House inspection reveals problems to buyers

We fell in love with a home and have it under contract at a fair but slightly high price. The inspection report highlighted a ton of issues, none of which was revealed on the contract’s seller disclosure form. I thought that the seller would need to reveal this information to any future buyers, so I’m suggesting he sell it to us for a discount. Is this how it works?

With proper inspection, any house will have plenty of issues that turn up. Most are minor, but occasionally some larger problems are found. An inspection report may list a price to repair the problem, but I have found that these figures are often inflated. I remember seeing an estimate of $250 to replace a broken latch on a closet door, so you should take these reports with a grain of salt. However, safety-related or larger problems should never be ignored.

Check your contract. Typically, the seller would give a repair credit of up to 3 percent of the purchase price to the buyer at closing, depending on the nature and severity of the damage. If the repairs cost more than that, the buyer would be able to cancel the contract and get the deposit back.

Even if your contract is of the “as-is” variety, it is a good idea to try to work things out. Serious problems will have to be disclosed to future buyers now that the seller knows about them, and it might make sense to just give you a reasonable credit and get the deal closed. However, you don’t want to be too nitpicky because this might make the seller feel you are negotiating in bad faith.