Demeron - you answered your own question. Counter with a couple grand knocked off for the electrical service if you think that is what is needed. If I may be so bold, you're P.O'd 'cause the write-up is petty and they didn't respect your time by leaving at a reasonable time.

They may be nice people but so what - it really doesn't matter. This is a financial transaction to both you and them. And they want to get the house for as little as possible.

If their offer is not what you are looking for - walk. Good luck.

I know how you feel. But we let our buyers know up front that we would only consider safety issues and we would not be nickled and dimed. Just remember that they are probably emotionally committed to the house and are unlikely to walk over a few grand. Figure out what you are willing to offer and stick with it. Their realtor should urge them to be reasonable.

We sold a house that was a lot cheaper and older then yours (80+ years, 90K). The buyers wanted permission to rip siding off the house to check an outside light (the people prior to us had it sided over when they sided the house, so probably 20 years ago), they wanted an extension to redo a radon test (I opened the house up as no one told me this test would be going on), they wanted some other small stuff (ummm helllllo this is an old house, priced to sell and it was listed five whole days when you offered to buy it) and we said "no" to everything. They then wanted to escrow money "in case" they needed to replace that outside line after close. We said "no". What part of "as is" did they not understand?

When we did our home inspection the inspector came up with a few things but nothing major. Ha! After we took down one basement wall we found the cracks - the inspector should have noticed how the finished walls were bowing due to movement. He could not have known about the cracks. He also missed a broken ceiling joist in the attic. Truthfully even if he had found those things we wouldn't have walked - the property was under priced and ready to sell.

I think your response will probably have a lot to do with your local market (seller, buyer, neutral), how much you can afford based on the offered purchase price, and how much you want to unload the place right now. Hot market with a small or no profit (as in our case) = no concessions.

We also had a huge inspection report on our 1958 little tract house (just sold for $575k net). I was really angry at first glance but upon reading through it saw that the inspector had just done a real CMA report. Almost every line said something about how a professional should be brought in to assess the wiring, the plumbing, the roof, the windows, etc.

Our house didn't have any safety or massive repair issues. Their requested repairs list was just laughable (new windows throughout, new wiring, I can't even remember it all). Our agent said it was ridiculous and blamed their agent, who also caused numerous other problems throughout the escrow process.

Our response (on advice of our agent) was that we'd fix the few things that really needed it and leave a $500 check for any other repairs they felt were needed. We ended up replacing a leaky disposal (started leaking after house went into contract) and a microwave that worked just fine before the inspector got there but magically quit working during the inspection ... ? and had a toilet reseated (was slightly loose but not leaking).

Plus the sales contract already included that we would pay for the first year of a home warranty, so they should feel somewhat safe.

If I were you, I'd offer to fix anything that was truly not working or was a safety issue, and some cash to fix anything else. $2k sounds like a lot to me on a $187k house - I'd offer less.

We always set a dollar amount that we're willing to cough up pending inspection. Usually in the area of $1200. The buyers then know we're willing to fix anything up to $1200, if it's over that amount, they have the opportunity to walk. We have never had an inspection catch anything costly, if there would have been anything costly we would have had to fix it before we sold the house I'm sure, but we've found that setting a dollar amount limit on repairs tells the buyers to choose wisely what they want fixed, no nickle and diming us at every opportunity, no 64 page inspection report.

I agree with all the others who have encouraged you to decide on an amount for a repair allowance and stick with it. If this is meant to be, it will happen.

My only other comment is that if I were a buyer, I'd be thrilled to have a super thorough inspection report. Don't get on these folks because their inspector is thorough. That's what they are paying him/her for.

Was the inspection report itself 16 pages, or was the buyer's response to the report 16 pages? 16 pages is not long for a report, but ridiculous for a response, ie., stuff they are asking to be repaired.

kec01, you're right - now that I'm a buyer, when I find a house I like I want a *very thorough* inspection report.

I think I'll be reasonable, though, on what to expect from an older house, and what to ask for from the seller.

Or maybe not - maybe I'll turn into the nightmare buyer!

I am only a first-time buyer (we close Monday) and even I know better than to pull something like that. A home inspection should be used for broken items and safety issues- not to request upgrades. I would maybe give them money to update the electrical, or perhaps even just tell them it's "as-is". If they knew going in the electrical needed updating, there's no reason you should pay for that.

The home we're buying will need a new roof and water heater probably within 2 years, but I wouldn't have dared bring those up. The house was built in 1930, and I wouldn't expect everything to be brand new.

The fact that they didn't respect your time is bothersome, too. They sound like a treat!

I just received a 24 page inspection report, but it wasn't that thorough, just many paragraphs recommending a professional inspect. Do I need tp pay an inspector to tell me that.
A careful review of the report didn't really show much, just many boiler plate phrases.

I'm guessing they are submitting it to see how much they can get out of you. The more things that looks like they need fixing the more a seller may be willing to give more money back. That is my guess on why they are doing it. I mean it never hurts to try. I personally wouldn't do it but it is business.

Demeron, did you have a disclosure with the electric needing upgrading? If so the buyers should have known about it. So even that seems like they are just trying to get something extra. I'm not sure how the disclosure works in your area, but in mine we have to sign off that we've seen it before having a contract. If that is how it works in your area too I wouldn't offer money back for items that is on the report and also in the disclosure. I would consider since it is in the disclosure the original offer should have taken that into account. However this all depends on how it works in your area.

lyfia is absolutely right. The buyer should have had your signed disclosure statement before making the offer and the offer would take any items that need repair into consideration. However, that doesn't stop people from asking and in a buyers market, you really have to weigh the benefit of giving into buyers demands versus holding firm. They are shooting for the moon with $5,000 - you can probably negotiate them down if their laundry list is ambitious.

Oh and 4 hours isn't unheard of because I have personally been at 4 hour inspections plenty of times. Thorough is good - it protects the seller also.

I would only fix the things that need to be fixed for a new buyer to consider buying your house.

The last house I sold, I fixed everything, repainted everything, replaced all flooring and carpet prior to listing.

The buyers inspector could not find anything really wrong, so the asked for professional carpet cleaning. My carpet was brand new and the house was empty since installation.

A new hot water heater, as the current one worked just fine, but was not new.

They wanted "professional" duct cleaning.

They wanted a "professional" roof inspection.

They wanted new windows, etc.

It had to be the buyers real estate agent making all this crap up, as they were first time home buyer and would not know to do this BS.

My reply was, I will add a new support to the outside stairs as requested and do nothing else, period. As others have said, only fix the safety issue, the rest of the house is "as is"

They accepted. I was ready to let them go, as my house was only on the market 8 days when their offer came in. The sale price was $137k, so there is no way I would offer a few thousand dollar to fix things, I would just get a new buyer.

It had to be the buyers real estate agent making all this crap up, as they were first time home buyer and would not know to do this BS.

I disagree, first time homebuyers have all kinds of well meaning friends and relatives giving them "advice" on how to get the best deal.

They also may be wanting out of the deal. We did this and it did make us look like jerks, but we were in a big hurry. And that's when people make mistakes. We had used our agent's standard form and didn't review it closely enough. We had left in the boilerplate phrase that the seller had the option to make repairs. The house had way too much wrong, but I couldn't have spotted these things without the inspection. We might have been willing to negotiate down in price, but with the wording on the form, that wasn't something the sellers had to do.

We needed them to tell us to take a royal hike, so we we drafted our letter to get that response. I'm sure they were totally insulted and they DID tell us politely that this deal wasn't going to work. Which was just what we needed.

No more canned real estate forms for us.

Gloria

Dem, if you recall with our house in NoNJ that we sold this summer, we fixed only the SAFETY related issues in the report, as well as a couple minor cosmetic issues (and by minor I mean by example - we put the shower door back on (we had removed it but kept it)). But I agree that you should definitely counter and say that you'll address all SAFETY issues and that's it.

Thanks all! Hey Jayn! To clarify, the response was 4 pp. I don't fault the inspector, though I still think 4.5 hours was a bit over the top particularly as our family had returned to the house. We responded by saying that we priced the house with original systems in mind (which is true-- we listed at 2K less than comps and we have a new all-wood- dovetailed-drawers type of kitchen with mostly new appliances, plus fancier landscaping than is usual for this price range). We are willing to go $2500 towards their concerns-- the electrical system probably should be updated, though it certainly has worked fine for the last 34 years. So we'll see what flies. I really want this to work but I am not going to turn out my pockets, you know? We found a buyer in one week the first time and 2 days the second... I really don't want to test my luck, but somebody's going to want it, somewhere down the line.

demeron, is old this spring the same home as yours+-..A 1970's bi-level,1900sf+-, 3 baths,3 brs upstairs,1 downstairs, updated in 90's kitchen all baths remodeled in 2000's, new landscaping,gunite pool and spa...mid 800's...the buyers asked for a new heating sytem,upgrade the electic, and several other things, we said no...They caved and bought anyways, with the condition i remove my 3000 dollar swingset, as they had their own!!!!

demeron, If you do not wish to fix anything on that list it is your choice.
The inspection can be long depending on the size of the house.
My daughter and her fiance are in the process of purchasing a home. They spent 3+ hours with the inspector. The house is small.
They have a several page report. I must add it was very informative for them to learn how to take care of the furnace etc. As young first time buyers this was valuable for them.
The house they are buying was listed slightly above assesment. A lucky find for them. It needs serious updating, but it has good bones. They feel fortunate as theirs was 1 of 5 offers on this house. They only asked the owners to fix 2 problems. One was a leak from the drain pipe in the basement and 2 electrical outlets that were not working.
Hope you find the right byer also.

On the house we just bought our inspection took longer than 4 hours (and there were 2 inspectors!). The report was long as well. The seller couldn't really complain about the inspector though as we chose to use the same inspector that the seller had used when buying the house a few years ago. And, really, most of the items on the report were trivial. The most expensive items was one that was actually only a few lines long. It was a large enough repair that if we had wanted out of the deal we could have demanded it be repaired and the sellers would likely have walked. As it was we wanted the house so we asked for a credit for some of the items and had done with it. Closed yesterday...

The average size home in good condition should take at MINIMUM two and half hours to inspect.

Bear in mind that most homes take longer than that to inspect properly and thoroughly....and at this point 3-4 hours has become the standard...espcially with the increase in the size of the homes.

The older the home, the larger the home, and the more issues the home has will only serve to increase that time.