Anyone buy or sell a house lately? Tell me your home inspection stories!
I do understand the market is changing and not as competitive as it was last year.
We are trying to sell my mom’s house. She moved into independent living. Her home is 25 years old and my parents are meticulous. The house sold in 8 days and we gave the buyers a significant discount because the roof, the HVAC, the flooring, the appliances etc is original to the house. All things that are noted on the disclosure statement.
Now the inspection report has come out and the buyers want all these stupid little details fixed. Including the light in the attic that worked last week. Burned out lightbulbs? A bathroom window that we disclosed. I thought the offer reflected the issues with the house.
We have bought houses before. I dislike house inspections so much! We were looking for big issues. Not burned out lightbulbs!
In the pre-crazy 2021-2022 market, it was absolutely fine to counteroffer by saying nope, not fixing anything. That is what we did in 2017. The downside is the buyer might walk, and the listing will then show that the house failed inspection. This might spook some buyers, but unlikely, if there are few homes on the market and the house is in good shape.
Re: lightbulb… inspectors have to show that they are earning their $$$… they will write up every little thing they see. The buyers can change that bulb.
Our recent contracts have stated that the issues have to be significant (sorry I don’t recall the exact wording) otherwise buyers cannot back out. In our most recent (2022 and 2021) sales in two different markets, H did take care of a few little things but we also told our agents to remind the buyers and their agents that the things they were making a fuss about were known to them previously and the houses were priced to reflect the fact that they were not new construction.
A common reply on the Houzz buying and selling forum is to tell the buyers to pound sand. I may think that, but I try to not say it out loud.
Mom just wants the house sold. The realtor found a handyman, should be 2 hours of work.
We don’t ask for stupid things to be fixed. Home inspection-find major problems. The realtor wants the sale to be over. It’s going to be less than $1500.
I’d be embarrassed to ask for burned out lightbulbs to be replaced in a home where the homeowner is going to a care facility.
But mostly I dislike the whole home inspection process of finding dumb little things to fix.
If it’s a buyers’ market in your area, I’d fix the little things the buyer demands. You can get a referral to a local handyman from your realtor and fix all those little things cheaply and in one fell swoop. Focus your energy on the major repair items with the buyer.
We bought in August last year. Would not ask Seller for such petty stuff as a burned out light bulb. IMO if a seller is being asked to rectify issues in the inspection report it should be significant as far as health, code violations or structural/inoperative. Not tickytack stuff the inspector includes to support his fee. The broker can always chip in if they want the sale.
I once sold a home and had a buyer who was a fussbudget. My lawyer told me “say no to everything”. I said no. The buyer backed out. We sold the home a week later for slightly more, to a buyer who was very reasonable.
However, this is based on the real estate situation at the time and was many years ago. What the real estate market is like now in a different location may be quite different.
Hopefully your real estate broker and/or your lawyer have a good sense of what is reasonable and worth fixing and what is not.
The brokerage is representing both the seller and the buyer. One brother is the sellers agent, his brother is representing the buyers.
Annoying. But the realtors want the sale to be over so they want mom to fix the list. It’s not much and the realtor has the handyman. The window that is broken is annoying because it was disclosed but the realtor said they can ask for things to be fixed that are disclosed.
The buyers were not at the inspection because mom went to the house yesterday to pick up a pair of shoes she forgot.
The inspector also said the roof needs to be replaced ASAP. The buyers are not asking for that but I’d love to see some pictures of the roof. Because it is at the end of its life (as we disclosed) but didn’t look that bad to us. Who knows.
It sounds like you made a decent decision, following your mom’s wishes for small ticket fixes. But yea - I’d be annoyed too.
It used to be that mortgage inspections were the big deal. So I assume the as-is works best for cash buyers(?)
We recently had friends market a 30 year old patio home as-is, using a real estate broker. Two offers came in the first weekend. One offer had a long list of items to fix, which really surprised them. The second offer was for the house as-is. Not sure how the offers compared financially, but you can guess which one they accepted.
Could be a CYA. Our inspector said the same thing, that the roof looked iffy, but strongly recommended to get a roofer’s opinion. The roofer said the roof was good for another 7 or so years. It was butt ugly though and needed annual cleaning, so we replaced it after 5 years.
FHA loans used to require a roof inspection and certification in our area, conventional loans did not.
When we priced our house 20 years ago to sell- our realtor told the buyers and their realtor to take it or leave it- no picky stuff. They took it.
Recently, when a neighbor tried to sell their house three times- it had a major problem with the foundation and it was found on inspections- so in the buyer’s case it was a good thing to have an inspection.
After a neighbor experienced what @deb922 ’s mom is going through, we had our last two houses inspected and all issues fixed before listing the properties and provided the inspection reports and proof of repairs to each potential buyer. Of course, the eventual buyers paid for their own inspections but, both times, our realtor was firm that the houses were ship-shape and sold “as is.” We were not open to any further repairs.
The inspection on the cabin we purchased in 2021 declared that the roof was near end-of-life and that we would be the owners who eventually did the replacement. Nah. We got an estimate for replacing the shingle roof with same and negotiated that amount into a price reduction. The buyers were keen to sell and did not want to walk away from a cash transaction, so they agreed. We installed a metal roof instead but, in effect, only had to pay the difference.
My opinion on inspections is that you must do significant repairs but you can refuse the small stuff. Any potential buyer who will walk away from a sale over handyman minutiae is not a real prospect.
A little questionable that the agents are brothers and representing both sides AND both “want the sale to be over” AND they have a handyman just ready to make those repairs! (Are they helping to support the handyman too?) Maybe they are in cahoots with the inspector as well!
Although you’re paying this pair tens of thousands of dollars it doesn’t sound like the one purportedly representing mom is really looking out for her best interests. That said, since you also wrote your mom just wants the sale to be done I’d just say you have to let it go.
I am getting ready to list my house. My contractor whom i used before i a certified inspector. He did the inspection and is fixing everything on the list. We will also price to sell with 7 years left on the roof and one hvac original to home but in good shape (30 yo home). Biggest issue i have is the kitchen cabinets need refacing and its been delayed and might derail the listing time😔.
