The Dreaded Inspection
Every home has defects
We are your advocates and negotiators
When you sell your home, the buyer will be including an inspection contingency in the purchase and sale agreement. This simply states that the sale of the home is "contingent' on the buyers approval of an inspection of the home.
The buyer will pay to have a professional inspection of the entire home within the timeframe specified in the agreement. Once they have the inspection report they will either approve the inspection, request repairs, or they may disapprove the inspection altogether and terminate the sale.
If they request repairs, we can negotiate the response in the following ways:
- We can refuse to repair anything that they requested and risk them terminating the purchase.
- We can choose to repair the most critical items and refuse to repair the minor items.
- We can negotiate financial compensation for the repairs and let the buyer make the repairs once they take possession.
- We can agree to repair everything.
Our experience is that when buyers request reasonable repairs, the best option is to negotiate financial compensation. This takes the form of a credit to the buyer at closing. At this stage in the process you do not want to get stuck making repairs to a home that you won't be living in. And there can be disputes regarding the quality and type of repairs. There is enough stress during the sale of a home and there is simply no need to add more if it isn't necessary.
It is good for you to expect an inspection will find defects in your home since no home is perfect. So when their inspection report comes in, be prepared, it may be ugly, but we'll get through it.
