What you can and can't negotiate about after an inspection
C = Consideration
Consideration -- meaning dealing with people (the sellers) -- takes into account what they are thinking about the property.
Here’s an example: I frequently see houses with steep little staircases leading up to third floor bedrooms. Some have a head-banger at the bottom or the top for anyone over 5’6”. The stairs are grossly out of code in the municipality. They have been in use as bedrooms since the early 20th century; the sellers have lived there, happily, for 25 years.
If, after inspection, you tell the seller you want consideration -- meaning a price reduction -- you will generally be told to go pound sand. Why?
The seller thinks: Are you blind? Did you not notice this before you made the Offer? If you are so silly that you need and inspector to tell you those stairs are too steep, you are too silly to be a homeowner. Even worse, the seller may think: My two boys grew up in those bedrooms and they got used to it. Are you calling me a negligent parent?
Don’t expect to negotiate after inspection about unheated attic bedrooms, awkward or mismatched stair treads leading in or out of the house, short doorways, missing railings, short basement or attic rooms, or other odd additions/renovations that the current family has gotten used to. Set your Offer price accordingly; there is no recourse after home inspection.
In old houses, this applies to obviously outdated features like old bathrooms and kitchens, yesteryear’s decorating, fuse boxes (instead of circuit breakers), old windows. Don’t expect the seller to pay to improve the house to modern standards. You are on your own for regrading the yard, changing the insulation/ventilation to meet current norms, upgrading to more efficient heating, upgrading from a 60-amp electrical service panel, and/or adding 3-pronged outlets.
If you are paying for a house that has a total renovation and there’s still a 60-amp service panel, or a house with a brand-new kitchen without GFCI outlets that work, that is a different story. You have paid for the renovation and you should expect it to be right.
So what can you negotiate about?
The home inspector will be a wealth of information about things that are wrong with your house that a typical buyer, who is not a house-geek, would not know. (If you are a house geek, don’t tell the seller!)
These things are what sellers need to pay attention to because most buyers will object:
1. Termite or carpenter ant infestation. If there have been termites there and no treatment, most buyers require compensation. If there is structural termite damage, it is important to examine the extent of the damage (and the cost.)
2. Electrical: Rusted main service panels or knob and tube wiring found by the inspector.
3. Very old pipe fittings: Brass piping is beyond its life expectancy and is a leak waiting to happen. Lead main water lines are a no-no and steel water lines are often corroded or beginning to leak. Leaking cast-iron waste pipes (sometimes called a “sewer line.”) Your inspector knows what these looks like.
4. Active water leaks: A moisture meter can tell the inspector that there is an active roof leak, or a currently damp area in a finished basement. Drips from pipe fittings under sinks or under dishwashers, around the toilet base, shower or tub base also should be compensated. (Big leaks from broken pipes spray all over and can’t be ignored. You won’t see those on inspection. They are emergencies.)
5. Problems with ventilation of the heating system: voids in the liner of the chimney, lack of liner with deteriorated bricks, loose or badly fitted flues between the appliance and the chimney, chimney blockages from debris, bird’s nests or dead animals.
6. Radon readings over 4.0 pc/l.
7. Mold.
8. Asbestos that was not hanging all over the basement pipes where you should have seen it.
OK, your turn. What would you take off my list or add to it?
