Great negotiating skill is one of the greatest values a good Realtor can bring to the table. By using his knowledge and expertise, a Realtor has a good sense of what can realistically happen in any given transaction.  Negotiation doesn’t stop at price or other financial terms, either.  It continues through the entire process from offer to settlement.

One of the critical junctures in the process is the home inspection. A buyer will bring in a home inspector to go over the home with a fine tooth comb looking for anything that could be wrong.  The inspector will look at the electricity, plumbing, heating and air conditioning and many other aspects of the house that the seller probably hasn’t thought about in years, if at all.

Since the buyer is paying for the inspection and since the home inspector is getting anywhere from $300 to $400 or more for a few hours work you can believe that the home inspector will find a few things in your home that need repair or replacement.  Sometimes there is a huge list of things…and it can all add up to serious money.

Negotiating the Outcome of the Home Inspection

At this point, the buyer needs to think long and hard about whether or not to continue with the process to settlement and buy the house.  If there are some seriously egregious things wrong with the house (a foundation crack or serious roof issue, for example), the buyer may just want to back out completely and look for another house.  If there is just a list of smaller things – a leaky faucet, some outlets that aren’t working properly – they may want to ask the seller to repair or replace some items on the inspection list.

As I mentioned in a previous post, it’s OK to ask for whatever you want.  After all, if the seller agrees to make all the repairs your house will be in just the condition you want it to be in.

On the other hand, it is also important to “know when to hold ‘em” and “know when to fold “em”.  In other words, what is really important to you to have repaired or replaced.  Pushing to hard for cosmetic items like cracks in tile or dirty carpet may just push the seller over the edge.

If you’re the seller, it’s important to understand that, for buyers, this is their single biggest expense in their lives and they’re probably singing a 30-year mortgage, to boot.  It’s also important to realize the end goal: to sell your house.

Let’s Work Together

There are important considerations on both sides of the transaction and it’s really up to the Realtor – the person who has been through this process many times and does it for a living – to sit down with his client and have that heart-to-heart talk about what’s important and what’s not.

Then it’s time for the Realtors – representing their clients – to talk to one another in a civil manner to reach agreement.  Both sides end up giving a little.

I’ve never met a seller yet who loved doing all the repairs requested by the home buyer especially after some hefty concessions on the front end at the time of the offer. I’ve never met a home buyer that didn’t want the seller to fix everything and then some so they wouldn’t need to do anything once they moved into the house.

The bottom line is to know what’s important and to know why you want to buy or sell the house. If you keep those two things in mind and have that heart-to-heart with your Realtor, the rest will fall into place.