v wrote in reply to my original message:

Begin quote:

"Well, it has just recently eveloved from buyer beware to more like
don't ask don't tell. I take it nothing less than affirnative duty to
disclose will satisfy you. But will you still feel that way when it
is your turn to sell? What does your attorney think?

They gave you the letter before you bought the house.

The letter says there is no problem. How could a letter saying there
was only a cosmetic problem, induce you NOT to buy? The opposite
seems more reasonable. Now, if the letter instead said wraning Will
Robinson, the house is about to collapse, then yeah they would need to
disclose that. BUT the letter actually says the OPPOSITE. So how can
there be a duty to disclose that someone said there is NO problem?
And you DID find the cracks, not hidden at all. What does YOUR
engineer say? If he says the cracks are a substantial defect, then
looks like you found something in the inspection that you can use to
exercize your cancellation clause (you do have one?)."

End quote:

v-I respect your opinion but beg to differ.

In reply to your question if I will still feel that way when it is my
turn to sell. The answer is an emphatic YES. In fact I have the
moral authority to say this because this is precisely what I did when
I sold my home in Pennsylvania couple of years ago. Against my
agent's advice I ended up making a disclosure. I got more than asking
price for my home. Disclosing known issues/problems up front takes
away the buyer's negotiating points.

The seller can be firm on the price after disclosing the
issue/problem. I have no problem with that.

My bigger problem is not the defect (cracks) itself. It is that the
existence of such a letter was not shared with me before I decided to
put in an offer. What I make of the letter is my own business. The
fact that such an evaluation exists should have been disclosed to me.
Why go through all this pain? I am sure the sellers are not happy
with the outcome of this episode either. With the counsel of my
attorney I am walking away from this deal. I am afraid if they
concealed something like this what else is lurking for me after I get
in? I still stand by what I said. Seller disclosure laws in Mass.
are a joke. I do agree that a couple of hundred dollars is a small
price in the grander scheme of things. But 32 states require a
disclosure. Mass. is in the group of the other 18. Just my luck that
I live here.