Buying a house question

[OutHouse]

WHen an inspection is done and things are found that need to repaired, who pays for that?

I have a friend and she has put two offers on two separate houses and each time the sellers countered offered higher with the amount of the repairs in thier offer.

 

[dartworth]

That is negotiated between the buyer and seller

 

[Lola]

It jsut depends.
If they want to sell the house bad enough, they could pay for the repairs, but usually, it will be divided between the sellers and buyers.

She should have a clause in the purcahse agreement that if the inspection fails, she can back out of buying the house.

We just turned down a house because there were too many things that needed to be repaired. We walked away but then the sellers tried to come to an agreeement with us to fix them, although we still did not take the house.

 

[AgentEL]

I just bought a place. The sellers paid for it all. Although, nothing major was needed.

 

[Papagayo]

Usually the person that is selling the house pays for the repairs.

The buyer can demand that the repairs be done before finalizing on the house. OR. You can discount the cost of the repair on the final price.

 

[mike2fix]

Originally posted by: dartworth
That is negotiated between the buyer and seller

Yep.

 

[NogginBoink]

First rule of real estate: everything is negotiable.

The buyer typically has the advantage here. The seller wants to sell the house. IF the house is under contract it's typically not attracting other potential buyers. The seller usually wants this deal to go through rather than putting the house back on the market and waiting for another buyer to come along.

But in the end, you get what you negotiate. As the buyer, the obvious thing to do is ask the seller to fix all the items. (At least, all the items that the buyer cares about.) The seller may then present a counteroffer, and it goes back and forth until an agreement is reached or one party walks away from the deal.

 

[HomeBrewerDude]

If it was me buying the house, I would re-offer my original amount, minus an estimate cost for repairing the big problems (e.g., furnace, electrical, roof etc...). Also, I would want to have right to cure because I wouldn't trust the seller to implement a quality fix.

 

[dirtboy]

Usually the seller, but it's up to you and your agent to negotiate the best deal, just like it is the seller's agents job to negotiate the best deal for their client.

 

[Jzero]

The way it's worked in my somewhat limited experience is that the original agreement has some escape clause based on the inspection. Sometimes it's a monetary limit (if the cost of repairs is > $XXXX the buyer can quit) sometimes it's a blanket (buyer can quit for any reason) or the buyer can waive the inspection.

Then you get the inspection done and you demand that the seller do any of the following: fix what you specify, escrow funds which you will use to make the repairs, or reduce the sale price accordingly.

The seller will either tell you to pound sand (in which place you either suck it up and reduce your demands or use the escape clause if it's that bad) or the seller will agree, or the seller will make a counter offer (I'll fix the roof, you're on your own for the furnace) and you go round and round until somebody runs away or you come to an agreement.

In my home purchase, there were a few minor issues, close enough to our $1000 escape limit that we could have bailed, but nothing significant enough to make it worth walking away. The seller (an asshole, actually) would not budge, no matter what we offered (you pay half, you pay 1/3, etc).

So we took it. Come settlement he left the house a complete mess. It was fun telling him to go clean his sh!t up or find a good lawyer.

Just remember that kharma is a bitch and a real estate purchase is a give-and-take process. He wanted to take take take and it came back to bite him at the end.