If you listed your home with me, then do not worry, this will not apply to you. However if you sold your home in Simi Valley with a Real Estate Agent who ordered the Natural Hazards Disclosure report from Property I.D. then you may be entitled to a refund of that fee.
Property I.D was being investigated for kicking back money to Brokers who ordered their reports from Property I.D. for their clients. Property I.D. has decided to settle and avoid a hearing. These reports average $125.00 each, which divided into $39 million dollars would equal over 300,000 reports.
Briefly the Natural Hazards Disclosure Report is given to the Buyer from the Seller to show where Earthquake Faults and potential Liquefaction Zones may be located, Flood Hazard areas and if the home is located near high fire risk zones. There are other issues covered in these reports as well. There are several thrid party companies that provide this data in the form of a report and the reports range from approximately $80.00 and up. I have seen all the reports from the major providers and still cannot see why the Property I.D. Report cost substantially more than other competing companies (hint-hint).
For the full story: http://www.inman.com/news/2008/08/7/brokers-property-id-agree-39-million-settlement
note: The image provided in this blog post is a sample page from a NHD report. This is not from a Property I.D. report and the picture is meant to be a sample only of NHD reports in general.
