Calculate the amount of money it takes to do the two biggies. Offer to split the amount and give it to them if they will sign a waiver regarding those two items. You keep negotiating. They want the house. You want to sell. Start with 1/4 of the amount, and keep going. Time is money and vice versa. The market is deteriorating. The next offer could be for $6,000 less - do you know how much it would take to cover the two biggies.

I don't know if this is common in your area, but when we were selling a home in Colorado a number of years ago, it was common to have a roof "certified" by a roofer. The roofer came out, inspected the roof and gave it a certificate that said it had 5 years or more of wear left on the roof. Maybe this is what your buyers want?

I would do the first two things on your list, offer them the $1000 to replace the sprinkler heads, and if it's only a certificate they want on the roof, pay for the certificate (if I recall it was only a few hundred dollars).

Maybe townhomes sell quick in your neck of the woods, but they languish on the market in ours. Try to work things on this offer if you can.

It sounds to me like the buyers might be reasonable,but worried about running into a large unexpected expense in a few years. I think that is perfectly normal.
When you mentioned sprinklers before, I thought you were talking about an outdoor irrigation sprinkler system. If this is a system to sprinkle for fire, I can understand why a buyer might be worried. I mean, this is potentially a pretty serious piece of equipment.
Can you get a company to inspect the sprinkler system to see if it will be acceptable as is? Like the roof, I think a letter from a competent company will satisfy the buyers. In other words, why should heads be replaced if they are fine as is?

When we sold our house, it cost 175$ to certify the roof.
I thought the certification was idiotic, it was not the same as a guarantee, it simply say they officially thought the roof would last another 6 years.

Made the buyers happy because it was an older roof (2 years later, the shingles blew off in a hurricane ,ugh)

The sprinklers, i have no idea what would be a reasonable request.
From the buyers point of view, having a sprinkler system that works makes sense.
Was it advertised as part of the house sale?
If so they may have a legal claim to make you fix it.

As a buyer I would think the Sprinker issue would be a big one, I would want that fixed as they must have some sort of problem, since their was a recall on them. I'm sure you may have the same problem with other buyers. I know I would walk.

I also thought the sprinkler heads were for outside, since her name is gardensgirl :)

Getting an estimate to replace the heads is a good suggestion, and depending on how big of a job it is, who knows, it may be worth taking the few hours to do it yourself.

We at one time had a lady interested in this house. My husband was giving her a great deal at the time, $4,000 - $5,000 towards closing plus $1,500 towards a roof. This lady said she wanted it, I'd dug up roses that weren't sold any more. She knew what I had to lose and swore she wasn't going to back out. 3 weeks before closing she did over the roof. She didn't want money towards it, she wanted it replaced.

We ended up getting another 4 years out of the roof. I in turn lost my rare roses.

I thought you were talking about outdoor sprinklers too.

I'm surprised that the sprinkler company can get away with not replacing the sprinklers if there was a previous recall on them. I think I'd call the company and ask for replacement anyway. If this deal falls through, I think you have a disclosure issue. You know the sprinklers are recalled. You'll have to fix the problem by either replacing them or removing them and adding other fire equipment such as the estinguishers. I think you are probably better off doing what it takes to get this sale to go through. It'll be less stress and frustration for you.

Ah, the fire sprinkler thing - I had the same problem. I thought you were talking about irrigation sprinklers. My last house was built with the recalled sprinklers and I had them replaced during the recall period.

If you check with the sprinkler company they should be able to recommend a local company that does the replacements. I think I was sent a list of local people that could do the replacement. As a buyer, I would definitely want them replaced, or a full credit for the work - that would be a deal-breaker for me. The previous owner was negligent in not replacing them. You missed it when you bought the house, so now the responsibility falls on you, unfortunately.

OOOPS -- count me among those that thought you were talking about outside sprinklers. Indoor sprinklers are a whole nother problem. As a buyer I'd want you to rectify the problem or I too would walk. As mentioned above, you now know about the problem and must disclose it to future buyers, so you're going to end up fixing it anyway, do it for these buyers while you have them on the hook.

I"m just going to through this out there... are you sure the recall claim period ended in 01? unsually the recall period is
5 or more years long...
also , have you independently confirmed that your sprinkler heads have been recalled?

If you want to list your brand of sprinkler heads,i'd been happy to do a search for you.

I know this stuff can be overwhelming.

mel(anie)

GG- add me to the list that thought you were talking about outdoor irrigation sprinklers. The fact that your sprinklers inside the home were recalled and may pose a fire threat is definitely a safety issue and may even be against code. I think you need to do all you can to replace them. If they were outdoor irrigation, no way, but indoor. Yep. Absolutely. They're not being unreasonable in this regard.

I'd replace the sprinklers. What if you didn't and there WAS a fire and someone was hurt or killed? Who do you think would be sued?

The manufacter of the sprinkler heads.

yes the manufacturer would be sued but as a party that knew there was a problem and didn't replace them, the seller would also share part of the blame and would most likely be named as a party on the lawsuit.

Thanks everybody for your suggestions. It never occured to me to mention they were indoor, I've never had a nice enough lawn for an outdoor sprinkler systems so I just assumed everyone would know I meant indoor. Hm.......maybe that's why I've never had a nice lawn since I never had outdoor sprinkers? ha!!

Anyway, I have done alot of thinking about this and decided (even though I'm mad about it) to go ahead and replace the sprinkler heads. Afterall this is business, not personal though at times you do take it personal.

As a 1st time home buyer, it would bother me too. I try to keep good karma around me, or the "do unto others thing........" Doesn't always work that way, but hey......at least I feel better about it.

The average cost will be about $4k but I know I will have to do it for the next buyer as well, as no one is probably going to buy my house if I disclose "recalled sprinkler heads" or I will get a lowball offer. I actually have a friend who does this for a living and he will do it for me at a reduced cost.

In my counter-counter (whatever count we are now on), I offered to replace the sprinkler heads but retracted my offer of $1k repair credit.

So, this is what I'm doing:
1.) fixing the roof w/a warranty on work (which is all they wanted afterall)
2.) replacing sprinkler heads
3.) putting soil under front step
4.) replacing missing flaps on outside exhaust hole
5.) $10k in closing
6.) $200 carpet cleaning allowance (on brand new carpet)
7.) throwing in my dining table + 6 chairs
That's all I can remember off the top of my head.

Anyway, we'll see what happens. Thanks for the advice.

P.S. I had NO idea these sprinkler heads were recalled. They were apparently recalled the month I bought my house. I have a feeling the owners got the letter and hid it. I talked to my neighbor today, (we bought at the same time) and she said she never got notice either and thinks her seller's probably hid it from her too.

I believe that one should always make an informed decision, especially making major or expensive decisions.

I did a quick google and found a website regarding sprinkler head recall. I had a quick look and didn't notice any date given as a deadline. It seems to be a really helpful website. They include detailed info regarding how you can determine whether the sprinkler heads that you have are even affected by the recall.

It has been discussed here a few times that home inspectors are not infallible. They can also make mistakes. They are generalists, not specialists.

Were you provided with detailed info regarding the sprinkler heads related to the home inspection? Such as a close up photo of a sprinkler head showing that it matched those that were recalled.

If you are not convinced that your sprinkler heads are affected by the recall, based on what you have already been provided and after checking out the details on the provided website. It might be worth it to have a specialist check them to verify for sure whether or not they are affected by the recall. If they are then find out whether recall claims can still be made.

Here is a link that might be useful: Sprinkler Replacement

I agree that you should independently verify that the recall applies to your sprinkler heads...as sometimes certain model numbers may be partly recalled if the defect did not affect the entire amount produced at the time...

In addition, you mention an HOA....it seems to me that if the heads are defective, as the homes were probably all built at around the same time by the same contractor, they probably all have the same sprinkler heads...I'm curious as to why THEY (the HOA) didn't require all owners to submit proof of replacement...

I bring this up because this may be any avenue for you to have the HOA split the cost if they were complicit in the non-disclosure...

In addition, once a development has sprinkler heads, in many places they must be inspected by the Fire Marshal....I would therefore think that the HOA should have had a responsibility of notifying the Fire Marshal, in order that the new heads be inspected for proper installation.

IMO, the previous owners were not the only ones who dropped the ball on this issue...the HOA should have had some responsibility as well...especially if the homes are attached...as defective sprinklers in one home also may endanger the attached dwellings...

My friend who does sprinklers for living actually came by today and looked at them. Yes, they are recalled. It's not necessarily that mine don't work, but like any industry, all were recalled to be "safe". It just seems stupid as you can't even test them anyway.........unless you start a fire!

As far as the HOA, this is the 3rd mgmt. company we've had. I'm really surprised that no one else has brought this up as there have been several homes in here that have sold. Maybe because we are townhomes and not condos? The HOA only does outside reviews 1x per year, they can't grade/review anything inside the home.

Well, I'll be patiently waiting to hear the buyer's response to all this. I'm sure they are going to ask for more $$$. I so wish it was a SELLER'S market, not so much for the money, but to not have to deal with this stuff.

You seem to be very reasonable. It's so easy to dig one's heels in (about the sprinkler) when hearing so many contrary opinions.

"P.S. I had NO idea these sprinkler heads were recalled. They were apparently recalled the month I bought my house. I have a feeling the owners got the letter and hid it. I talked to my neighbor today, (we bought at the same time) and she said she never got notice either and thinks her seller's probably hid it from her too."

I believe that one should be careful about jumping to conclusions. Often when we assume the worst about someone else we are WRONG! I notice a tendency on this forum to assume that sellers generally have sinister motives. Maybe neither your neighbour's seller nor your seller received any letter at all regarding the recall. Or if a letter did arrive in the mail it might have been addressed to the original owner. The seller may have then written "return to sender" on the envelope and placed it in a mailbox, without any sinister motive. You might have even received the letter but because it was addressed to the previous owners you sent it back, i.e. return to sender.

Instead of assuming the worst, it may be more prudent to speak to neighbours that have been there since before the recall, to find out if they know about the recall.

I agree about speaking to others, to find out if they got letters. If they did, then I'd start looking to have someone claim some sort of responsability, unless you're so ready to be done with this that it doesn't matter.

Carpet cleaning? I'd laugh. I'd show them the receipt for the new carpet and tell them to clean it themselves.

Often when we assume the worst about someone else we are WRONG!........Maybe neither your neighbour's seller nor your seller received any letter at all regarding the recall..........."

This could very well be. When I bought my home, it had renters in it. The owners lived in another state. The renters could have thrown it away, or the sellers could have disregarded it since they were selling, or they could have said "crap, we're not showing this and ruin our sale". One will never know. I am a seller myself........so I'm not degrading sellers, I'm only stating what is normal human nature in real estate, or at least my view of it.

Roselvr: I'm on my 5th to-the-right-of-me neighbor. They would have no idea. Alot of others are renters. I have NO idea where the sellers are and really, I'd probably spend more money tracking them down and asking them in a legal sense to do something, that no, it's not worth it to me.

The carpet cleaning..........supposedly they are allergic to cats, although they did play with my cats for at least 10 minutes each time they came with no problems. Whatever. I don't hold their allergies against them, but my listing did say: "cats on premise" for this exact reason, yet they still chose to place an offer and come to look at it multiple times. There is also a stray cat in my neighborhood that I feed occasionally. They are making me get rid of the "cat bowl" 1 month prior to them moving in. I do understand, they don't want a begging cat but my "emotional" & animal lover side feels like putting out little porcelain kitties all beneath by bay window outside for when the move in...........of course I wouldn't do it, but I can fantasize about, right? :)

I remember getting quite a few notices about the recall. There were a few from the sprinkler company, a few from the local fire department, and at least one from the builder. The fire department was also offering to come and check to see if people did indeed have the type that were being recalled. For at least a year I was getting recall notices.

Anyway, I don't remember how much replacement was, but I think it was much less than $4000 for a 4000 sq. ft. house. Definitely check with the sprinkler company to see if they'll cover you before you shell out the cash.