09/23/2014
Selling Your Orange County Home: What About Repair Requests?
If you have taken good care of your property, you rightfully expect that selling your Orange County home will result in its fetching a good price when it hits the market. That’s the right mindset for success, but it serves sellers best when it’s only a starting point. Dealing with flesh-and-blood buyers can require some judicious flexibility—for one reason, there is usually an inconspicuous (somewhat annoying) fly in the ointment. The metaphoric fly is the fact that no property is without its flaws; and its metaphoric buzzing is likely to get louder as your sale’s closing grows nearer.
Structural elements of a house have varying life spans since wear and tear is inevitable in any space where people live. Many of a home’s features eventually require repair, and if it’s very soon, given that most informed buyers expect to take over a property with as few problems as possible, post-inspection demands can result. Especially if you’ve put a good deal of effort into getting everything shipshape, it can be maddening.
Nevertheless, plan to ignore any impulse to scrap the sale and tell the buyer to take a hike. Since some post-inspection requests are par for the course, you should know your options when you’re selling a home in Orange County and your buyer requests repairs.
Repair Obligation for the Seller
As the seller of the property, you are not required to fix anything in the home inspection report. Any repairs cited are points of negotiation: just because an inspector cites flaws, that doesn’t mean repairs have to take place before the sale can be completed. If you don’t want to accept a purchase agreement that is conditioned on the completion of repairs, that is your option.
Purchasing a Home Warranty for the Buyer
Buyers sometimes request that you as seller pay for a home warranty. A home warranty generally covers the buyer’s outlay for major defects for a year following purchase. Such a warranty will typically cost no more than $600, and again, the decision to purchase one is up to the party selling a home.
Major Repairs
In many cases, requested repairs will be relatively minor, so it’s often preferable to have them made to proceed without further wrangling. But (you can almost hear that fly buzzing louder) should requested repairs be more extensive, you’ll have to evaluate the cost against the sale price.
Whether to Complete a Repair
Your home might be your pride and joy, but it is important not to take requests for repairs personally. Selling an Orange County home is most successful when the seller first carefully examines the request, then makes a rational assessment based on what will produce the optimal outcome. If a next-best offer is on the table, its terms should be reexamined. You can also offer to proceed with the original purchase agreement but not agree to complete the repairs as requested. If the buyer likes your home and believes the price is reasonable, he or she may agree to proceed with the purchase as-is.
Whether or not you are concerned about potential repairs, if you are thinking of selling your home in Orange County this fall, contact me today for a complimentary evaluation!
I’m Roger Merrill a Real Estate Marketing Professional, answering your questions. Please call 949-633-2390 or email [email protected] or go to my website www.HigherValuedHomes.com
Thank You for Your time.
Roger Merrill Realtor company invests thousands of dollars at our expense in the visual Marketing of your property. First, we create a profile of a potential buyer. Then produce and present a cinematic emotional story for this person or persons to view, thus creating a vision of owning YOUR home.
