How to Negotiate Issues Following a Home Inspection

A real estate transaction is never a done deal until the deed is transferred. The negotiation usually starts once the seller receives a written offer and continues throughout the buying process.  

Ideally, you want to have the property inspected by a licensed inspector. It will give you a good idea of the property's condition. The inspector will examine different parts of the house to see if there are defects and problems. If the inspection is flawless, there is nothing to negotiate. But if problems arise, this often leads to another round of negotiation.

Here’s how to negotiate issues following a home inspection.

Seek help from your real estate agent

There’s a reason why you hired a real estate agent. It’s his/her job to guide you through the home buying process.

After the home inspection, ask your agent to sit down with you and study the home inspection report. Ask plenty of questions and seek help when devising a negotiation strategy. From here, you can decide what to do next. Remember, you don’t have to go through negotiations alone.

Request a credit for the repairs

Many of you might be tempted to just ask the sellers to handle the repairs since that would be a more convenient. But most of the time, buyers end up disappointed because the repairs have not been made or have been made poorly.

Come to think of it, you’re the one who’ll be living in that house. If you want to make sure that the job is done properly, consider hiring a contractor of your own choosing. The seller can just give you a lump sum to cover the cost of repairs. Most sellers will find this more amenable since many of them are actually eager to complete the deal.

Ask seller to do repairs

Most buyers are in search of homes that don’t require any work. The last thing they want is to spend their weekends doing repairs on their new home. As such, making a repair request is a fairly common practice.

Depending on the complexity of repairs, you can ask the seller to fix certain problems that were found during the home inspection. Keep in mind, though, that the seller doesn’t have to give in to every demand. If the seller refuses to handle repairs and you think it’s not worth the cost and effort, you are free to back out of the transaction.