After a home inspection, what kind of reduction is a buyer entitled to?
Question Details:
There are no defects on the condition report only recommendations. The buyer wants me to reduce the price another $14,000 due to items she feels will need to be done. Can she legally get out of the contract? The roof has 2 to 3 years left and there are no leaks, the furnace is old but there are no defects, city water is coming but she signed the condition report noting this fact, the stove is being thrown in but she wants it replaced, the basement laundry tub has a small leak but is a minor repair and she wants it replaced. All items total $23,260 according to her. What is legal?
You need to have a real estate attorney review your contract of sale to answer this. There is no general right to either get out of a sale or get a reduction in price owing to a home inspection--for example, people can and do buy homes "as is" (as in most short sales) without any recourse for inspection flaws. If there is an inspection contingency of some kind in your contract, that may require a price reduction and/or allow the buyer out of the deal--but it depends on what the contract says. There is no way to answer in the abstract.
Note also that even if an inspection clause gives the buyer some rights to get out of a deal:
1) You can still negotiate--you can offer less and take the risk the buyer walks away.
2) You can often make the repairs yourself--so if you get them done more cheaply, you pocket the savings
3) You can certainly come up with other quotes for the repairs and use them as the basis for negotiations, if you think the buyer's quotes are inflated.
