Disclosures, Agents, Offers, First Time Buyers, & Inspections

[Dale Porter]

We are first time buyers. We put in an offer on house after our agent showed us disclosures and didn't highlight any areas of concern. We attended the inspection and our agent didn't . Inspector told us HVAC needed replacing due to age, but it's working fine. We asked for compensation or replacement from the seller, seller refused - which makes sense. 

We later realized that the age was disclosed up front and that inspectors often highlight HVAC age on the report.  Is this common knowledge to real estate agents? Then we could have asked for closing costs paid by the seller, lower price, or something else up front to ease our worried minds.

After talking to other folks we realized that we had asked for "unreasonable" repairs. 

Now we are in a pickle and feel like it's not fair to the sellers if we back out for this reason. So, is this something that we should have been educated about by our agent at the time of putting in an offer? Is it our fault for not researching the average lifespan of these systems? Are we bad buyers if we back out? 

[Christopher Phillips]

@Dale Porter

No. Not really. It's not something agents normally discuss unless it's something obvious like a leaky roof. That's why there are inspections.

If an appliance is old but still functioning, that's not a disclosure item for the agent. Agents aren't trained on mechanical items. If it wasn't functioning, then that would be an item for the agent to discuss. Outside of it not working, it's the inspector's job is to give you that kind of maintenance advice.

A good example would be with water heaters. Most inspectors will tell you that the useful life is around 7 years. Doesn't mean it won't last 20. Then again, it might go within another 2 months. There's a technical reason why that happens, which is due to corrosion, but you can't tell from the outside of the unit. So, the inspector is going to call out the "age" of the unit, but if it's functioning, no seller is going to replace it or give you a credit unless it looks obviously damaged like leaking at the bottom.

HVACs on the other hand don't just "go" over night. They normally can last 10-20 years depending on how well they are maintained. So, if the unit is 10 years of age, it's not going to go over night and a seller will be hard pressed to replace one or give a credit. If it's 25 years already, but working fine, maybe you can get a credit. You can certainly "ask" for $3,000 off the price to meet the seller half way... But be prepared for the seller to say no.

A replacement HVAC might run $6,000 (varies depending on location, unit size, labor), so you have to factor that into your decision making. If you're buying a $300,000 house, it's not big enough of an issue to walk away from a deal. If the house is $100,000 unit, maybe the thought of replacing an HVAC might be of concern.