You’ve received an acceptance on your offer for your new Albuquerque dream home, and you have had the inspections completed. You have read over the reports completely and now it’s time to see what defects the seller will remedy. If this is not a BANK OWNED PROPERTY, keep a few things in mind:
There are a few key issues that you may have not thought of.
Many of the items on an inspection report are going to be items that are purely maintenance, and are mentioned only as a disclosure point. These items make seem important to you and you may want them all addressed by the seller, just like if you were buying a used car you would really like it if it didn’t have any dents or scratches…but the fact is the seller may not be inclined to fix every item on a report.
What should be addressed are HEALTH and SAFETY issues. Health issues would be items that are unsafe, like a furnace not working properly, a leaking gas line, a leaky roof, bad electrical connections that could cause a fire. These are items that anyone purchasing the house would most likely require and the seller would be inclined to fix. Depending on the tone of your real estate market, most sellers would agree to remedy these types of issues and many banks would not loan on a house with health and safety issues.
BUT:
Let’s say your dream home had multiple offers, or alot of interest…and the seller is aware of this. There may be what I refer to as a “back door” buyer. This is someone who has seen the house, was ‘too late’ in getting in an offer..and they might just be waiting (and communicating to the seller’s broker) that they are at the “back door” in case something falls through. That seller may even know what the next buyer is willing to offer..DON’T WASTE TIME negotiating squeaky locks or mis-matched paint. The seller may just be looking for an OUT so that they can go to the next buyer!
By all means get all of the inspections that you need in order to satisfy yourself that you are buying the right house for you, flaws and all. But, keep your requests reasonable and fair and get your negotiations done in an expedient manner.
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