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Re: Inspections/Contracts Q
First - yes, you should negotiate any issues arising out of the inspection report prior to signing the contract. Once you sign the contract, you are committed to the deal and you have no leverage to negotiate at that point. If there's a major issue that is a dealbreaker for you, you'd better make sure it's resolved to your satisfaction prior to going to contract.
Most inspectors generate their report within 24 hours of the inspection, and most of them send them out by email. So you should review the report asap and raise any issues asap. As the buyer, the sooner you get to contract, the better, so you don't want to drag things out.
In my experience, the real estate agents usually negotiate the inspection items. This makes sense because the real estate agents are familiar with the house at issue and are (usually) present for the home inspection.
Keep in mind that you are not renegotiating the price after a home inspection, so you should not approach it that way. If there are problems found that should be addressed by the seller, you typically ask them to make the specific repairs needed before closing. In certain situations, such as an estate sale (where the house is vacant and the relatives selling the house may not want to be bothered doing anything), the sellers may offer the buyer a credit to have the repair work done themselves.
As far as whether you should send the report to your attorney, that's up to you. You paid for the report, so it's yours to share with who you want. But if the attorney isn't going to be negotiating anything related to the report, he or she usually doesn't need or want it.
If someone other than your attorney negotiates something connected to the home inspection, you should make sure your attorney is aware of the agreement on that item. If I am the real estate agent, I will always tell my client's attorney that the seller agreed to x,y, and z. The attorneys will then put this in a side agreement/rider to the contract for the parties to sign. If you don't tell the attorneys and if there's no written agreement on the inspection items, how will you hold the other side to it?
Hope this helps!
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