When you have a home inspection inevitably there will be a list of items the home inspector will point out that may or may not need to be addressed before you close on the home. We will put these items into two categories: The Honey Do List and Issues.
Honey Do List: These are items that are considered general maintenance or personal preference with a home. Examples include loose doorknobs, squeaky doors, or outdated light fixtures. These are all things that can be fixed fairly easily and do not effect the structural integrity of the home.
Issues: These are items that do directly effect the structural integrity of the home. They include a leak in the roof, foundation problems, or electrical items that are deemed fire hazards. Professionals are usually required to remedy these items because they are not easily fixed by the average person.
Issues are what you want to focus in on when you review your home inspection, and in negotiating the purchase of your new home. Sellers will usually recognize issues and are usually willing to find a remedy that suits both parties to insure the sale of the home.
Sellers almost never listen when someone wants to negotiate Honey Do List items for a few reasons:
1. Most likely they priced the home with these items in mind in the first place with the assistance of a licensed real estate professional. They have already discounted the price accordingly and are usually not willing to budge because of that.
2. They lived with things the way they were. They reason that if things worked for them, they will work the same for you.
3. Every house comes with a Honey Do List. No house is perfect, not even a newly built home.
4. Personalizing the home is your business, and they do not feel they should foot the bill for it.
Issues on the other hand are usually negotiable with sellers. Most of the time they didn’t even know about the issues that come up, and these are things that need to be fixed whether the home sells or not. Due to the fact that issues need to be addressed even if the home does not sell is why sellers are more willing to negotiate these items.
A good analogy for what to address on a home inspection is buying an older car. You wouldn’t expect it to have airbags and a cd player, but you should expect the breaks to work.