Negotiating post-inspection (first time buyer)

[Josie Shaw]

Hi,

My husband and I are first time buyers (not just investment properties) and we recently put an offer on a duplex. The inspection report came back last week, and as expected for an older home, there was a lot. We submitted our inspection contingency requests (not sure the proper term here), detailing what we would like the current owner to fix before moving forward. 

- The property currently has a lot of small ticket items that need fixing, e.g. a missing faucet in one of the bathrooms, a door that isn't attached to the hinges, a leak in the kitchen sink, etc. The current property manager is willing to take these on and presumably charge the current owner, since they would have been addressed had the current tenants requested it. Question: is this standard procedure or are we being "helped out" by the current property manager and selling agent? 

- There are several big ticket items that need to be addressed in the near future, such as a water heater and furnace. The owner is not willing to budge on these. Question: is it still a "good deal" that small items (above) are getting taken care of but these items might die the second we take over as owners? 

- Can we add additional items to our contingency list since we were shut down on some of the items we really wanted to see addressed? For example, fixing a cracked sink. How have you handled these as sellers/buyers? 

Thanks in advance for any advice you can give!

[Charles Soper]

The small items they are willing to fix seems like an olive branch in hopes that you'll overlook the CapEx you'll need to lay out for the bigger ticket items. Are you buying at a discount with the knowledge that you will need to spend that money in the very near future? If not (heck, even if) will you have the reserves to pay for those items? Have you gotten a quote for the failing items instead of just an inspection report? A lot of times what the inspector finds vs. what a professional tradesman finds can be vastly different.