of litigation away from sellers who comply.

A Three-Move Script

Here is what I would say now. First, the finding: the inspection found a crack in the sewer line between the house and the street, here is the camera report, and a contractor estimates $7,800 to line it. Second, the options with numbers: a $7,800 credit at closing, a repair before closing with the receipt provided to the buyers, or splitting the cost if the buyers will accept it. Third, the disclosure consequence, said once and plainly: whatever happens with these buyers, you now know about the crack, so it goes on the disclosure form for any future buyer, and fixing it now means that line can say repaired.

I will rehearse that script before my next real call with a seller, because the evasion came from not having the plain sentence ready.

References

Ling, D. C., & Archer, W. R. (2021). Real estate principles: A value approach (6th ed.). McGraw Hill.

Mazar, N., Amir, O., & Ariely, D. (2008). The dishonesty of honest people: A theory of self-concept maintenance. Journal of Marketing Research, 45(6), 633-644. https://doi.org/10.1509/jmkr.45.6.633

Pope, J. C. (2008). Do seller disclosures affect property values? Buyer information and the hedonic model. Land Economics, 84(4), 551-572. https://doi.org/10.3368/le.84.4.551