Separate the report from the request — inspectors list dozens of items and most are minor. Address what is material: safety, structure, failing systems, water intrusion and anything undisclosed. Get your own contractor quotes rather than accepting the buyer's numbers.
More transactions collapse at this moment than any other, and almost always over how the conversation is handled rather than what the report actually found.
The inspection report arrives and the buyer sends a list. This is the moment more transactions collapse than any other, and almost always over how the conversation is handled rather than what the report found.
An inspection report on any property lists dozens of items, most of them minor and many of them normal for the age of the building. That is what inspectors do.
The report is not the request. A buyer who forwards forty items and asks for all of them has not read it properly, and a seller who reacts to the volume rather than the substance is responding to the wrong thing.
Work out which items are actually material: safety, structure, systems at failure, water intrusion, anything undisclosed. Then respond to those.
Repair before closing. The buyer gets a working property. The seller controls the contractor and the cost. It takes time and the buyer may not like the workmanship.
A credit at closing. The buyer handles it themselves. Faster and cleaner, though lenders sometimes limit the size of credits, so check before agreeing one.
A price reduction. Similar effect, different mechanics, and it changes the recorded sale price.
Decline. A legitimate response, particularly where the item is age-appropriate wear or was disclosed and priced in.
Most negotiations end in a combination: repair the things that must work, credit the rest.
Anything unsafe. Anything actively leaking. Systems that have failed rather than aged. Anything that was not disclosed and should have been.
That last one is the important category. A defect the seller knew about and did not disclose is a different conversation from one nobody knew about, and it is worth resolving quickly.
Age-appropriate wear on an older property. Items visible before the offer and reflected in the price. Cosmetic issues. Upgrades dressed as repairs — requests to replace something functional with something better.
A twenty-year-old roof with five years left is not a defect. It is a twenty-year-old roof, and the buyer could see that.
Sometimes the inspection is being used to reopen price rather than to address condition.
The signals are a very long list including trivial items, a demand well in excess of any sensible repair cost, and no contractor quotes supporting it.
The response is to ask for quotes and to address material items specifically. A buyer genuinely concerned about condition will engage with that. One looking for a discount will not.
Sellers should also weigh their alternative honestly. If the property would sell again quickly, holding firm is easy. If it took eight months to find this buyer, that changes the calculation.
Buyers: raise material items, support them with quotes, and ask for what you actually need. A short well-supported list gets a better response than a long one.
Sellers: get your own quotes rather than accepting the buyer's numbers. Estimates from a buyer's contractor are frequently higher than the work requires.
Both: keep it in writing and keep it specific. Vague requests produce vague responses and burn the goodwill a transaction needs to close.
Neither party benefits from a collapse at this stage. The buyer has spent money on inspections and lost weeks. The seller returns to market with a property that failed once, and buyers ask why.
Most of these negotiations are solvable. What sinks them is treating the list as an insult rather than as an opening position.
No. Inspection reports list dozens of items, most minor and many normal for the building's age. Address what is material — safety, structure, failed systems, water intrusion, and anything that was not disclosed.
Often, because it is faster and the buyer controls the work. Lenders sometimes limit the size of credits, so confirm before agreeing one. Most negotiations end with repairs for the essential items and a credit for the rest.
Age-appropriate wear, items visible before the offer and reflected in the price, cosmetic issues, and upgrade requests dressed as repairs. A twenty-year-old roof with life left is not a defect.
A very long list including trivial items, a demand well above any sensible repair cost, and no contractor quotes. Ask for quotes and address material items specifically — a genuine buyer engages with that.
Treating the list as an insult rather than an opening position. Neither party benefits from a collapse here, and most of these negotiations are solvable.
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