Buyer wants out

[Phillip]

Here some background to my problem. I'm selling my home. The buyer had a professional home inspector go though our house. He found mostly little things but a couple more significant items too. One was a double floor joist had been cut during the original construction to allow for a stove vent ducting. We had no idea when we bought the house the joist was cut. The other is a problematic drainage issue in our back yard. Water just seems not to absorb well there. The buyer requested both item be corrected. I called the builder about the floor joist and they came out and fixed it…. I thought. I never actually climbed under the house to inspect it myself. When the buyer had it re-inspected, we found that the builder installed a pier to support the joist but he never placed a concrete footing under the pier and the inspected says it is not acceptable under code rules. As for the back yard, we found and replaced a leaky sprinkler head but the yard is still wet in areas. The buyer has an estimate from a landscape contractor that says a french drain is needed and back fill dirt to slope away from the house. He also wants the grass replaced with sod.

Enough of the background. Here's my question. The buyer contact indicates that repair contingency of $3000. His landscapers estimate to correct the yard is for $3300. We don’t think the yard problem is that big a deal nor should it cost that much. Can he break the contact even if we agree to fix it and get the floor joist corrected too?

[kensmith]

For the most part until the home inspection and attorney review periods are over it is pretty easy for a buyer to get out of the contract in most states. If you have an attorney I would talk with him/her and get their take on it as the answer will be different in every state...actually with every board as they all have their own contracts that are just a little bit different.

With that said if you fix everything then you make it much harder for them to cancel. Not to mention why would they, they now have a house with no issues. Either way you will end up with the same problems with your next buyer most likely, so take care of them and see what happens.

[Boston Condo Guy]

Phillip, yes, the buyer can very easily back out of this deal (especially given the significance of the items you mentioned). Typically, the inspection objection form contains a simple checkbox that a buyer can check if they would like to back out of the deal based on the inspection (essentially, no questions asked).

It sounds like both parties are operating in good faith here, that you're really trying to move forward in an honest manner. I would caution you on making the repairs to your home before the Buyer "buys in" to the plan - this is really where you need to lean heavily on your agent for their negotiation skills; your agent should be facilitating this for you, and if they are not, remind your agent that their role is to represent your best interests.

More than likely, in the end, you will make the repairs to your home regardless of whether or not you sell to this particular Buyer you are under contract with, or another down the road, but the inspection really needs to be negotiated more here (for instance, you could propose covering a reasonable amount of Buyer closing costs, and have the Buyer do the repairs on their own, in essence, giving the Buyer a credit).

Sit down with your agent and go over your options.