We are in the process of purchasing a beautiful home in the finger lakes and our buyers agent has given us some peculiar advice after a home inspection. There are two issues: radon levels are high and a tiled entryway needs to be redone. Before we knew about the radon (an easy fix with proper abatement) we planned on asking for cash at closing for the tile. Out realtor has suggested that the sellers will be "more likely to pay for the radon fix" knowing that we have four kids in the house and that we should forget the tile. I was a bit puzzled by this and even more so when she tossed in "remember there is another buyer."
The purchase process was intense. We were engaged in a bidding war and after choosing the other buyers the sellers changed their minds and picked us. The first buyers had a contingency in their offer and an addendum that altered their price if the assessment came back low. So an hour after losing out on the house it was ours! You can imagine the nerves.
Here is my question: can the sellers back out of the contract? For context the house is empty, they are an older couple now living in FL. Both attorneys have signed off. We plan on asking them to address both issues in the house. We know that they can refuse to fix or pay for either issue, but under what terms could they cancel our contract and revert to the other buyers? Google has not helped.
Of course now that the inspection has been done they have to disclose the radon issue.
and they may not need to disclose the results of your radon test, they can have another one done, and another, and another, until they get better results. the test is cheap and there are a lot of variables that impact the results.
Radon mitigation is like $1500 tops (we had one in my old house), how much was the tile work?
A home is not sold until the paperwork is signed by both parties.
Your realtor just wants a sale and the one with the least hassle and negotiating. You ask for what you are comfortable asking for and if a seller walks because of that then you probably saved yourself from an issue later on with a flakey seller.
Most of the time, post-inspection you present them a list of things you'd like addressed based on the results of the inspection and ask them to fix some things or with a credit at closing for others, they'll usually agree to some and not to others, so IMO and in my experience it's always better to ask for more than you really want. Because you should be prepared to accept less than you ask for.
1) Unless you specifically hired the real estate agent (a 'buyer's' agent) then the agent works for the Seller, or more accurately, works for her or himself. This means they want the deal to close by most any means possible and saving you a few bucks is not high on her/his list.
2) What the Seller can or cannot do at this point is determined by the contract you have signed. Your attorney, who hopefully reviewed it with you before signing, should be able to go over the relevant options and potential outcomes.
3) In my personal opinion, normal wear and tear items and obvious repairs should be built into the asking price of the home. However I understand it is not uncommon these days to try to renegotiate all such items post-contract.
4) You have the right under most contracts (again, check with your attorney!) to request a concession after the inspection and the Seller has the right to say no. You then can choose to fulfill the contract at the agreed price, or cancel, forfeiting whatever deposit you may have paid. Unless of course your contract gives you a free out.
In short, the contract governs what each side can do at this point, and the consequences for not doing so. Please review with your attorney! Good luck!
Source: Banker married to a RE paralegal
How long has that house been on the Market ?? You have a right to know that from your Realtor.
Also, that Appraisal Contingency clause is important in a Bidding War situation, you're going to want that clause in your Contract too. And don't let the Realtor tell you that "A house is worth whatever a Buyer is willing to pay for it." That is only true in an All Cash Offer. Once you get a Lender involved......you have to play by Lender Rules.
Your lawyer will have the contract language in front of him or her and can tell you what rights, obligations and remedies the contract language gives each of the parties in a 5 minute phone conversation.
So if NY is the same as MA there is no contract at this time. All you typically have is an accepted offer and a small, fully refundable deposit - made in good faith and to strengthen the offer (sometimes this is as little as $1000), to which either party can back out at any time for any reason.
but continue your condescension.
There is usually a dollar limit as to any inspection problems and if the buyer is willing to take care of the radon mitigation jump for joy and get into the house of your dreams.
How long has that house been on the Market ?? You have a right to know that from your Realtor.
Also, that Appraisal Contingency clause is important in a Bidding War situation, you're going to want that clause in your Contract too. And don't let the Realtor tell you that "A house is worth whatever a Buyer is willing to pay for it." That is only true in an All Cash Offer. Once you get a Lender involved......you have to play by Lender Rules.
length of time on market is freely available with MLS, it shows up on sites like Zillow, trulia, realtor.com, etc. and you as a buyer should know this, not need a realtor to find out. But it's not something hidden.
I thought Homerjones was being unnecessarily mean (or actually condescending). Sometimes people come here for answers (in addition to googling something or asking their lawyers or whoever else) because they know there is such a diverse group of people here with tons of life experiences) - that was all I meant.
With that being said the home had previously sold but apparently the sale fell through for some reason. We made an offer on the home 6 months later with our agent and went through the inspection process. The inspector found many issues but with that said most were ticky tack issue’s a few weren’t. Being our first home and not interested in making repairs for a home we just bought requested the agent to have all items repaired.
His response was the seller would not want to do all of this and we should go through with the sale. We really wanted this home and were pretty disappointed to hear him say this.
So I brought my wife into another room to talk but spoke loud enough knowing he would hear me saying that we should find an agent that is looking at our best interests.
We would have walked away disappointed but content with our decision.
Well the next day sure enough we got a call that the seller approved all issues.
I hate to say it but you have to be willing to move on if you have issues. I am not sure what situation you have but if you do not feel comfortable with the home or your representation let them know.
there is no such thing as the only house on the market -- there are other fish in the sea -- if you feel strongly about something then you have to go with the strength of the way you feel and be prepared to walk away --- you won;t always get what you want -- but you also won't have to accept things you don't want either
even if there is a bidding war chances are very good that the next buyer will have the same issues as you -- so that's your choice -- do you want to suck it up and accept the risk -- or do you want to meekly accept what is being offered
That's how/what I advise my clients all the time in situations like this
Now if you have fallen in love with the place and want it regardless then you have to decide if a few thousand is worth losing it over. At least decide on a number that you will be satisfied with and make a counter offer. Don't allow any realtor decide that for you or pressure you into doing something you aren't comfortable with.
Good luck.
When we did find one, it came in sort of the same way - multiple buyers, some warts but nothing major.
In the end, I took the house as-is and made the repairs myself. Cost me a bit extra, but I understood I was paying a premium to get the house I wanted. No regrets here a year later.
If it's not a lot of money, I'd suggest you just consider sticking with the original terms and remediating the radon and the tile yourself. You might be able to get them to pay for some or all of it (and you can certainly ask in a less than aggressive way), but you don't want to go so far as to jeopardize the sale if you really like the place, especially if it's over a trivial sum of money.
We know the agent is in it for the $$$. When we were negotiating price
I made the point to the Mrs... When you're banking 3% a few thousand means nothing. She just wants to close. We get it.
Granted - you can wait it out. There will be more homes, and definitely one of them will be to your liking, possibly even better. But if you like the house enough, and the cost isn't prohibitive, you'd have to ask yourself - would I have offered another X if it meant getting the house? If so, you have your answer.
Asking for tile work? It's easier for the seller to say no. Much easier.
One more thing, asking for credits won't cause the seller to back out. They can just say no or offer partial credit. They won't back out at this point just because you asked for a credit.
The radon issue also, when it became known.
You can try to get some bucks off the sale price at closing for the radon, but I wouldn't risk losing the sale of the house over a thousand dollar issue.
You must insist on the Appraisal Contingency, especially if the sale price got bid up beyond market value.
Keep in mind, your Realtor probably only pockets 1% of the Sales Price -- he has to split the 5% with the Listing Office, and each Office's Broker will get half of the 2.5% commission. Subtract the Realtors expenses, and the tax due on 1099 income.....and he will be locky to clear $2000 on a $250K sale. Whether the Sale closes at $250K or $230K is basically immaterial to the Realtor.....he just wants to get paid.