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A material fact is a fact that is important, significant or essential to a reasonable person in deciding whether to engage or not to engage in a particular transaction, issue or matter at hand. It is a fact that is significant or essential to the issue or matter at hand. The term material fact is also used to distinguish the unimportant or trivial detail. "Material" means that the subject matter of the statement or concealment related to a fact or circumstance which would be significant to the decision to be made as distinguished from an insignificant, trivial or unimportant detail.
In real estate material facts tend to pop up in regard to disclosures, or lack there of. For example, if a seller had a load bearing wall removed but did not disclose this information to the buyer, that would be considered failure to disclose a material fact. If this happens within an escrow, it creates a whole whirlwind of problems that usually come with a hefty price tag. As an agent there is also the potential for our real estate license to be suspended if we were aware of these material facts but failed to disclose them. I say all of this to explain that there might be a moment where the thought crosses your mind to not disclose some issue with your house, but it is absolutely not worth it, and will almost definitely create a much bigger problem down the road.
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