How to get what you want from your inspection including how to keep it cool.
You’ve found a great new home. It’s your new baby. You’re already making plans to settle in. You can’t stop telling people about it. And then you get your inspection report.
Your realtor told you what to expect during inspections. You listened. You heard things like:
old homes come with quirks
it’s the inspectors job to find these kind of things
some wear and tear is to be expected
Yet now that you’re staring at YOUR inspection report for YOUR new baby something feels different. The what if’s begin.
What if it’s fine? What if it’s no biggie? What if it’s not?
Every client I’ve worked with has a different way of managing post inspection anxiety. I call it the ‘What-if’s.’
Some clients are ready to cave, some are ready to excuse away just about anything, and some are ready to fight. There is no right way to feel when you receive this information. But the behavior that follows can make or break your deal.
When the What-if’s start it’s time to STOP!
Here’s a four step checklist to help you get through the dreaded What-if’s, while getting the most out of the situation. Tackling the What-if's starts by stopping, S-T-O-P, stop!
Stop - literally stop. Breathe. Count to ten. You can do this. Your realtor is an expert professional that you’ve hired to help. They do this all the time. Stop. Breathe. It’s time to let your realtor shine.
Take a look at the facts - it’s easy to start inventing stories. What-if- They hid this! The home falls down! They think I am a sucker! OR What if - It’s fine! Totally fine! Screw it lets just take it as is!!! STOP. Look at the facts. Don’t let the what if’s win. When your brain starts writing a narrative to explain what you’re reviewing, stop and look at the plain, hard facts.
Outline deficiencies- In almost every inspection there are unknowns that are revealed to the seller, not just the buyer. These items are found during an inspection. After reviewing the facts, STOP and outline what gives you the heebie jeebies, what you’d like more information on, and what you can fix yourself or live with. This can be in a bulleted list or done by highlighting or notating the inspection itself. Provide that, along with the inspection, to your realtor. Your realtor can help you assess whether sending out additional specialists is helpful and necessary. (Often these follow ups are free).
Prepare a plan - there are many different strategies to approach having the deficiencies in your new home remedied. STOP. Your realtor will build a strategic plan with you to help you reach your goals in this next step of negotiations.
Negotiations? Absolutely. In the state of Louisiana - and many other places - a home is bought, ‘As Is,’ unless otherwise agreed to. ‘As is,’ is the accepted normal in many states. This means once the ink is on the paper, there’s no going back.
Holy What-if! Am I right? Slow down.
‘As is,’ is defined as the home’s condition on the day of the closing. That ink is your signature at the closing table. ‘As is,’ doesn’t exist until that ink is on paper.
That means that between the inspection and the closing there is time to renegotiate terms. This time is anticipated by the seller and their agent.
The time period is called an ‘inspection window,’ or ‘due diligence period.’ It’s defined in your initial offer within your Purchase Agreement. In Louisiana, it begins on the day your offer is accepted and ends after the total number of days specified in that Purchase Agreement.
Don’t know how many days you’ve got? Go back and check that Purchase Agreement. Chances are you were so excited to get your new home, that you overlooked these dates. That’s OK.
So What-if you require extra days to get more specialists out to inspect the property? That’s OK too, you can often expand the window if there’s due cause to do so.
Once your inspection is complete, you’ll need to decide what needs fixin’ (deficiencies) and how it’s going to be fixed (remedies).
Popular remedies to deficiencies negotiated during this window include:
Seller repairs: this is when a seller promises to fix some or all of the deficiencies outlined by the buyer before closing.
Credit at closing: this is when the seller provides money to the buyer at closing in lieu of making some or all repairs.
Reduction of home price: this is when the seller agrees to sell the home for a lower price than originally negotiated.
Each approach comes with its own set of pros and cons. Your agent can walk you through why one remedy - or a combination thereof - may better suit your unique needs and goals.
Next step? Your realtor will prepare a document called a Property Inspection Response for you to review and sign. It will clarify to the seller whether you wish to cancel the deal, proceed with the deal, or proceed with the deal under new terms.
Within this response your agent will list the deficiencies and requested remedies. Your response may also include necessary amendments to your original agreement like pushing the closing to another date to allow time for repairs to occur.
While the intention of inspections is not to ‘get the seller down even lower,’ it often reveals issues that genuinely surprise the seller. This is normal and should be anticipated if the seller has a great agent.
The purpose of inspections is to make sure both parties in the transaction of the sale of the property understand fully what is being traded, spots and all. This protects the buyer from purchasing something different from what they assumed. It similarly protects the seller from the buyer claiming at a later date that they didn’t know what they were buying.
But it also leaves you wide open for the What-if’s, for many, especially sellers, the wait is the worst part. You can handle it. You’ve waited for important things before. And, you’ve got a great realtor waiting with you. STOP. Breathe. You've got this.
It helps to keep in mind that Inspections are a part of almost every real estate transaction and often result in a compromise by both parties. Follow the STOP checklist above and you’ll avoid buying something riddled with surprises all while preventing the dreaded What-if’s from taking over and keeping you up at night.
And, if you find yourself making your list of deficiencies for your new baby while thinking you’re about to tell someone their baby is ugly… you’re falling prey to the What-if’s! STOP and begin back at the top of the checklist. You’ve got this. Stick with the facts. Trust your realtor, make a plan and you’ll find yourself in a home you love, spots and all.
Voted Neighborhood Favorite by Nextdoor, Team Cool Murphy is a top-producing, licensed real estate team based in New Orleans, brokered by Cool Murphy, LLC.
Celebrated for her next-level creative approach to real estate, Elisa Cool Murphy is an award-winning, top-performing agent in New Orleans and the founder and leader of Cool Murphy, LLC.
Contact Her -
email: cool@coolmurphy.com
Facebook: @homeinneworleans
IG: @coolmurphynola
YouTube: @coolmurphynola
phone: 504-321-3194
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