Home Inspections
Negotiations:
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Your inspector will send the reports to you and should also copy your attorney and Realtor. You will review the reports with your attorney to discuss the issues, if any, that would be appropriate to ask the sellers to remedy prior to closing.
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Your attorney will send copies of the reports to the seller’s attorney along with a list of your repair demands. The seller’s response could be that they will address all of the requests, none of the requests, or something in between. There will be negotiations and, hopefully, a mutually acceptable agreement, which could include repairs or credits in lieu of repairs.
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If serious defects are found, and if the seller refuses to address the defects, the buyer may have the right to cancel the Contract with the return of any down payment.
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In some cases the parties may agree upon monetary credits in lieu of actual repairs. This could be advantageous to both parties. Such credits must be approved by the buyer’s mortgage lender. There will be specific rules regarding whether credits are allowed and, if so, how large they may be.
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When purchasing an “As-Is” property, the buyer is still entitled to the usual home inspections and to object if serious defects are found. The seller is not legally obligated to make the repair, but the buyer will nevertheless have the right to cancel the Contract if the seller refuses.
