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Is this the only issue at this point?
If not, look at the entire package in front of you hard and ponder if you have a realistic situation.
If this is the only current issue, look at your net proceeds at closing.
Are you hitting your (realistic) target proceeds with a credit?
If so, why fuss?
If not, is there a way to satisfy the buyer and meet your target?
Will they walk if you don't accommodate this request?
Consider potential BATNAs, "Best Alternatives to a Negotiated Agreement":
How long will it take to find another buyer and close without goofy issues?
How much will you pay to hold the property until another buyer closes?
If you run this buyer off, will you profit more in the future with the next buyer, in a reasonable period of time, and at what future cost?
Thank you for this carefully considered answer Mike. Appreciated!
We slept on this and discussed this very thing (bolded, above) over breakfast. With their offer we are still meeting our desired goal after fees. We don't have a mortgage. We were so knocked over by the response that we realize now we were seeing the dollar signs.
We had 11 showings over the course of 2 days with three offers all over asking, all within a few hours of each other. The first offer, which was substantially over our list price, did not reveal (i.e. was not stated in the offer contract) that the people had to sell their home house to qualify for the house... and our agent learned the house was not even on the market yet.
The second offer (the one we accepted) was the cleanest. The third offer was only slightly above, very comparable to the second offer. The feedback we received on the showings was all glowing, save one who stated our garage situation (5 cars and large shop) was not large enough.
Denver market is pretty nuts, property like this is very rare so close to town... then again being old folks we are finding this process to be a bit stressful and would like to just get it done.
You have to look at it from the buyers perspective. What harm is there in asking? If the Seller says no are they still going to buy the house?
Buyers can ask for anything they want - its the sellers job to politely say yes or no. Its that easy. Allowing emotion to show its face in the sale of a house is how you kill a deal.
Say no, that expansion of the septic is not a consideration for you at this time and let the buyers decide.
It's typical to ask for alot of things, and then be given a few...everyone for some reason needs to feel like they "win" Its human nature.
I didn't say to yell at them or berate their ridiculous request. You tell your RE agent to tell them no, you don't even talk to them, but you now know who you are dealing with and they now know they are not buying from a patsy.
Thank you everyone for your perspectives on our situation.
We are meeting with the engineer who designed the system in just a bit here to get his take on what is actually needed to gauge how much smoke is actually being blown at us.
The house was never advertised/marketed as more than a 3 bed/bath with an unbuilt, rough-in bathroom downstairs. Jefferson County bases their system design approvals on the number of bedrooms in the house, not the bathrooms (which seems weird, I know). They are more concerned with how many potential occupants would be flushing per day rather than how many actual fixtures there are to flush.
I'll go back and address some of the answers later today... all have been good and some entertaining!
I wouldn't bother meeting with anyone about the feasibility of what they want to do to the septic... it doesn't really matter to you.
They've made it a dollar-amount decision. I would decide on that basis.
You can reject it, and hope they buy anyway...
You can give them half, or some percentage, of what they want and hope they buy anyway.
You can give them what they want and be glad (or not) to close it.
The details matter. We don't know if this was a high or low offer, whether they are asking for a few or many thousands... We don't know if the property was on the market for a day, or has been listed for weeks. We don't know whether you NEED to sell asap or whether you can wait for another offer if this one falls through. We don't know enough to weigh the risks and benefits here, really.... But the big picture matters... more than whether they are asking for something you think is important or doesn't even exist.
Thank you everyone for your perspectives on our situation.
We are meeting with the engineer who designed the system in just a bit here to get his take on what is actually needed to gauge how much smoke is actually being blown at us.
The house was never advertised/marketed as more than a 3 bed/bath with an unbuilt, rough-in bathroom downstairs. Jefferson County bases their system design approvals on the number of bedrooms in the house, not the bathrooms (which seems weird, I know). They are more concerned with how many potential occupants would be flushing per day rather than how many actual fixtures there are to flush.
I'll go back and address some of the answers later today... all have been good and some entertaining!
It's the bedrooms because if you have 3 bedrooms and 1 bathroom you need a septic system that can candle 6 people's worth of toilet, sink, shower, laundry and dishes. Therefore if you have a septic system that can handle 3 bedrooms you should be able to add another bathroom. I doubt you could add more than one bathroom per bedroom though some homes have 3.5 but many may have city sewer where it doesn't matter. If you do have 3 bathroom and septic they would have to be able to accommodation 3 people all showering at the same time in the 3 bathrooms.
We have a buyer who declared after the inspection report that he wanted the roof repaired, a new heating furnace because it was cracked and leaking carbon dioxide all over the house, a new air conditioning unit, and pay for repair on one board on back of house and then a paint contractor to paint the back. We paid for a second inspection and asked the roofing company we had a warranty on for our recently replaced roof do an inspection.
No crack in heating furnace and no carbon dioxide leaking, roof fine, we were willing to pay for small repair to wood on back of house but not paying for painting contractor as we had a gallon of matching exterior shed, air condioner is old but needed maintenance which we did.
Buyer was not happy and asked us to choose another inspector that he would pay for to check the heating and again it was fine.
He wants to buy the house, we want to sell the house so we compromised on the air conditioning and said we would pay half the cost of a new air condioner. I have no clue what the heck his first inspector was up to, but he frightened the heck out of the seller.
Op, As for unreasonable requests, don’t take it personally , you can say no or offer a small sum so you can get on with the sale.
Spuggy, I have little use for inspectors, having spent a lifetime career as a builder and electrician. I sold my last personal home a few years back. It was a three year old, custom built place, built in one of the most overzealous code areas I ever did work in. The buyer had a total inspection package done, and the inspection came back with TWENTY SEVEN pages of issues. Now before you reach the conclusion that I am a shyster builder, and was "caught" by this inspector, the fact was TWO of his issues were totally legit, my mistake and corrected immediately. The original, legitimate, and competent code inspector and myself both missed the fact that the tub, in a little used guest bath, was not caulked at the floor. There were also two screws missing from the lid of a dry well pump cover, in the yard. It took me ten minutes to fix ALL the legitimate problems my nearly new home had.......................
Other than that, the "the certified home inspector" was bat crap crazy, and cited things that simply did not exist, and code violations that he fabricated from thin air. I spent 45 minutes in a conference with the buyer and all other parties, except the "certified home inspector" who lacked the heuvos to attend. I blew apart every claim he had, citing everything from the IRC code book, to EPA guidelines for water and radon sampling. In closing the meeting, I told the buyer that she was the victim of an incompetent agent and a fraudulent inspector. She was welcome to buy the house, but the inspection was illegitimate and will be ignored, and any expectations as to me paying for radon mitigation, or septic pumping or any other BS recommendations from the "certified home inspector" were not happening. She bought the house, it's been trouble free, and she loves the place.
Spuggy, the fraud involving your "deadly leaking furnace" is common. Some shady characters in the home inspection, and HVAC business will falsely claim that you are in grave danger, in order to get you to treat their "findings" as a "house on fire" grade emergency, and immediately replace a perfectly good furnace at a hugely inflated price. There have been cases of contractors ending up in jail for this. Some have even been caught claiming this crap, while standing next to a CO detector that is reading zero, and has no dangerous levels ever recorded in it's digital history.
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.... I edited it now.... fingers needed more coffee this morning.
