Well... you could try using the inspection to lower your offer by $500-$1,000 (don't let them do the painting - you want your own contractor if you don't do it yourself) but discuss it with the RE agent first and see what they say. I must say that if that's all that the inspector came up with you're way ahead of the game - most of us routinely get a long list of real structural fixes that need doing, often whole systems like plumbing, elect., roof, etc.). I've never heard of paint as being an inspection issue myself, but if it's extensive you do have a right to complain, I guess, however you said you couldn't prove it wasn't like that before, so consider carefully what you complain about.

Well, this is an apartment, so it's unlikely to have structural issues. Remember, this is the final inspection, not an initial house inspection.

Thadine, best I can say is to ask if they have paint left so you can fix it. Stuff happens, although we tried not to damage walls, I know I left a pretty big gouge in the master from moving. By the time I saw it, it was after the mover was there, walk through was done. All of our paint was already loaded in the truck.

I didn't leave paint because the buyers never expressed an interest in it. I'm sure they saw it all in one closet. Had they wanted it, I would have left it. I do know every color so if they really wanted to know they could get ahold of my agent.

If they do not have paint, ask if they know what shade it is and where they bought it. Very easy to get a paint card & match it.

Stuff happens when you move, and gouges are pretty easy to fix. Patching, priming and touch up paint may be all that is needed, depending on the type of paint.

Paint peeling from the wall would worry me somewhat. Maybe it happened in the home, in which case it is an easy fix, but it could be caused by moisure behind the wall, bad prep work when the wall was painted, or maybe cheap paint.

As for handling it, talk to your real estate agent. Even if the wall damage was there when you viewed the condo, you can still raise it now and see what they say. At this stage, it is in the sellers' best interest to resolve in amicably and now mess up the closing.

What did your agent say when you did your walk-through? He/she is really the one you want to guide you on this. Seriously, though--if it's just a bit of paint that needs redoing, I'd NEVER make an issue of that. It's a very minor thing, and only costs a few $$$ to fix. You don't want to make a fuss and create bad feelings over something like that at closing. If you told me that they'd left holes in the wall, or the toilet was overflowing--that's different. But a few scratches in the paint? All houses have those--they come from living.

Look, I know you want your new place to be perfect, but this isn't the hill you want to die on, so to speak.

Good luck with the closing--hope my walk-through, in 3 weeks is as positive as yours was. If all I see is a few dings in the paint, I'll be absolutely delighted and happy for the sale to go through (and I'm certainly not expecting anything worse--our sellers obviously keep their house in impeccable condition.)

I've moved a lot in the last four years and I've never "gouged" a wall, or peeled any paint. At worse, I've scuffed the door frames.

See if you can get a painter to come to the walkthrough tomorrow and give you an estimate just for those two walls. (Don't try to get the whole place repainted even if you can't match the colors exactly.)

Take this estimate with you to the closing and ask for the money off. You are in a position of incredible power right now with the sellers already moved out. (I'm a seller now so I'm not advocating being a monster, but gouging walls isn't acceptable. A landlord would make them pay for it.)

many, if not most, people tend to repaint to their tastes when they move in anyway. that is not an excuse, just stating a fact.

PROPERLY DONE paint won't "peel" from soemthign scraping it. i have a feeling someone slapped up a coat of paint at some time in teh past without proper prep and that is causing the peeling. this is a very minor issue that you can take care of yourself. scrape all of it off that removes easily, prime, then repaint.

Ugh, don't even get me started on the agent... Remember, he's not MY agent, he's the seller's agent. I don't know about the US (I'm in Australia) but over here, the final inspection is meant to be done on a vacant property. When I got there, the owners were in the process of moving (had the moving truck there and everything). I told him it was a total waste of my time - if they weren't ready for the inspection, it shouldn't have been organised yet. So I have to go back again tomorrow for the official one. (Sorry for the tone, I'm just really annoyed about this whole thing. It takes me over an hour to drive out there, and when I got there, the agent wasn't even there).

Do you have your own agent?
As for final walk throughs, they are done differently depending on where you live. In some states you should be out in others closing happens a day or so before the sellers leave.

I've posted our story about how our buyer ended up changing their mind all of the time on things that were found on the inspection. One minute they were fine with estimates, then they wanted it fixed then wanted cash. The Friday before we moved my agent called after business close (national holiday) saying once again buyers changed their mind. When our movers came Tuesday I had no clue if we were even closing. Our mover was done 30 minutes after their final walk through but the house was cleaned out enough that they could see everything. I did my best to get everything scheduled but we had no real closing date until a week before closing, plus trying to close on our new house the same day, my head was spinning.

My "gouge" happened with a stack of plastic containers IIRC. They slipped out of my hands, then fell against something that was near the wall. Since our room was painted a taupe, it looked worst then what it was.

Can you bring a camera tomorrow to take pictures of the damage? Maybe you should get an inspector out to make sure the peeling paint isn't anything serious or ask for money to be held in escrow in case it is serious.

How have you been as a buyer? Were there things wrong on inspection and did you ask them to get fixed? Do you think the sellers damaged the walls for spite?

Is this an apartment you are buying? Be sure and take lots of pictures of the damage and ask for an adjustment. Yes paint is expensive and sometime certain colors are hard to cover also. Do you have your own agent? Obivously the seller's agent isn't going to do you any favors. Just don't sign the final papers until you are completly satisified. I know this sound harsh, but maybe because you are from another country, he/she is trying to take advantage of you. Hang in there.

Yes, this is an apartment.

I went today for the (final?) final inspection. I tried to keep a more open mind, and brought along my friend who is more experience in property than I am, to give me his opinion on whether the damage was significant or not. My mood wasn't helped by the agent showing up half an hour late (no surprise), walking into the apartment and discovering it filled with trash, including a sink full of garbage (banana skins, egg shells etc) Anyway, on closer inspection, looks like the paint damage was actually caused by a really lousy paint job (probably done by themselves) onto which they had stuck posters with double sided tape. I guess the paint peeled off when they ripped the posters off. I decided not to pursue the paint issue, because of other stuff I found they had "left behind". Namely, there was some dodgy illegal construction they had done (it's hard to explain) which I had been repeatedly assured would be removed when they left. It wasn't, and for me to get it removed would cost several thousand dollars (it's a big metal frame that needs to be dismantled and disposed of). I think since this was something that had most definitely come up before, it is reasonable for me to expect it to be gone.

Regarding whether I've been a "difficult" buyer... it's hard to say. Of course from my perspective, I haven't been, but perhaps to them, I have. The building inspections etc were all fine, and I never asked them to do any repairs (apart from removing the afore mentioned structure). The only point of contention was that they had advertised the place as having two car spaces, but when I investigated, I discovered the apartment only has 1. The other space was actually common property that they had marked and were using! Obviously this is wrong, but to people who don't see anything wrong with claiming property that doesn't belong to them, painting over it and marking it as their own, I can see that they wouldn't understand my objection. At any rate, it wouldn't surprise me if there is a certain amount of deliberate spite in the condition they have left the place to me

Stand your ground and don't close until your conditions are met.