Stop the Madness!!!!

As a buyer I would/will always have my own inspection done. It is odd that they would even waste time in the report talking about switch plates and grass though.  Did the buyer's inspector uncover anything that is worthy of discussion that you have not already addressed per your prior inspection? All the repairs are negotiable with the buyer of course. I mean do the buyers really want to haggle over switch plates and grass???

The buyers need an inspector to point out brown grass?  What are they, blind? 

Take a deep breath, relax, and replace the light switch plate and sod. 

i can't decide if this represents stupidity, anality (is that a word? it should be) or if they are regretting their purchase and are looking for a way to get out of it without losing the earnest money.

i really don't think you are required to discuss repairs that do not effect the safety/useability of the house. (besides, light switch plates are like $1. if i were you, i would hand the buyer 2 rolls of pennies and tell them to go to town.)

simply inform that buyer that while you would be happy to resolve safety issues, you will not discuss cosmetic issues with them. if they want you to repair purely cosmetic issues, you should set up the agreement so that you will be reimbursed for all materials/labor.

Maybe nogiate and say you'll replace the light plate, but forget the sod.   Seems kind of silly to me.  Very insigficant repairs.

It does seem strange they would waste money on another inpection to find out these insignificant items.  Essentially they paid $300 - $400? to replace a light cover and some sod.

Again, take a deep breath, relax, and replace the light switch plate and sod.

Keep your eye on the ball, don't get distracted by things that aren't important - It's a business transaction so don't let emotion cloud your vision or keep you from hitting your objective.

Nothing in the report is significant but all together adds up.  For example,  the inspector reported that one of the stairs on our back deck appeared to be "springy" so we needed to call out a licensed carpenter to evaluate it. 

They also inspected the house on THE hottest day of the entire year --103 degrees/110 degrees w/humidity.  The house is 2 stories with a walkout (3 levels) and the inspection was at 4:00pm ----right when the sun is setting and directly hitting the front of the house.  The thermostat was set at 70 degrees and the temperature in the house was 80.  He wrote in the report that "the air conditioner was NOT functioning and that the compressor might be too small for the house and need replaced.  He recommended an immediate inspection by a licensed HVAC specialist.  Which of course, WE paid for and they reported that the AC was functioning just FINE and that the weather conditions, which were unusual that day for this part of the country, was the major factor in supply/return air reading difference. 

As we speak, the buyer now has their own HVAC specialist out to look at the AC again.  I guess ours wasn't good enough.  I'm about at the point of taking the house off the market with my current realtor and putting it back on in a couple of months FSBO.  If I am going to have to take this big of a hit--why pay 6% commission.

Thanks for giving me somewhere to vent!!!!  I promise NEVER to be an unreasonable buyer with another seller. . .

If you already have back up that your HVAC system is working properly, just include that in your counter. Have the deck stair stablized and show documentation that you had that done. If they want to keep spending money on different inspections, so be it. At least you know that your house is being combed over and there is no way that anything is going to come up down the road. They must be serious about buying if they are going through the additional expense so that is a very good sign IMO. Hang in there and good luck!

Yes- sellers have the right to lower their prices to reasonable levels from the rediculous levels that they're at now.

Stop being lazy, stop trying to fool them with a "staged" house, and fix the problems.

Dear Hate,

We have agreed to a price that is less than 2% over the county appraisal and below the appraised market price---a very fair deal.  We have no intentions of "fooling" them and the house is in "move-in" condition.  We have worked tirelessly for the last 12 months to make sure the house is in great shape and have repaired everything that was brought up in the pre-inspection. 

Sellers also have the right to NOT sell our houses to buyers who want something for nothing. . .  

Bgraham,

Honestly, this is all part of the home selling process. Your inspection sounds pretty typical to me. Its a buyer's market right now, so yeah, you'll have to take it on the chin if you want to sell. Keep in mind that there's plenty of sellers who'd be happy to have an offer - period.

Be happy that the items they're requesting are small and frivolous. That's not always the case. If you don't want to deal with the headache why don't you see if they'll accept a general repairs allowance and let them do what they want with it.

I know you think your house is a good deal, but leave the appraisal value out of it. It can be very different from market value. Your house is only worth what someone is willing to pay for it. End of story.

Has it come to a point where sellers are frightened to say no to potential buyers?  Inspectors find all sorts of things, some serious, some not.  It makes sense for a buyer to forward that list to the sellers--what do they have to lose?  However, it used to be that some common sense would come into play.  Last time I sold a house, we took care of some of the inspector requests (all rather minor) and said no to a few.  The sale went through.  On the flip side, we asked for a number of things on the house we were buying but let other things slide (like a broken handle on the shower door) because we liked the house and it wasn't such a big deal.  Now I know that things are different in this buyers market, but it doesn't mean that in all case buyers who don't get all they ask for just walk.  I'll bet some buyers will accept a "we'll take care of this but not this" kind of answer from sellers.   Don't blame them for asking for repairs, but go ahead and tell them no if you really don't want to fix every little thing.  Remind them that no house is perfect and that yours (which they like) is in great shape overall.

Sellers also have the right to NOT sell our houses...

You really hit the nail on the head here, bggraham. In any kind of market, a seller's only real right is not to sell, and buyer's - not to buy.

I agree with you scecy.  I don't understand why people think they have to do every little thing the buyers ask for.  As a buyer, you bet I'm going to ask for the moon, but as a seller, I'm not going to sell my soul so to speak.  It's all a part of negotiations.  If a buyer walks over hairline cracks in switchplates, they were never serious about buying in the first place. 

Sounds like you have very sensible buyers.  I always wonder why buyers don't hire inspectors.

A buyer does not have to request all the things the inspector finds, but come on seller, a light switch plate is only $1.  (In other words, Your argument flies right back in your face.)   Why don't you just take care of it?   (It certainly could be a safety hazard also).

I sold this year, and certainly can understand the frustration.   The buyers had an inspector who called out a couple of things as not meeting current code, but they met the code of the year that they were built or remodelled so he didn't have a leg to stand on.   So, I countered, and the buyers went ahead.  And yes, I did make two or three changes that each were under $10.    There were some other things that I'm surprised they didn't request, but that's fine.)

I just spent the last two days confirming the existence of 1 of 2 cesspools on a property.  My buyer has brought in a home inspector, a licensed contractor (twice) and a second contractor to review the home inspectors report.

This is a process.  You are lucky that your Buyer has put in this much due diligence.  If they were not serious then they wouldn't be going through the expense.

But seriously if your market is trending downward (might not be, but if it is) these nickel and dime items really are not anything to complain about.  You just need to keep focus, swallow your anger and get the home sold.

You take the home off the market for two months and put it back on FSBO, you might be looking at eating that 6% savings anyway.

a cracked lightswitch plate is not a safety hazard. (i suppose, in a one in a billion accident, a person with wet hands molesting the light switch might get a shock, but this seems unlikely. we had all the plates off of the light switches and outlets for a week while we painted and no one, including the dog and the 9 year old, was in any way injured.)  a missing lightswitch plate could potentially be a safety hazard. yes, it is less than a dollar, and yes, he could just replace it and move on with things, but i think it is absolutely ridiculous, even in this market, to jump on every tiny little thing in the inspection.

no house is perfect! get over it.

and hate, you're clearly on of those people who loves the anonymity of the internet for all the wrong reasons

Clearly some buyers are reasonable while others are just attempting to take advantage of sellers right now. As a recent buyer I did not nitpick with the seller about the cosmetics. Just the mechanicals and safety issues. Though there's a lot of cosmetic stuff I'd have loved to find ready but am doing now myself. If I ever decide to sell, any buyer who comes up with this kind of crap with me, which in my book is another word for theft, can kiss my house goodbye because even if they wanted it I would not sell it to them. Reality is, unless you buy new, you're buying a second-hand house. And ALL second-hand things are exactly that: second-hand.

darn right, mbabe! we had the gfic's put in (safety issue) and the plumbing pulled up to turn the tubs into tub/showers (useability) and that was it! yes, the woodwork has dings and scratches in it. some of the window screens have holes in them. i have 3 lightswitch plates with cracks that may never be replaced (i only noticed the cracks because i took them all off).

so what? it's a 32 year old house. real people lived there with their real dogs (to judge by the scratches on the back door) and their real kids (to judge by the charming signatures in the concrete of the back porch) my house was well loved by the previous owners and i will add to that.

As a current buyer in the market I will tell you this....Yes I do plan on having an individual inspection of any house I buy.  However, I don't think personelly I would make an issue over a crack in a light switch plate cover.  I don't even need my husband to replace that for me!  As for the sod..If it was a small area i would just replace it myself when I moved in no big deal.  If we were talking about an acre  I would have adjusted for that during the initual offer anyway.

Don't let it bother you.  We too had to fix something minor on our deck so put a screw in the step, so to speak, and don't worry about the rest.  Best of luck to you.

BG: Be prepared to get RAPED at the closing table.....this is very common now- due to less buyers in the RE market.
We just closed at the end of July and our closing was over 2 1/2 hours long. It was a horrible experience to say the least!
The buyers of our house gave us a list of items to "fix" and we were to provide written receipts by a licensed contractor for each item (according the their lawyer). We did correct the "major" items and provide receipts but also fixed some items ourselves (changing light bulb burned out on bathroom fan!) so their were no receipts for those items. They also wanted our Ejector pump serviced (but it was working fine--and during their home inspection it was running hot to the touch. After resetting the plug/power it worked fine for two weeks-I checked it often). Apparently, our fixes or lack of proof that it was resolved was not acceptable. On closing, they demanded a plumber verify this on the spot! Again, we complied and the pump was FINE!
Also the closing time our attorney scheduled (which i requested to be changed three times!-TO AVOID THIS PROBLEM WAS NOT GRANTED) and our moving date (the same day!) was a huge problem--since our closing was at 9am and our move wouldnt be completed until about 3pm the same day (it takes about 8 hours to move a household) was not acceptable to the buyers and they wanted to fine us 1% of purchase price (more than $7000.00) since they wanted possession of the home at closing.
All of this should have been addressed before closing--so it could have been resolved.

CONTINUED:

The problem is that we agreed to a quick closing (less than 30 days) to accomodate the buyers move in date (they were from out of state).

Every step of the way we agreed, and they basically took advantage of us.



The list of demands they made at closing was ridiculous and I left the table after this began. I was so upset, I was shaking and on the verge of tears. They wanted to get money from us, some way somehow--IT WAS CLEAR.

I waited in the hall while the attorney's battled it out!



SELLERS BEWARE!

wanna go~ that is just awful to hear, it gives me chills! I have been a buyer twice, never a seller, but am attempting to sell now. And even with my new perspecitve as a seller, when I was a buyer I could never concieve of conducting myself in such a way. What a bunch of snakes. They must be like that in every aspect of their life. I cant imagine that all of sudden good people become weasles when buying a house, they just must be weasles.

i understand wanting possession immediately after closing, but giving someone 8 hours is an act of kindness that costs you nothing. (certainly not $7000!)

i think this is more of a societal problem than a real estate problem. when was the last time you saw someone forgive a stupid error or give someone a little leeway? and don't even get me started on everyone's insane sense of entitlement. no, the world does not owe you your heart's every little desire. and i don't care what your mommy told you, your not the most perfectist person ever!

Wannago,

If I'm reading all of that correctly then the problem was that there apparently wasn't a final walk through / inspection by the buyers or thier representative.  Why was that?  That's a bit unusual, particularly when there's a number of open issues that are to be repaired.  No one would/should ever rely on receipts - the receipts are simply to show that the work was performed by qualified individuals, but receipts aren't proof of the work having been performed.

Sorry that you had a bad experience, it does sound like your buyers may not have been the most pleasant folks.

Ha!  We're going thru the same thing now.  I just assumed it was because the buyer is incapable or does not want to do these things himself.  We've been asked to install seismic strapping (not required in our area) on the hot water heater.  The last earthquake in our town was about 75 million years ago, and it blew 6,000 feet off the top of the mountains.  I'd think molten lava would be more of a concern than the water heater tipping over, but what do I know!  The inspector said he smelled a foul odor in the softener brine tank – we’d only been home for 2 days in the last month.  After we got the report, we’d been there all weekend and the unit recharged, so there was no smell.  I offered to do the annual cleaning on it (i.e. empty wash and fill with new salt and water).

To their credit, they did not ask us for the 1 cosmetic item the inspector found, but our realtor told us that we HAVE to comply with all of the items on their list as she's apparently afraid of losing the sale.  Since it’s all small stuff, I didn’t push back.  All in all, I've got about 3 hours worth of work and $20 in materials to comply with the list.  At least they didn't demand a contractor do the work!

Also, remember that a home inspector HAS to find something wrong with the house in order to justify his service.  This is the same person who recommended straps on the heater, and he couldn’t even figure out how to light the pilot on the gas fireplace!  Well, at least THAT one is really easy to address.

I’m glad I ran across this – I’m calling our realtor about a final inspection before close next week.  I’m almost certain they’re going to try to screw us at the closing table in the same way, but I won’t have any of it.  We had word that they were going to sign the inspection off as-is, and then agreed to moving the closing date up 6 days (making it a 15 day closing from the date of the offer) as they have tentatively scheduled furniture delivery the day after close.  After we agreed, they hit us with 8 items on the inspection report (all very small stuff, but nonetheless, a way to try and bean us at closing).  They probably didn’t count on the fact that I do all maintenance and most repairs around the house myself.

Bottom line is that the list will make you mad – it seems that they’re being unreasonable, but it’s all small stupid stuff.  Suck it up, put some sod and a switch plate and be done with it.  You’ll have a good laugh about it after the deal is done.  My real disappointment is in our realtor – I expected better things from her in this.  But then again, her job is to get the house sold as fast as possible – not to protect our interests.

her job is to get the house sold as fast as possible – not to protect our interests.

exactly. who cares if the buyer wants seismic strapping in a seismically dead zone? if it will get me my commission, bring it on!

from your perspective this isn't bad, from mine it would be. i can't do those sorts of repairs. i would be forced to pay someone a lot of money for something that is completely unnecessary.

oh, and i should give props to my seller. we asked him to pull up the plumbing so we could install showers. we did not ask for shower heads or a shower surround. we figured that would be asking too much. what did we see at final inspection? brand new showerheads and fully tiled surrounds. they are in my top 10 list of best people ever.