Many people will quibble over a few hundred or thousand dollars in the purchase of a home after an inspection takes place. Often times, deals can fall apart because of the inability to compromise. Both buyers and sellers can do their part to prevent this from happening. Lets see what buyers can do to:
How Home Buyers Can Stop Real Estate Deals from Collapsing During an Inspection Period
- When writing an offer, take into consideration that you will need to fix some things. Budget in a few percent of the overall purchase price for repairs. Make sure you’ve got the finances to cover this. If you don’t get what you want and the repairs are still in your budget, you’ll be less likely to ditch the deal.
- Keep in mind that blowing a few thousand dollars on repairs is going to be a tiny percentage of your overall purchase price. Don’t let your emotions allow you to end a deal because the seller refuses to repair the leaky faucet in the kitchen. Too often, people just get into a frenzy during this negotiation stage after an inspection. If you can keep your emotions out of things, you are more likely to realize that it is not worth it to lose a home because you can’t agree on all of these items.
- Be fair, but ask for what you want. Don’t be afraid to ask the seller to fix things! You never know, they might actually do it. When I bought my home a few months back, the seller fixed EVERYTHING. Every issue on the inspection report was repaired. I was not afraid to let them know that I wanted everthing taken care of. In the current atrocious housing market, buyers have much more leverage to ask for what they want.
Do you have any suggestions?
Related posts:
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- Establishing a Partnership for a Real Estate Deal
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Article Author: Joshua DorkinJoshua has written 570 articles for us.
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Joshua Dorkin (@jrdorkin) is the founder and CEO of BiggerPockets.Mr. Dorkin's vision for BiggerPockets has helped to propel it into becoming one of the top real estate destinations online. His vision for the site and its future has brought national press attention to both Mr. Dorkin and to BiggerPockets.
Joshua Dorkin
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We did an interesting post on the Donald Trump Blog yesterday about property foreclosures in California, at http://www.trumpuniversity.com/blog/index.cfm?blogpost_id=1036
Just wanted to let readers of your blog know that more banks are turning to auctions, not individual realtors, to liquidate foreclosures.
I’m going through this right now. I’m in the inspection period and so far the buyer hasn’t asked for anything. It’s always nerve racking until you receive something or the period is over.
The inspection period is always a critical stage. Thank you for the tips. I’ll keep all these in mind, just in case I buy a new house for myself in the future.
I explain the instpection process carefully to buyers as all agents do. If the home had a old roof on it and the buyer knew about it when he or she wrote the offer then they should not come back after the inspection and ask for a reduced price as they some times want to do. The inspection is for gathering new information so the buyer can make a sound decision and know what they are getting into.
A deal just fell apart after the HI revealed, among other things, carpenter bee damage, freezer not working and one of the heat pumps needing to be replaced. Trustees not willing to accept, stating it is an as is sale. Home has sat empty for two years.
I think the number one key player in this discussion is the buyers agent for the buyers. They need to set the stage prior to the home inspection to let the buyers know what to expect and what will be a deal breaker and what won’t be. This can be difficult for some agents, but I think in the end will mean the difference between a deal falling apart and one that get’s to the table.
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