Confused repairs closing n loan extension (5%, agent, accept, price)

[momobear71]

Thanks for reading this post.

We are selling a house and are being asked to repair stuff in the amount of $10,000.00. Some things are reasonable but hubby does not agree on others.

After we agree on what repairs are needed I would be ok with splitting the cost in half and taking that amt off the price of the house and be done with it. The sticking point is the buyers want us to make all the repairs before closing. Hubby outright refuses.

What reasons could they have for not letting us take the amt off the price of the house?

BTW, our home is not a fixer upper and is one of the best houses on the market in our price range and we already came down 5% off the price of the house in the first place.

Also, they asked for both a loan extension and a closing date extension. They supposedly had a downpayment of $45,000.00.

I am confused. Never sold a home before, any help greatly appreciated.

Tina

[Silverfall]

What does your agent say?

[manderly6]

The concern could be that it costs more to fix than estimated. If the repairs are done before closing then the buyers know it is done.

[texdav]

You have the right to refuse and they have the right not to buy under those conditions;plain and simple. Repairs estimates are just that estimates is lilely the reason.

[garth]

Many people don't want to go through the trouble, pain, disruption and expense of doing repairs - especially for the repair of items that they didn't break. Not knowing what they are requesting, I'll just assume they're looking at them as maintenance items that the current homeowners should have done as part of their regular maintenance but didn't do. They don't feel like they should accept responsibility for them.

Another way that they may be looking at it has to do with price vs. value. They may consider market price as something that is paid for a product that requires no repairs. When broken things exist, that makes the product worth less to them. If they're going to pay the going rate for the house, they will want it given to them without any pre-existing defects. They just want what they're paying for.

Those are just some ways they may be looking at it.

BTW, I did not make the previous and following comments about you, personally. I don't know you. Instead, I am commenting from the position of a buyer. When buying a house, I don't know the sellers in any purchase I make. I don't know the ethics that they hold. However, I do know that they have every motivation for saving as much as possible on any repairs they make to defects that I find. As such, they have no motivation for doing the job the right way. They have already neglected fixing existing problems so I would not want them to make any repairs subsequent to my discovery. I would be afraid that they wouldn't do them right.

Instead, if the problems were significant, I would just walk away from the house. Otherwise, I would get my own quotes and ask that the house price be adjusted by the total amount of the reapir. I wouldn't accept splitting the costs of those repairs in half. Why should I as the buyer pay for damages or deferred maintenance that didn't happen when I owned the house? I shouldn't be expected to do it.

On the other hand, a seller has the obligation to offer a property that is free from deferred maintenance. Otherwise, they should disclose the defects and adjust the price accordingly.

Those are just my opinions as a buyer in the past. Others may disagree and so may you. That's why some deals don't work and buyers move on to a different house.

In today's market in general, buyers are in the driver's seat. It's easy for them to go elsewhere. it wasn't that long ago that sellers would just say "NO" to any repair requests. They knew that if the buyer didn't go with the program, another buyer would come along very shortly.

It doesn't work that way, today, and the buyers know it. A house is a house is a house. There are lots of them out there and if they don't get yours, they'll get another one that's just as good elsewhere. That's why they have no fear in asking for repairs since there isn't another buyer easily on the horizen.

The tables have turned.

[FalconheadWest]

Also, to take $5k off the price saves them less than $25 a month and they have to come out of pocket the full $10k if not more if repairs are more. I wouldn't want to come out of pocket that much as a buyer either. Sounds like something major for the price to be so high, to which the lender might require the repairs to be done prior to closing.

[momobear71]

I have not had time to talk to my agent but Thanks for all of your input.

Tina

One final question.....Does it matter that one of the issues was made known to them on the day they signed the contract and that they signed a seperate paper saying that they were made aware of it?

Tina

[manderly6]

Originally Posted by momobear71

One final question.....Does it matter that one of the issues was made known to them on the day they signed the contract and that they signed a seperate paper saying that they were made aware of it?

Tina

Depending on the situation, I might tell that to go jump in a lake on that one. If they knew when they signed the contract they should have taken that in to consideration with their offer, not after.

[DowntownVentura]

You have no guarantee after making the repairs that they will close.

[momobear71]

Thanks a lot guys. I am so stressed.

My husband is willing to concede on some things but not on what they knew when making the offer in the first place. His opinion is that they
accepted it and had us drop the price by $11,000 to make up for it so that we are in some way making up for it by having lowered the price.

I did not think about us making repairs and them still being able to back out of the deal. That would be terrible, considering that we really do not have the money to put upfront for repairs, some of which are questionable.

Thanks

Tina