Home inspection for as-is property? (dual agency, commission, agreement, legal)
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...the house is being sold "as is" and there is no negotiating. Period !!!
I think Bill gave an excellent response. Basically, everything is negotiable. It's up to the seller (or buyer) to decide if they want to negotiate or not. And both the buyer's agent and seller's agent would be remiss not to at least present the counter for review. Not all seller's have your attitude. Most want to actually sell the house they've listed for sale.
I'm not ignoring anything. You as a seller are free to take that attitude all day and every day. But when the buyer says to your agent, "Never mind, I'm not interested any longer because I just learned about the $45,000 repair I'm going to have to do on the septic system, but if the seller is willing to fix it or give me the money to fix it, I'd still buy the property," your agent would have to be an idiot to simply let him walk. Based on this new info, the house is actually worth less. We have to assume that you, as the seller, knew nothing of this fact (else you would have disclosed it) and are not going to be an absolute idiot by refusing to even listen to the new offer. Especially since you are now going to be legally obligated to disclose the septic system failure when you try to market the house to find a new buyer. And if the agent failed to bring you that new offer, I'd bet you can find dozens of attorneys willing to sign up to represent you in the lawsuit agaisnt that agent & his brokerage for failing to represent you properly.
Your still twisting "as is" into a negotiating situation. The buyer can do all the home inspections they wish but I don't want neither my agent, the buyers agent or myself receiving the report. Both agents work for ME !!! The report is soley for the buyer to be informed and make their own decision if they wish to move forward and buy at their original offer or back out and keep looking. This way neither my agent, any other agent or myself have any knowledge of whats in the report and have nothing to disclose to future buyers and by following my instructions the agent has no concerns about legal action for failing to represent me properly....in fact......he sould be more concerned about legal action if he started reading inspection reports and negotiating against my instructions. Allowing a home inspection report into an "as is" situation and future disclosure concerns only harms the sellers advantage to get his asking price.....you seem very willing to forget that both the sellers and buyers agents work for the SELLER and are bound to his instructions. If I had been willing to negotiate the selling price I wouldn't have listed my house "as is" !!!
I think Bill gave an excellent response. Basically, everything is negotiable. It's up to the seller (or buyer) to decide if they want to negotiate or not. And both the buyer's agent and seller's agent would be remiss not to at least present the counter for review. Not all seller's have your attitude. Most want to actually sell the house they've listed for sale.
Everything is negotiable ? Then please explain what "as is" mean if it doesn't mean "as is" ? Once you introduce a home inspection report into a negotiation the seller has lost any advantage they had in this sale or any future sale......two agents both suggesting the seller put themselves at a disadvantage to save a deal.....big surprise there.
Your still twisting "as is" into a negotiating situation. The buyer can do all the home inspections they wish but I don't want neither my agent, the buyers agent or myself receiving the report. Both agents work for ME !!! The report is soley for the buyer to be informed and make their own decision if they wish to move forward and buy at their original offer or back out and keep looking. This way neither my agent, any other agent or myself have any knowledge of whats in the report and have nothing to disclose to future buyers and by following my instructions the agent has no concerns about legal action for failing to represent me properly....in fact......he sould be more concerned about legal action if he started reading inspection reports and negotiating against my instructions. Allowing a home inspection report into an "as is" situation and future disclosure concerns only harms the sellers advantage to get his asking price.....you seem very willing to forget that both the sellers and buyers agents work for the SELLER and are bound to his instructions. If I had been willing to negotiate the selling price I wouldn't have listed my house "as is" !!!
Before I even finish reading yrou post, let me correct something.
The buyers agent DOES NOT work for you, the seller. The BUYERS AGENT is so called for a reason. His work is done for the BUYER, his fiduciary duty is to the BUYER, and his efforts are on behalf of the BUYER.
Allowing a home inspection report into an "as is" situation and future disclosure concerns only harms the sellers advantageto get his askingprice.....you seem very willing to forget that both the sellers and buyers agents work for the SELLER and are bound to his instructions. If I had been willing to negotiate the selling price I wouldn't have listed my house "as is" !!!
That a seller is unwilling to look at the results of a home inspection for purposes of avoiding the need to disclose such problems, going forward is more likely to result in no offer. This scenario is a huge red flag for everyone.
In my state, when working with a buyer, I have a legal fiduciary responsibility to look out for the best interests of the buyer. I am legally bound to follow the buyer's directives. Given the market conditions in the majority of the U.S. right now, most buyers will not play ball, your way. There are too many other properties to consider that do not have such contraints.
When market conditions favor buyers, as it does right now, in most areas, a seller's belief that they are offering a unique product to the market place usually means that the property will remain unsold. Remaining amongst the great unsellables creates incremental downward pressure on their own price.
Buyers view homes as a commodity. If not this one, they will turn around and buy that one, which represents the best value, at that moment in time.
The most common "as is" situations are foreclosed homes. Such homes usually sell at a discount to non foreclosed homes unless foreclosed properties dominate the market. In otherwords, the "as is" risk is offset by price, to make it work.
Everything is negotiable ? Then please explain what "as is" mean if it doesn't mean "as is" ? Once you introduce a home inspection report into a negotiation the seller has lost any advantage they had in this sale or any future sale......two agents both suggesting the seller put themselves at a disadvantage to save a deal.....big surprise there.
For an " as is" sale to be effective, the asking price needs to take into full consideration the true condition of the property as well as local market dynamics. That you create a situation where neither you or your agent are exposed to anything that might contradict your perception of condition and thus value, for the sole purpose of not having to disclose going forward, is not in your own best interests, assuming your objective is to get sold.
I think as-is on my particular deal means the seller isn't going to go fix the stove if it is found not to work. The market is saturated w/4 plexes here and it is very much a buyers market. It is very tough to get financing now, in case you haven't checked in the last few months. Buyers are far and few between.
If I had been willing to negotiate the selling price I wouldn't have listed my house "as is" !!!
And your house will stay "as-is" . . . unsold.
Whether a buyer chooses to bail or give you the opportunity to renegotiate, their agent MUST tell your agent. Your agent is required to tell you. You retain the right to tell the buyer where to go.
Before I even finish reading yrou post, let me correct something.
The buyers agent DOES NOT work for you, the seller. The BUYERS AGENT is so called for a reason. His work is done for the BUYER, his fiduciary duty is to the BUYER, and his efforts are on behalf of the BUYER.
You can twist words as much as you wish but the bottom line is that the seller is paying both comissions....in my book that means both agents are working for the seller......the buyers agent most certainly does work for the seller, however, he works "with" the buyer assisting in finding them a home while providing them "fair dealing" in the transaction....didn't they teach you that term in real estate school ? Bottom line is that both agents are supposed to be working toward getting the seller the highest sale price possible.
The most common "as is" situations are foreclosed homes. Such homes usually sell at a discount to non foreclosed homes unless foreclosed properties dominate the market. In otherwords, the "as is" risk is offset by price, to make it work.
No one is debating price in this equation....the question is if a house is listed "as is" thats what the seller means. Clearly when the bank lists a foreclosed property "as is" thats exactly what they mean and realtors don't attempt to start negotiating with a bank or send them inspection reports because they realize its useless....banks don't negotiate.....if realtors understand that when a bank says no it means NO why do they feel its ok to bully sellers into negotiating with forecasts of doom and gloom for the sale of their home.......bottom line here is that if "as is" sellers were allowed to follow the path they want instead of being bullied into a quick sale that only assures the agent a quick and easy comission the house in question would eventually sell....perhaps not as quickly.....but then again those that list their house "as is" usually aren't looking for a quick sale and understand it may take longer.
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