Let's be frank about the realities of selling a home in Ucluelet; a home inspection is common practice in home sales, and any honest home inspector will likely find some existing issue or another with your home.
This is normal.
No home is perfect, so that is not the concern when it comes to selling your home. However, the manner in which you handle the negotiations that follow can make all the difference on how easy the selling process will be.
Until money has exchanged hands, the home sale is not final, and the last thing that you want is a prolonged home inspection negotiation. It surely is one of our least favourite aspects of a real estate transaction, however it is inevitable. This is why we would like to help you be prepared!
Before the negotiations even begin, we urge you to prepare for the home inspection well before it has even been requested. Taking care of the sometimes over-looked issues can be quick and easy and will significantly reduce the amount of friction during negotiations.
The purpose of a home inspection is to find major defects that would cause a buyer not to want to make the purchase, or would need to be repaired before the home is safe and ready to move into. Buying and selling is about being reasonable, and as a home seller you might run into buyers who use the home inspection as a way to re-negotiate the contract, but this is not what a home inspection is about.
Any issues that were pointed out in the contract preceding the home inspection are not grounds for re-negotiation. Only issues that are found and reported on the day of inspection. Sometimes buyers will use the home inspection as a chance to renegotiate costs for the broken tiles in the bathroom, which were clearly visible during the initial showings. Be prepared for this, but don't sweat it.
With the right negotiations, you won't have to fix those tiles yourself, or even perhaps anything other unearthed issues found...
Push for Credits Instead of Repairs
When negotiating the items on your home inspection list, we advise you to push for a closing cost credit or a price reduction, whenever possible. The negotiations won't always be this easy, but this is certainly the smoothest way to close the deal.
Buyers are usually picky on the quality of work and it still may not be to their taste in the end, plus all the extra work for you! With a credit for repairs, the buyers get to choose and contract the repairs to their liking, and you have a sold house!
One way to negotiate the the repair credit is to offer the cash value of the repairs - negotiated amongst yourselves and third-party professionals - instead of doing the repairs or estimations yourself. Keep it as clear and simple as possible.
This being said, just because you must negotiate and possibly spend a little money to make the sale, you need to know that you do not have to give into every one of the buyer's demands. As your REALTOR®, we will help you in the process as well, because we know the value of what you are repairing and what your ultimate bottom line is. This is one of those instances where having a well-seasoned real estate agent in your corner really comes in handy.
From the get-go, we recommend transparency and honesty when it comes to any issues that you know about in your home. Of course this can make your home more difficult to sell, but in practical terms, any issues that can be dealt with before the last-minute, down-to-the-wire inspection will alleviate loads of stress when it comes to negotiations.
If there is a list of several things the buyer wants fixed, you are not obliged to fix them all, but you will have to find a happy medium. Be sure to make relatively low offers based on your estimates, because you can always give a little more, but you cannot back down after making an offer.
As we mentioned before, one of the very best ways to avoid home sale inspection negotiations being a stressful experience is to prepare for the inspection well in advance.
If you have any questions, please feel free to contact us. We would be glad to help guide you through the maze of inspection issues with our decades of experience when it comes time for you to sell your new Ucluelet home!
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