Washington REALTORS® Legal Hotline Lawyer Annie Fitzsimmons filmed a special supplemental series to “Inspection Week“. In this series, Annie digs a little deeper into Form 35R – Inspection Contingency as a negotiation tool and how to use it most effectively.
This first video in the series covers a topic that many brokers want clarification on…counting dates, or the Computation of Time. They review counting dates for the initial inspection period, the additional inspection period, Form 35R request for repairs…and more.
Our inspection reports include this simple verbiage to allow Broker access for an additional inspection time if allowed by terms of the R35 Form set by the seller.
If the home inspection report shows that there are several hundred dollars (or even a couple of thousand dollars) in repairs needed, it is not necessarily wise to demand that the seller fix those items. Of course, you could also demand that the seller does a price reduction, but that may not be wise either. What buyers often don’t realize is that they may already have pushed the seller as far as the seller is emotionally or psychologically willing to go. The seller feels he took a whipping when he reluctantly agreed to the buyer’s counteroffer to his counteroffer, and the seller often feels they sold for far less than they wanted. At this stage of the transaction, the seller is often feeling that their back is up against the wall, and they are very defensive when it comes to any more demands. If the buyer demands the seller fix something for a few hundred dollars, the seller is often offended and many sellers have told their real estate agent, “I’ll be darned if the buyer is going to nickel and dime me to death! We already came down $20,000 on price. ”
Buyers and sellers can walk away from the transaction over a few hundred dollars because it was a “matter of principle” for both parties. Do not let your dream home turn into a loss of over a few hundred dollars (or even a few thousand dollars) when you already negotiated the price down by tens of thousands of dollars. Handling the Home Inspection and the Form 35R Inspection Response is one of the last but most important steps in your due diligence.
