Bad inspection, deal fell through

[Andrew Halbert]

Another first for us. We had a house under contract in Warren Mi. Cash offer, house was a SFR and listed as turn key. Long story short, the inspection found several big ticket items that were at end of life, roof, hvac, Windows. The reason we looked at it was because it is right one street over from one of our other properties and the inside was renovated nicely already. Anyway, we had a PA at 70k cash. Keep in mind in this particular market 70k houses don't need a roof, new hvac, new Windows. Ultimately I stuck to my numbers, stayed unemotional and walked away when they would even consider any concessions. It's the first time I lost a deal because of an inspection report. I probably could have done a few things differently when structuring the original offer, but overall it was a good learning experience.

[Mark Elliott]

using a home inspector is a good idea. i am a home inspector here in the western new york area. you could have walked yourself right into  a trap, and thats what we inspectors are here for, to keep you from doing that. if i were you, i would go back to that owner, throw them your new offer and tell them it is a " standing offer". that means, you know they are not going to accept it, but after several months on the market, your offer is going to start to look good to them anyway. my guess is that they will eventually call you back and either accept or want to counter offer close to your bid. in the mean time, find another house. they are out there and some of your best deals are the ones not even listed.