Hopefully someone who has gone through selling a house can help. Selling our house as we need to downsize. 18 year old house, priced to reflect age of house. House was on market for about a week and half, received two offers, one $50k below asking, one $20k below asking). The second offer was reasonable and we countered to $11k below asking, which they accepted. They hired an inspection which identified lots of things, many which you'd expect of 18 year old house (roof, A/C). Inspection showed roof had damage from recent hailstorm and is likely to be covered with $4k deductible. But A/C replacement would be $6k, and the long list of requested repairs would really make the $$$ way way below asking. If we were to do all repairs, I'd sure think of selling the house at a higher price. So in general, what have been people's experience pushing back on requested repairs? I have a call with our realtor this PM. But any advice or other's experiences on this would be much appreciated.
Just recently bought and sold a house. The requested repairs were a negotiation just like everything else. I will say that in both cases there were some estimates retrieved of what the work would cost and we pretty much agreed to knock that amount off the agreed on price. However, in both cases neither side asked for repairs of everything that was requested. Is the A/C work to fix an A/C that isn't currently working? Or just to replace it since it is older?
Where is this? Houston? If it's Houston keep that sucker on the market. Buyers cant swing their dicks in this market right now.
Thanks Raven. The report says "service and repair both AC units so they work properly and temp differentials are within recommended range. One AC was replaced four years ago, the other is original (18 years old). The older one is also on old freon type, so it doesn't work as efficiently as new one.
For the A/C, since it cools but may not cool as good a new unit, I wouldn't knock off the entire cost of the repair, just a portion of it, and maybe throw in a year or two of a home warranty at Seller's cost, in case the A/C goes out completely after they buy it.
This. It is Houston, land of the best economy in the strongest nation in the world. You have been on the market less than 2 weeks? Your A/C is WORKING.... I would not relent on that one. I don't know what the other issues are, but no.... you can get closer to market price for it.
Thanks, its in The Woodlands. The house had a bunch of views and two offers in a short time. We're still attracting Exxon incomers it appears, but the prices appear to have slipped this year versus last (softening of O&G apparently). Hated the the two weeks it showed (having to take two dogs places in 100 degree heat for hours is a pain) but I am prepared to put back up if needed.
Thanks... it was my thinking as well. I'd be willing to pay for some repairs (eg, the roof deductible OR the AC) but not all. I like your advised approach... I will bounce it off our realtor this afternoon.
I don't know if you are seeing oil prices, but its not looking good. If you want to sell your house doing it soon would be a good idea. Houston has no real attractions other than Jobs to keep people. Obviously river oaks and piney point woods and other places of that ilk won't go down.
Inspection reports are a negotiation, like the contract price of the house. The easiest way to do it is to just say I'm willing to come off $x on the contract price and no more. You can get technical by pricing everything out, or you can ask them to price everything out and say what you're willing to accept, or you can actually fix some stuff. And you can negotiate specific points for specific reasons. Eg. A/C unit #1 is 4 years old and works fine, just needs some normal wear and tear work. Or on the roof... what type of damage? Does it leak, or is it likely to leak in the near future? How old is it? That type of stuff. And of course the market plays a role. Have you been handed the inspection report or just told verbally. Legally you are required to disclose recent inspections you have, so if it's been emailed to you, etc. you are supposed to provide that to anyone who might come along and make an offer on your house. Two weeks seems pretty quick... but if you consider most of the interest is likely in those first few weeks, if you put it back on the market you will be relying then just on the people moving to town and just starting their house search. Anyone already into a house search has seen your house.... Also, both of your offers were below list. A hot, hot, hot market gives you list offers the first week. IMO, your best bet is to work towards a middle ground on the inspection report requests provide and sell to this party.
The Exxon campus isn't even open yet, neither is the Grand Parkway. I'd counter with "no, the roof and A/C are fine". Inspectors are like doctors, it looks like they aren't doing their job unless they find something to put on the report. Keep showing it, just think how much work you would have to do to make up for the $6K difference when you have to take the dogs away.
Agreed. The house was on the market for less than 2 weeks and got 2 offers. You hold all the cards, not them. This is a sellers market. You've got them right where you want them.
Well aware of the oil prices... regardless of what the future holds the market is what the market is right now. Not the sellers' problem to worry about the future, that's on the buyers. Right now the buyers are still paying a premium.
Nobody knows what he priced his home at. Ask may have been above market. Also don't know how long it's been on the market. Since he said 2 offers in 2 weeks, I'm assuming it's been on the market 3 weeks now. Has there been more/meaningful inbound interest in the last week while it has been udner contract? Also sounds like the market in the Woodlands has slowed just a little bit (which is in line with what I've seen in Houston and Austin). It's still a seller's market but not quite as hot as it was last year. And finally, every potential buyer will have comments to an inspection. Especially now that he has the first one. None of the above points mean "give in"... but they are things he should consider when negotiating over the inspection report items. it's up to him to determine how far he's willing to bend, if any... but i'd suggest making some effort to still get his current deal closed.
Something like this. If you're not comfortable going lower than don't go lower. If they back out, you move on to the next buyer. I was on the flipside of this though last fall and I walked away from buying a house because the seller was too intransigent on paying for the liabilities inherent in the house. My perspective as a buyer is that when you set a purchase price its essentially for a house in reasonable working order. I'd want consideration for the 18 year old AC unit. I'd want something for roof damage. Those are things that should be repaired or replaced in your regular course of owning the house. Other things maybe aren't reasonable.
Are the buyers needing a loan? If not, then the repairs are more negotiable. If the lender requires the repairs prior to approving the loan, then you don't have much room to negotiate.
When I was buying my home, the inspector literally treated everything as broken if it wasn't in perfect condition. IE - roof could be better, this should be routed to outside the home instead of into the attic, etc. Only thing I worked in was the dishwasher which wasn't working (turns out it actually did work, but no one there knew how to work it at the time of inspection). Point is, they're trying to tell you what a perfect house should be. If your home is priced to sell considering those things, you should stand strong and say that, considering you're already budging $11K.
Right... though I'd comment, that on both sides of the transaction, the seller disclosure is a mis/underused piece of information. A buyer should have that before making an offer. And it should/can say things like condition of certain things. If I'm a seller and a buyer says this A/C unit is 18 years old, but I listed it on the seller disclosure and made some note about it, then that'd be my response. A/C age might not be a normal thing, but roof age usually is. So if I list 15 year old roof, and an inspection says its an old roof - not leaking, just old, with some hail damage - my response as a seller would be yeah, it's 15 years old, just like i said on the seller disclosure
I second throwing in a home warranty for the first (maybe second) year on your dime. That's all I would offer. As you mentioned, you already adjusted the price of the home based on its age. For the buyer, not having to worry about paying for major repairs for the first year or two thanks to you buying the home warranty is a luxury.
