Who pays for repairs?

Clive, no, you almost certainly do not have to fix any of it. But "do I have to" is not the question that gets you to closing. The question is which of those three items is worth conceding to keep this buyer. The structure first. In a normal residential contract, an inspection response is a request, not a demand. The seller can agree, agree in part, offer money instead, or decline entirely. The buyer's remedy if you decline is to accept the house as it is or cancel under their inspection contingency and take their deposit back. That is the whole leverage picture on both sides. Nobody can force a repair. One exception matters: lender-required repairs. If your buyer is using FHA or VA financing, or if the appraiser flags a health and safety item, the lender can condition the loan on specific work being done. Those are not negotiable in the same way. If that loan does not fund, this buyer does not close, and the same condition will likely surface with the next buyer using the same program. Ask what type of loan your buyer has. It changes the analysis completely. Now your three items. I would triage them like this. The wood rot on the three season room is the one I would take seriously. Rot means water intrusion, and water intrusion is the category of finding that every subsequent buyer's inspector will also find, and that will show up on your disclosures going forward. You do not get to un-know it. If you refuse and this buyer walks, you are relisting a house with a documented rot issue and a shorter list of buyers. Either fix it properly or price it into a credit that reflects the real cost. The hole in the door is a nuisance item. It is cheap. I would concede it without argument, because the goodwill it buys you on the negotiation as a whole is worth more than the fifty or hundred dollars, and refusing small things makes buyers dig in on large ones. The fireplace cover is genuinely negotiable and it is the one I would trade. "I will handle the door and the rot, the fireplace cover stays as is." That is a reasonable answer, it is not a refusal, and it usually closes the conversation. On the mechanics: seriously consider offering a closing credit instead of doing the work yourself. A credit means you do not manage contractors under a deadline, you do not warrant the workmanship, and the buyer gets to hire whoever they want. It is usually cleaner for both sides. Two constraints. Your buyer's loan program caps how much the seller can contribute, and the lender has to sign off, so run the number past their loan officer before you agree to it. And a credit only works if the lender allows it to be applied the way the buyer expects. Whatever you agree to, get it in writing as an amendment, with who does the work, to what standard, by when, and who verifies. "Seller will repair wood rot" is a future argument. "Seller will replace rotted sill and trim on the north elevation of the three season room, work performed by a licensed contractor, invoice provided prior to closing" is a repair. One more thought. Ask yourself what this buyer is worth. If they are well qualified, on a clean timeline, and paying a price you are happy with, then a few hundred dollars of repairs is cheap insurance on the whole deal. Sellers lose good buyers over items smaller than the carrying cost of one extra month on the market. I am a real estate professional, not an attorney, and New York transactions run through attorneys. Your attorney should be reviewing whatever you agree to before you sign it. In my state we have a dedicated form for exactly this exchange, which keeps it clean and documented, and your attorney will have the New York equivalent. My name is Zoltan Peresztegi and I work in Los Angeles, the South Bay and on the Palos Verdes Peninsula, so I am not the person negotiating your Nassau County contract. If you want an introduction to a strong listing agent on Long Island for anything after this, message me. Zoltan

Clive, this is dependent on the agreement between the seller and buyer, but typically the seller would be responsible for agreed upon repairs. Keith Jean-Pierre Managing Principal The Dapper Agents Real Estate Operations in ALL 50 States

You’re not required to fix anything unless it’s in the contract—repairs after inspection are negotiable. You can fix it, offer a credit, or say no. It really depends on how serious the issues are and how strong your position is in the deal. If the deal falls apart, you’re back to square one—and you’ll have to disclose those issues to the next buyer anyway. It’s usually smarter to just fix them now and keep things moving forward.

It really depends on what the repairs are. Seller is responsible for termites or termite damage. Otherwise everything is negotiable

All Repairs are negotiable between a buyer and a seller.

In real estate everything is negotiable. If you don’t want to do the repairs, you can simply decline, or you can offer to compensate the buyers through either a price reduction or offer a credit at closing. That said, consider how long you’ve been on the market, how much buyer demand there is for your house and definitely think about the merit of this particular buyers offer. You probably don’t want to lose a sale over minor repairs.

All Repairs are negotiable between a buyer and a seller. Some items may prevent a buyer being able to purchase the home. This is something you may want to discuss with your realtor to better ascertain which items are in the sellers best interest to resolve.

From the information you have provided, it seems like these repairs are minor. I guess the question you may need to ask yourself is, "Is it worth it to let this deal fall through for minor repairs or could you negotiate with the potential Buyer to say offer credit based on estimates you or he receive from a licensed contractor, or just get the repairs done so as to let the selling of this property go through?"

Hi Clive, It depends on how the contract was written. Also, keep in mind if the deals dies you will have to start all over and reveal those items up front. Get them fixed and move on. Hope that helps Karen

Hi Clive, It depends on how the contract was written. Also, keep in mind if the deals dies you will have to start all over and reveal those items up front. Get them fixed and move on. Hope that helps Karen

Hello Clive, while you do not HAVE to fix those things, they seem pretty minor to get the deal done. Your buyer does not HAVE to buy the house if you do not fix them, and it could cost you more time and money in the long run. Have you thought about offering a credit that would be equal to the cost of fixing the repair items? If that is more attractive to you do that instead. It is always best to work with the buyer if you are able to.

You don’t have to fix them however you can credit the buyer based on estimate you receive from local licensed contractor.