Must I be honest if it will blow the home sale?

Consider this scenario from Money Magazine's nationwide survey of hundreds of adults: Imagine that you are in the process of selling your home. Your neighbor, who works at city hall, tells you that the city council is about to consider putting the phone and power lines in the neighborhood underground. If the project goes forward, it will make your neighborhood more attractive, but it will also require assessing each homeowner about $25,000. Would you tell prospective buyers that they might be faced with a $25,000 assessment if they buy your home?

Here's how participants answered the question:

Yes, I would tell them: 60%
No, I would not: 40%

Our answer: There are many things sellers can keep to themselves, but a real possibility of a five-figure assessment isn’t one of them. So unless the neighbor is an unreliable gossip or there’s a reason to believe the city council is only toying with the idea of putting lines underground, the sellers are obligated to explain the situation to serious would-be buyers. After all, you can bet those sellers would want the person they buy their next home from to be just as forthcoming.