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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]My mother has been a realtor for over 30 years.  She has always used inspections for negotiating on big items.  In general, anything that can cause over $5K worth of repairs needs to be taken into account either with a seller repair, seller credit or price negotiation.  That is within reason.  For example, something that is nearing the end of its life span.  Roofs over 20 years old, major appliances over 10 years old or identified by the inspector as in need of repair.  That type of thing.  Small fixes, like outlets, basic plumbing, light fixtures, are usually either make the seller repair/replace or deal.

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That's fine, but in our last sale I found that they were trying to come after us for things that would happen way down the line. Our roof was 15 years old on a 20 year roof. They wanted a credit for possibly needing to replace the roof 5 years down the road. Are you joking? The 20 year roof that was well maintained is actually not likely to need to be immediately replaced in 5 years and even if it were, you have 5 years to plan for it, but more likely 7-10. At which point I'll need to replace the roof on my new house too, so why would I be footing your prospective repair 10 years down the road?[/quote]

This. Just because an inspector notes that a roof is nearing the end of its appraisal life value is a very different thing than saying that a roof is likely to need to be replaced in the next 2 years.  An appraisal life is a meaningless accounting concept that has no bearing on what THIS roof's expected life is.

And frankly, even if an inspector says this roof is likely to need replacement in 5 years, I'm not sure why seller is expected to pay for this. Like the PP said, buyers have at least 5 years to prepare for that.  As a homeowner of 25 years, I am always anticipating an average of $3000 in repairs per year. Sometimes it will be none, but some years will be a roof.  [/quote]

I'm the son of the realtor PP.  I agree.  If I had a house that had a 15 yo roof in good condition, I would decline the request after the inspection.  Just because the buyer demands it based on the inspection does not require you to do it.  You decline and they have the choice of continuing with the original contract or walking.  I can't imagine buyers walking on a house because the roof is 15 years old and in good condition, especially not in this market.  There are so few houses that people like and if they finally find one that they are willing to put in a bid on that is still available, I can't imagine them walking for that.

When I sold my first home, the buyer had an inspection and had a list of about 6-8 things that needed to be remedied.  The largest one was an adjustment made to the roof by the original owner.  They wanted it restored to the original design.  It was that way when I bought the house.  I had replaced the roof already and had discussed it with the roofer.  I declined this modification specifying that I had had the roof replaced and had the modification reviewed by the roofer who said it was an acceptable modification for the structure.  Additionally, I had the original hardware and told them that the original hardware was there and they were welcome to restore it to the original design if they wanted, but I would not.   I fixed the smaller items myself.  The buyer accepted the contract with the smaller items replaced by me and no price adjustment.  [/quote]

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