Hands On The Heartland
Checking The Pulse Of The Kansas City Real Estate Market

Getting a Kansas City home buyer and home seller to come to terms on a Resolution to the home inspection process can be a daunting task at times. Usually the home inspections I’m involved with – whether representing the buyer or  representing the seller – go just fine. But there’s that 1 out of 10 that seems to get off track. Either the home inspector is an alarmist or would rather cover his butt by calling for three additional inspections by “licensed professionals”, or a buyer or seller have an unrealistic outlook. I ALWAYS take the time to explain to my sellers up front that they’re going to have to open their wallet if a buyer’s inspector finds major structural or mechanical issues with the home — oh, and if a radon test comes in above a 4.0, it’s going to cost the seller upwards of $1,000 to mitigate the radon to below a 4.0 reading. Simply explaining this up front allows a seller to somewhat factor in the possibilities during the original contract negotiations. When representing a buyer, I tell them that they can absolutely ask for every item on the report to be repaired, but the seller has the right to tell them to stick it… well, you know.

Kansas City Home Inspections

Nothing can make an inspection negotiation go haywire like a buyer asking a seller to replace something trivial — like a $1 broken door stop. Yes, I’ve seen that happen. Or how about tightening up a loose towel bar.  I nearly had a deal fall apart over just that. You can’t predict such things and just have to roll with the punches when it happens. To prepare both buyers and sellers, I advise up front that a buyer can ask a seller to correct all, some or none of the items on an inspection report. The seller can of course respond by agreeing to fix all, some or none of the items requested. It’s a complete renegotiation.

I’m also a firm believer that a buyer should never ask for something to be corrected that was blatantly obvious PRIOR to the home going under contract. If the driveway is cracked that should have been factored into the original contract negotiations! Another good example is a mini-retaining wall on a split level home I recently sold. The wall was leaning out  slightly and certainly wasn’t in perfect condition. But anyone with any kind of decent eyesight could see this wall was leaning because it was right in front of you as you walk up to the stairs leading to the front door. Well the inspector properly noted it on his report, as he should have. The problem was when the buyer decided  the seller should pony up to rebuild the wall. Without giving you too much details, I’ll just say the neither myself nor the seller were having any part of that scenario and the buyer quickly backed off.

Posted by Jason A. Brown

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