Many buyers see the home inspection as another tool in the negotiation of price. Just say no. And that home inspector should know better.

It's not FHA or VA financing. And the 63 items were what they REQUESTED be fixed. The inspector noted probably 100 things. It was insane. We understand the electrical things and several things in the attic, but 'closet door doesn't catch on first try' is insane. It's a 52 year old house. When we bought the house believe me our inspector didn't write all of that kind of stuff on there.

i understand it is the inspectors job not to miss big things but there should be a box for normal wear and tear. 'Clean gutters' my ass. The gutters will need it again before close bc of spring storms. NO. There has to be a limit. The little stuff was so overwhelming we can't even find or process the big stuff.

That's hilarious! 63?? Ha ha .

The only response from me in cases like that is a flat $500 or maybe $250 for "in lieu of repairs". Period. No sense continuing with that nonsense with irrational people. Throw a little money at them.

You can only imagine that if you do fix all of these issues, they will argue that it was not fixed to their specifications.

As much as it may be tempting to tell these people to pound sand, you've got a fish on the line, just not hooked. Now that we have a little more information, I would suggest giving them a $500 credit and do one or two easy items that won't bother you too much to do. While you don't want to lose a potential buyer, there is a limit to your time and patience. A few dollars, and I emphasize a few dollars should satisfy them. If not, send them on their way.

Unfortunately for you, now that you have been advised of some of the items, the health and safety items, you will need to fix those for the next buyer. If the next buyer wants to be pissy and sue you, this inspection report will be fair game to use. That's why you never want to see the entire report, just the items they want addressed.

Give them a few dollars, and try to move forward. Try to remind yourself it's business and not friendship. It's hard not to take it personally.

It won't let me edit,

At the bottom of the original post, you should see an Edit button in there in the line with the facebook share button, Email, Bookmark, etc. if you are the thread originator.

Agreed. You NEVER want the report, but rather just a list of requested repairs. These Realtors typically ignore that though and send you the whole thing.

Further to my post just now, it does seem that the editing function isn't working at the moment. I can't even update my previous post at the moment. Try it later.

ETA Seems to be working now.

If there's something significant/important I'd tell them you'll do that and that you will not do the rest of the insignificant stuff. I just sold a 40+ year old home and was not asked to do anything after the inspection. I just bought a house and the only thing I asked them to do was get the pull down ladder to the garage attic operational. I did buy a second home last year that had a leaking water heater and a rotting exterior door. I asked to have those items replaced which the seller did with no objection. I'm not a first time home buyer though and I know not to expect perfection when I buy a used house.

Well, we met with our realtor, cussed a lot, and agreed to do a bunch of ticky tacky crap, fix the electrical things, etc. We did not mention the sewer pipes, but we did tell him that we would consider having them scraped and treated but not replaced, since there is not actually a problem with the lines.

I think you're being smart. I know it's beyond annoying, but I bet you'd like to close the sale and move on too.

They sound like the buyers of my last house, except that was an older couple. I wanted to walk, DH didn't even after finding ouy there was a young couple with children (the kind of family our home and play structure were best suited for) who really wanted the house but would not make a bid with one pending. DH wouldn't walk without another offer actually pending but the couple was afraid of a bidding war. We weren't looking for a battle -- just an escape valve. So we were stuck with craggy, cranky old buyers who asked for a lot of similar stupid things.

They listed replace all light bulbs -- not any that had burnt out during showings since we moved out (there were two -- DH replaced them). It was infuriating. We did a few little things and told them no on the rest. Then again on the final walk through. We left an accessory for the play structure we had not installed in the garage cabinet (they had grandchildren who would be spending time there), some touch up paint from the last 2 years in the cabinet, and an interior door we had removed, carpet for repairs and some of the hardwood left by the previous buyers in the attic space above the garage. They told us to remove all the "garbage". We had our agent explain what they hadn't bothered to even look at and why they might want us to leave it. We should have thrown it out.

We wrote into our last contract that only Immediate safety and structural integrity concerns id'd in the inspection would be considered to be addressed post inspection.

Nightowl - I like that idea. Did you get any potential buyers that were turned off by including that language?

We're getting ready to list our pretty much completely remodeled home (to move into another fixer upper where we asked for absolutely no repairs). I might talk to our agent about including similar language when the time comes to sell.

Since we've already spent so much time and money on using quality materials and workmanship for upgrading this house I think I'd have a hard time with a picky buyer asking for so many minor fixes, especially for things that don't need fixing.

Nightowl, that was genius, because this little ticky tacky stuff is exhausting. We agreed to do a bunch of little stuff and have the plumber here now. He said that 2 things on his list that report not being up to code ARE up to code. He is writing a report. So we paid 15 min of a plumber's time (not cheap) on nothing.

Also, they want a lot of 'rotten' wood replaced. We took the photos from the report and one is a tiny brown leaf on the wood, we just knocked it off. There are several areas that were mentioned as rotting that were replaced a year ago that my husband needed to have put another coat of paint on. We have called our realtor to come over and make sure we are working on the right 'rotten wood'.

So stupid.

Pennie, I've come to the conclusion that not every inspector 'graduated at the top of his class'. With my house, under immediate safety and mechanical concerns, noted was safety glass required on the semi enclosed front porch, and back up electric furnace to the heat pump not operational. The porch was safety glass, he didn't notice I'd had wooden grids tacked on to the inside to visually break up the big expanse of glass, purely cosmetic touch. He didn't know how to operate the computerized thermostat to the furnace to turn it on. I paid $189.95 to have the heating air inspected and a report written to satisfy the buyer.

We laughed though at the inspection report when we sold mothers home, the inspector had called out a 'faulty outlet' in the master that was a safety hazard. It wasn't an outlet at all, of course you couldn't plug anything into it. It was a little jewelry cubby/safe disguised to look like an outlet, and - I had already put a p-touch label on it indicating that, if he had only bent down low enough to read....

I'm showing that one to my husband Morz8. It made me feel better.

We had an inspector flag a home we were selling for having a lead hazard -- from a "stained glass" window. The only problem was that it was a window cling decal with plastic "leading" around it! He also wrote up that our hardwood floors should be refinished. They were "distressed" vinyl planks! When our realtor brought this up, the buyers agent said that we needed to "fix" these things for the FHA loan the buyers needed. Sorry, window clings and vinyl tile are not a problem for FHA loan.

Pennie, morz8 and loonlake, we had some of those items where the inspector just didn't know what he ws looking at and didn't care enough to focus his eyes or whatever when we sold my dad's last house. My dad agreed to several items, but we were able to walk the buyers through why most of the items didn't require anything. Unlike my last buyers, his were pretty reasonable about it. I really don't think those goofballs should be allowed to pass as inspectors.

The inspector who came to inspect our condo wrote in the report that the hose line (I can't recall the exact name) from the dishwasher to the sink needed to be looped above because there was the possibility of sewer backup if we didn't. We were on the 8th floor of a high rise condo. No chance of sewer backup up to the 8th floor!

Obviously we told the buyer we were not fixing that.

I had a "buyer" ask to have two outlet covers replaced because the screw had been tightened too much and the plastic cracked - not broken just cracked. What makes it more amazing is that these outlets were in the garage.

The icing on the cake is that she was renting the house from me, not buying it...........

Actually my DW was only 6 years old, a top of the line KA and up to code and per our building super, we were fine.

I have to agree with Salti. The drain 'high loop' is a pretty standard way to install a dishwasher and the inspector pointing that out is probably a good thing.

Maybe there is something abnormal about your dishwasher that didn't require it or maybe your building super was actually the mistaken one.

Google search for dishwasher drain installation

That stupid dw drain loop was on ours too. # 47! I was mad bc it was installed 2 years ago by Sears. It should have been done then. We had a plumber come yesterday and do a few things (some he couldn't even find the problem) and he did the loop in about 3 min. Cost $175.

Oddly the things we knew were kind of shaky and we might have to fix the inspector didn't find. Dumb. Also they wrote our 11 year-old whirlpool refrigerator in the contract. We said fine bc the water doesn't work on the door and it's old and we were going to replace. I asked our realtor if we should tell them about the water and he said, "let's let them find it". Well they haven't found it yet. Should we tell them? I'm not fixing it!

There are exceptions to every rule. My Bosch dishwasher is NOT be installed with a loop. I don't expect every inspector to know this because many plumbers haven't read the instructions, either. I found out about it at the appliance forum. I read the installation manual and my plumber confirmed it. Sometimes you have to educate the buyer.

Some dishwashers come out of the box with a drain loop on the side of the machine. This does not satisfy The Uniform Plumbing Code requirements, however it may work in other jurisdictions. The Uniform Plumbing Code, however, does not apply in all states and some states actually adopt it and modify it.

In this case, as an example, California has adopted this section of the code and modified it. The end result, as I understand it, the loop I cited as a requirement of the Uniform State code is indeed not required.

As I said to cpartist, "I apologize if I gave the impression that I knew what your code requirements are or that I knew anything about your installation." Of course all of us should satisfy their local code. I was not trying to hi-jack this thread and have it morph into the DW drain loop thread. In most jurisdictions the loop is in fact required and Bosch is not identified as being exempt.

Here Bosch and others answer the question as to the need for a loop at the sink:

DW Drain Loop

I have deleted my previous related posts. I now sincerely apologize to the OP.

I learn something new everyday on this forum!

Did they ask for the new light bulbs to be LED bulbs, or can you find some ancient 60-watt incandescents to leave behind? :)

Hey, 60w incandescents are collectors items. I wouldn't leave those behind, specially any candelabra type ones, which I'm collecting and hoarding!!! ;-)

If I were to leave light bulbs at all I would leave them with the dimmest fluorescents I can find, like they have in hotel rooms today. I swear they're 25 watt equivalents.

I stocked up on 100w, 60w, etc. Problem is, I switched virtually all lights to fluorescent or LED. lol

In my experience, many home buyers have no idea on how to maintain a home or what constitutes a significant defect (although most folks should be able figure out light bulbs). They get an inspection report -- which may have been done by a competent inspector or by a hack -- which they have no skill to evaluate. Then they ask for everything to be fixed because...why not? And then, of course, there are many who simply want to use the report to try to wear the buyer down on price.

I will put up with doing legitimate fixes, but, when it gets out of hand or is just a power trip, I'm done humoring them.

We went through about the same thing as you when we sold in 2014. They asked for the exact type of things as you listed. The only sort of unreasonable thing we let them get away with was we paid for the septic to be pumped out even though there was zero issues with the septic and we had it pumped 3 years earlier, as scheduled for routine maintenance. They've never had a septic before and were "nervous" about it backing up. The majority of the things on their list we just wrote "cosmetic" beside and didn't address it further. They ended up buying and were very nice at the closing. People? What are you going to do? They're probably just trying to renegotiate. Don't let it get to you and stay strong.

I believe some folks have posted here that in some jurisdictions there is a requirement as a condition of sale that the septic tank be pumped within a specified period of time.

Salti is right, when we lived in MA they have Title V (if I remember correctly) that mandates that a septic has to be inspected (by a certified company), and I think pumped, when a house sells. Sellers will sometimes find out that they have a failing septic and have to replace it at a cost of $20K - 50K.

Sounds like a scam to me... $50,000 for a septic field?

We had pumped our tank 15 months before the sale. When we went to pump for the sale, we found that our leach field was failing. That alone was more that $13500 plus the permit and inspections from the county and then the re-pump.

ncrealestateguy, those were some numbers I heard in cases that the old septic failed and the small lot and new regulations forced the owners to have to have some special replacement septic system installed. Not common, but it does happen.

Found a link that discusses Title V in MA and they list the replacement range at $25k - $40K, so my memory wasn't too far off.
http://massrealestatelawblog.com/tag/massachusetts-new-septic-system/

My 7 year old 4 bedroom septic, 25% reduction field, was only $6500. I did not have to rip out an existing field, but those #s sound crazy. Thanks for the link, chispa. It's no wonder 90% of my clients are people relocating from the NorthEast. I ask every buyer the reason why they are moving. They almost all say the same thing... weather and taxes.

Sorry to hijack the thread, OP

Sounds like a scam to me... $50,000 for a septic field?

$50,000 is more than I paid for my first home ;-) Two bed, single bath 1,150 sq ft bungalow in a good neighborhood.

It's not 1975 anymore.

"$50,000 is more than I paid for my first home ;-) Two bed, single bath 1,150 sq ft bungalow in a good neighborhood."

And I paid more for a Beef Tenderloin today then I did for my first car.

SaltiDawg-

Ok...I'll bite: was that a very big beef tenderloin or a model T Ford with 100,000 miles on it? :-)

I saw one for about 160 bucks this past December.

My first car that was not mom's hand me down was a 74 Chevy Nova I paid 200 bucks for in 1982.

I thought what most people do for "fixes" is maybe take some money off the asking price. You should never had to rebuild a house to please the home buyer. As my husband always said..."you have to be able to use your imagination, and picture the changes you can make, to make the house to your tastes. People have gotten spoiled by watching all those TV home buying shows, where those stupid realtors go into a house and tell the owners, well if you'll remodel the bathroom and the kitchen and the fireplace and the floors etc...it will sell really fast. Heck, if I do all that, I'm STAYING!!! So dumb & unrealistic. (and expensive).

RE: Septic systems.

We set our modular in 2002 and the total cost for both the well and septic system was $7500. When we last had the tank pumped I was talking to the guys working and we were discussing the state regulations put in place since that time, and he told me that if they were to build the exact same system I have today the cost would be "somewhere between $25K and 30K".

And that is the #1 reason why so many people are fleeing the North Eastern states. Too many regulations that artificially push up the cost of living. I can bet that out of that $40,000, the government gets a large chunk of it now.

I can bet that out of that $40,000, the government gets a large chunk of it now.

Yep, between permits and engineering reviews and inspection fees, regulatory departments have become governmental profit centers.

It started as "don't worry about the cost of this new proposed department, we won't raise your taxes, we'll fund it with user fees." So Joe Taxpayer feels ok, because hey, the department is going to regulate something which will keep me safe. And it won't cost me anything.

So Joe Plumber pays the user fees. So he has to raise his rates, so Joe Taxpayer now pays more for plumbing. But hey, at least his taxes didn't go up. :-/

Ok...I'll bite: was that a very big beef tenderloin or a model T Ford with 100,000 miles on it? :-)

1950 Ford. $50 in 1963.

Tendeloin - two butt ends. ~ $10/lb at Ft Meade Commissary. ~$70

Ok...when should I come over for the BBQ and a ride in the car?

Car was mine only in the early 60s. lol

My wife takes the whole Tenderloin (or two butt end pieces) and trims off excess fat. Cuts it up to make a couple of roasts (for 2 people) and also cuts some steaks. With the "scraps" she grounds them up for Steak Burgers.

She freezes it all. Costco sometimes has some good buys, but I do our grocery shopping at a Military Commissary almost exclusively.