w t h!?!? the seller is being such a stickler with giving any credits.. can anyone relate or weigh in?

so, we are in contract on a house that is not a penny over or under fair market value. The house was on the market for like 2 days when we made our offer. There have been 2/3 other offers since ours and we ended up winning the bid. We have a large down payment and can close immediately..

upon inspection, we found that the furnace was emitting some carbon monoxide. the furnace has to be replaced regardless b.c it is 16 year beyond its life expectancy...
the seller made it clear that she would not replace/credit any equipment near the end of its life expectancy...

but since this is a health hazard, we are trying to get some sort of partial credit for it...
seller had her people check it and pse&g said there was no sign of CO.
we will get it retested again with our inspector but she does not want to budge on anything.

the deck has some safety issues concerning support and the way it was built and there is a window that has a little rot present around it- the bottom frame was missing..

she thinks b.c we are getting this house at such a great deal that she doesnt need to provide anything further..
we are not stealing this house from under her.
the house was priced to sell and we are buying 7,000 less than asking.


what do you think? should we continue to fight back? she is has a town home she is closing on ( downgrading b.c she lost her husband ) and we can close right away. do you thnk we have leverage to push harder?

Re: w t h!?!? the seller is being such a stickler with giving any credits.. can anyone relate or weigh in?

Shie sounds older, in my experience older folks just want to sell, collect their check and be done. If its minor stuff, which you described is nothing major, i would just pay for it and move on. She wants out, no connections and thats it.

Re: w t h!?!? the seller is being such a stickler with giving any credits.. can anyone relate or weigh in?

she looks like she is in her mid 50s...

Re: w t h!?!? the seller is being such a stickler with giving any credits.. can anyone relate or weigh in?

honestly- if I was her or her agent- with that kind of interest in the house I wouldn't be giving credits either

I don't think you have levage- I bet she has back up offers

Re: w t h!?!? the seller is being such a stickler with giving any credits.. can anyone relate or weigh in?

Re: w t h!?!? the seller is being such a stickler with giving any credits.. can anyone relate or weigh in?

Re: w t h!?!? the seller is being such a stickler with giving any credits.. can anyone relate or weigh in?

I agree. The home inspection really isn't an opportunity to re-negotiate on price. Whether you got a good deal or a fair deal or paid too much, the price has already been agreed upon, so that's really not the issue (unless of course, something was misrepresented to you during negotiations).

If there are major defects (plumbing, electrical, foundation are the big ones) then the seller should address them or give the buyer money to do so (surprise, surprise -- the sellers almost always choose to fix it themselves and for as cheaply as possible). But most issues that a home inspector will point out are minor and relate to how best to maintain the property, updates/upgrades he recommends, etc.

The deck and window issues sound minor. All houses have some wear and tear, and most houses have things that could/should be updated or improved. I wouldn't ask for anything on those items.

I can't really tell from your post whether the furnace issue is a major thing. The fact that it's old and 16 years past it's life expectancy doesn't matter. Various items and systems in the house will be at different points in their life expectancy -- the furnace happens to be near the end (but still working). If it's emitting hazardous levels of carbon monoxide, such that you couldn't live there without having it fixed, then that's another story. A bank probably wouldn't close a loan if the house has a major hazard like that. But it doesn't sound like that is the case (the seller occupies the house now?).

I think your seller sounds par for the course, and even if she is more difficult than most, it will still be worth it to get into the home you want, right?

Good luck!

Re: w t h!?!? the seller is being such a stickler with giving any credits.. can anyone relate or weigh in?

wow! thank you all for your responses!
i like seeing everyone's perspective on the issue..

well, i guess it basically comes down to the furnace issue.
if we were to move in tomorrow and it wasn't emitting CO, then we would save up and replace it within the year or two tops.

since it is emitting CO according to our inspector, then we will replace it immediately.

so, it is working but there is a hazard issue.
i guess we will have our inspector retest with 2 monitors.
if we can even a modest credit.. i am talking very modest like under $2000
we will be happy.
but i wont b/c one way or another we WANT this house and need to move in.
thanx everyone!!

Re: w t h!?!? the seller is being such a stickler with giving any credits.. can anyone relate or weigh in?

we have the same situation, our lawyer said furnace is basically dead on arrival, need a new roof in 3 years, and some other nonsense. we wanted the house so didn't say a word about it to the sellers. I just feel like it's a given that things will need to be replaced on your own dime when buying a 40 YO house

Re: w t h!?!? the seller is being such a stickler with giving any credits.. can anyone relate or weigh in?

The house we sold our gas furnace was 15 years old and omitng CO. All we did was have it cleaned and re-tested. We did not have to replace it.

The house we bought the gas furnace is orginal (50 years) and the inspector said it was fine and so did to 2 plumbers.

We also had keyspan come to our house and he said our furnace was fine and very energy efficient.

Re: w t h!?!? the seller is being such a stickler with giving any credits.. can anyone relate or weigh in?

If u really love the house don't lose it over a furnace - have it replaced once u buy

Re: w t h!?!? the seller is being such a stickler with giving any credits.. can anyone relate or weigh in?

Posted by staceyums81

If u really love the house don't lose it over a furnace - have it replaced once u buy

Re: w t h!?!? the seller is being such a stickler with giving any credits.. can anyone relate or weigh in?

our oil burner needed to be replaced when we bought the house - it was a converted coal burner! But we didn't fight for it.

But if the porch doesn't have a CO I'd fight for that.

Re: w t h!?!? the seller is being such a stickler with giving any credits.. can anyone relate or weigh in?

i dont know, im in the minority

we had an offer accepted on a house and we were told there had been a TON of action on this house. we were told many other offers very close to ours.

after the inspection, we found that the hot water heater needed to be replaced, some shingles needed to be replaced, the shed roof needed to be redone and a few other things. since we were paying FULL asking, we wanted the hot water heater replaced at their cost and we would handle the rest. they denied.

we ended up walking away from the house for other reasons and they BEGGGED us to come back. offered cash back at closing, lowering the price by 5% and replacing the HWH.

we couldnt figure it out they had ALLLL these great offers besides ours

one month later, they are still having open houses. obviously they werent being honest with us.

just a thought!

Re: w t h!?!? the seller is being such a stickler with giving any credits.. can anyone relate or weigh in?

I agree with you, Colleen, about your situation and a hot water heater that isn't in good working order. I think if a major item needs to be replaced, such as a hot water heater, because it is NOT working, then that is an issue that should be addressed by the seller. Of course, you have even a stronger case if you are paying full, or close to full, price vs. a situation where the seller was negotiable and came down a lot from asking.

But in the OP situation, I understood her to say that the furnace was old (past it's life expectancy) but still working. In that case, the seller shouldn't have to replace it because the buyers want something newer or will eventually need to replace the old furnace when it breaks. If the furnace is emitting hazardous fumes, then that's a different issue, but I wasn't clear on whether that had yet been determined.

But even with major items the seller needs to address, they will almost always choose to take care of the work themselves and NOT give the buyer a credit.

Items such as decks needing extra support or shingles needing to be replaced -- in my opinion, those are things that the inspectors tell buyers so they are aware and can take care of them if they choose, but they shouldn't be on the seller. Those are minor issues or normal wear and tear on a house.

Re: w t h!?!? the seller is being such a stickler with giving any credits.. can anyone relate or weigh in?