topic Re: Let the Games Begin in Home

Let the Games Begin

Mistreatedbycs — Fri, 17 Jun 2016 02:00:34 GMT

Accepted offer on the house and now, they have "a list" of everything they want fixed and they are bringing in their own contractors to get an evaluation of what needs to be done and how much.

So what's the magic number for all of this to go away and let them think they won?

Re: Let the Games Begin

dex — Fri, 17 Jun 2016 02:13:12 GMT

You have to decide what you will accept and what you won't.We went through that same thing and we just agreed to a few of their demands snd refused on others.They are just hopeful that you will accept all but it is up to you.How much interest did you have in the house and how much does it mean to you to wrap this sale up quickly...did you get a good price with room to go ahead and do some of the repairs or do you want to wait it out..it's all a gambling game in some ways.

Re: Let the Games Begin

Ms X — Fri, 17 Jun 2016 02:42:12 GMT

I'm no expert, but I'd rather subtract $$$ off the price than do work. That way, you sell the house and they're responsible for making sure the job is done right.

Re: Let the Games Begin

GCR18 — Fri, 17 Jun 2016 02:51:45 GMT

I went through that when I sold my parents condo. We knew there were a number of condos in the complex for sale, knew it needed work and knew how much we paid a month to let it sit empty. I took $3k off the price. The buyer was happy as a clam.

I wouldn't fix anything. I think I'd offer what was reasonable. Like do you agree with everything they say is wrong and are you willing to let them walk. You could meet them in the middle too.

Re: Let the Games Begin

sandraskates — Fri, 17 Jun 2016 03:13:58 GMT

@Mistreatedbycs - that's pretty normal in a real estate selling transaction.

You can either fix it all, fix some of it, fix none of it and not give any discount (they may walk away)

OR fix none of it an knock some $ off the price.

Although you make less on the sale if you knock down the price, you're also not out of pocket for any repairs and the buyer's tax bill will be lower, which is attractive to some buyers.

See what they want first and how much it will cost.Your agent should help you through the repair negotiation process.

Good progress and I'm happy for you!!

(And I wouldn't look at this process as win / lose).

Re: Let the Games Begin

Mz iMac — Fri, 17 Jun 2016 03:26:52 GMT

To avoid "the list," why don't home sellers sell their house "as is?"

I wouldn't fix anything either.

Re: Let the Games Begin

klajfakj — Fri, 17 Jun 2016 07:42:29 GMT

Was the list presented at the time of accepting the offer? If not, I don't think you are obligated to honor it. I guess it all depends on how badly you want to sell and how expensive the repairs are. Also, why allow a contractor (their contractor) AFTER the acceptance? All this should have been done before not after.

When we sold my mothers house, we had an open house where peope could walk thru and see exactly what they were getting. Her house was old and needed electrical updates and plumbing updates. It was an OLD house but the location was highly sought after. We settled on a price with someone where all was discussed before accepting an offer all parties were pleased with. Bottom line, YOU must know the price YOU will be satisfied with and weigh it with how badly you want to sell.

Re: Let the Games Begin

Sooner — Fri, 17 Jun 2016 11:17:54 GMT

One thing to remember here: most real-estate contracts are easily broken by the buyer and there are LOTS of ways to get back their earnest money as well.

You need to take it on a case-by-case basis and determine what it worth to you to sell the property. Sometimes you have to eat your pride or eat what you are selling. It's up to you. The best thing is to not be emotional about it. It is business. It's about the numbers.

Re: Let the Games Begin

jackthebear — Fri, 17 Jun 2016 11:18:40 GMT

@Mistreatedbycs wrote:
Accepted offer on the house and now, they have "a list" of everything they want fixed and they are bringing in their own contractors to get an evaluation of what needs to be done and how much.

So what's the magic number for all of this to go away and let them think they won?

No idea, but did you get an inspection and have your agent negotiate this one,

too much drama for me

Re: Let the Games Begin

KingstonsMom — Fri, 17 Jun 2016 11:37:31 GMT

@klajfakj wrote:
Was the list presented at the time of accepting the offer? If not, I don't think you are obligated to honor it. I guess it all depends on how badly you want to sell and how expensive the repairs are. Also, why allow a contractor (their contractor) AFTER the acceptance? All this should have been done before not after.
When we sold my mothers house, we had an open house where peope could walk thru and see exactly what they were getting. Her house was old and needed electrical updates and plumbing updates. It was an OLD house but the location was highly sought after. We settled on a price with someone where all was discussed before accepting an offer all parties were pleased with. Bottom line, YOU must know the price YOU will be satisfied with and weigh it with how badly you want to sell.

After many years of working for our Assoc. of Realtors, I agree that any 'punch list' for repairs/updates should have been negotiated when the offer/contract was presented.

If repairs/updates were not a condition of this offer/contract, then the sale is presumably 'as is' and you have no contractual obligation to repair/replace anything.

Re: Let the Games Begin

panda1234 — Fri, 17 Jun 2016 11:42:12 GMT

@Ms X wrote:
I'm no expert, but I'd rather subtract $$$ off the price than do work. That way, you sell the house and they're responsible for making sure the job is done right.

Excellent advice.

Re: Let the Games Begin

3suwm5 — Fri, 17 Jun 2016 16:31:52 GMT

Are you working with a Realtor, guess I'm late to the game here. If so, they should be able to advise you on what their realtor has suggested the buyers may go for.

We had the same thing, apparently our 'list' had somewhere in the 20's of items needing fixing. They came in with such a low ball offer, I thought my husband's head would explode. The buyers knew we were moving out of town, so all bets were off for us.

The buyers came back with wanting only a few things fixed and our realtor suggested we tell them we need these $$ to accept the deal. They did.

Hope this helps, good luck!!

I hate buying a house anymore because I always think about the sale down the road. Maybe that's a negative attitude, but we have been to this dance so many times I just hate to think about the music starting.

Re: Let the Games Begin

151949 — Fri, 17 Jun 2016 19:02:36 GMT

Our buyers came back with an 8 page report from inspection. We simply said no thanks we will find another buyer and miraculously they found they could get by with just a few small items fixed. Of course they wanted money off the price for them but my DH said we would fix them all. We had everything on their list done - they complained they wanted a new stopper in the BR sink which required a whole new faucett - we had the plumber do that - he used all plastic so I'm sure that probably didn't last long. They said the toilet wobbled and the plumber said ALL toilets wobbled if shaken hard - he stuck a shim under one side. We did have to have a upgrade to the electric on the heat pump because the law was changed since the house was built so we got an electrician to do that, and the inspector saw one carpenter ant out in the yard so they made us get the entire house sprayed and we had terminix come do that. All in all we paid about $800 and they had wanted $2500 knocked off the price. In fact , this is just all about people trying to get the price lowered. Our buyers were shocked when we said we would get everything fixed. it was a pain in the neck and we had to have documentation of every repair at the closing.

Re: Let the Games Begin

Mistreatedbycs — Fri, 17 Jun 2016 19:57:22 GMT

Offer presented, then we countered, they accepted...

then the Home Inspection report.....

it's an older home with updates I made but not everything...

buyer came back with a "short list" of 5 items which is now down to 3 for which one of the 3 I just agreed to pay for....pending the cost on the other 2 items I might say "no" or "some" but I wish someone would of told me I would need to make some concessions afterwards...I would of thought they saw and that's what they are getting....this is more stressful than buying a car.

On the item from today, I'm going to let them deal with it, it's going to take a lot of my time and coordinating everything, they can deal with it and get it fixed and then i won't have to worry about transferring anything in their name.

Re: Let the Games Begin

Snowpuppy — Fri, 17 Jun 2016 21:28:05 GMT

@panda1234 wrote:
@Ms X wrote:
I'm no expert, but I'd rather subtract $$$ off the price than do work. That way, you sell the house and they're responsible for making sure the job is done right.
Excellent advice.

ITA.

I was under contract as the purchaser and one major issue showed up. Seller said no problem, we'll fix it.

They sure did fix it. Themselves. Without taking out a permit from the city. I backed out. Lost my deposit but better safe than sorry.

Re: Let the Games Begin

Mominohio — Sat, 18 Jun 2016 02:42:19 GMT

@Ms X wrote:
I'm no expert, but I'd rather subtract $$$ off the price than do work. That way, you sell the house and they're responsible for making sure the job is done right.

Yep, this is it.

I guess the market is different in various areas, but I have never experienced this thing of people thinking the seller is going to fix/remodel/rebuild a house once on the market.

It is listed as is, negotiate a price, sell it as is for that price, and let the buyers do as they wish.

This whole mess of buyers demanding things be changed, remodeled, repaired makes no sense to me. Offer a price with the desired changes in mind and see if the seller will bite. If not move on down the road.

Re: Let the Games Begin

151949 — Sat, 18 Jun 2016 10:38:38 GMT

@Mz iMac wrote:
To avoid "the list," why don't home sellers sell their house "as is?"

I wouldn't fix anything either.

Because when you sell a house as is you get much lower offers. I knew my parents home needed a lot of repairs so I sold it as is and took the lower money but if you have a house in reasonable repair you are going to hurt yourself financially.

Re: Let the Games Begin

151949 — Sat, 18 Jun 2016 10:43:38 GMT

@klajfakj The normal course of events is that they make an offer that has a clause which says it depends upon inspection and you accept. They get the inspection done and give you a list of repairs then the negioting over those repairs begins. The seller can have the repairs done professionally and show up at the final inspection on the day of closing with receipts from all the contractors he hired to do the work or they knock some money off the price of the house for the cost of those repairs.It's all negiotiable.

Re: Let the Games Begin

riley1 — Sat, 18 Jun 2016 13:21:23 GMT

Once we got a list from the inspection we double checked it. Make sure you have read it carefully. They had things checked that we never had to begin with in the house/garage and weren't required to have. For instance, the backsteps should be x" wide and ours were x" wide - well, when the house was built 35 yrs ago that was code and we weren't changing them.

As our house was maintained and updated along the way so the inspection was not so bad. Some of it was nit picking I think to see what they could get. We did fix a few things and that was it. They also wanted a new roof! We told them if we replaced the roof (which there was nothing wrong with) we would stay in the house! LOL

Use common sense on what you are willing to repair and how much you are willing to put into the house.

Re: Let the Games Begin

151949 — Sat, 18 Jun 2016 13:47:53 GMT

@riley1 wrote:
Once we got a list from the inspection we double checked it. Make sure you have read it carefully. They had things checked that we never had to begin with in the house/garage and weren't required to have. For instance, the backsteps should be x" wide and ours were x" wide - well, when the house was built 35 yrs ago that was code and we weren't changing them.

As our house was maintained and updated along the way so the inspection was not so bad. Some of it was nit picking I think to see what they could get. We did fix a few things and that was it. They also wanted a new roof! We told them if we replaced the roof (which there was nothing wrong with) we would stay in the house! LOL

Use common sense on what you are willing to repair and how much you are willing to put into the house.

I agree - we got 8 pages of tiny little nit picky things. The only significant item was the code had changed since the house was built on the size of a cord to the heat pump and we did have to get an electrician to replace that. however , our electrician charged us $500 and the one they had an estimate from wanted something like $1800.

I don't think you can do these repairs yourself as we were required to bring documentation from the companies that did the fixes like the plumber and the electrician and the company that sprayed for ants to the closing.