Your inspection found something. Now what?

Every inspection finds something. That is the job. The question is never whether there is a list, it is what is on it and what you want to do about it.

Sort the list first

Before deciding anything, put every item in one of three piles.

• Maintenance. Things any house of this age will need. Caulking, a worn seal, a downspout. These are not negotiation items and asking about them costs you credibility on the ones that matter.
• Budget items. Real money, but known, and you can plan around them. A furnace with a few years left. A roof at fifteen years. You are not in danger, you are on a schedule.
• Deal items. Structure, water where water should not be, electrical that affects insurability, an oil tank, something that changes what the property is worth or whether you can insure it.

Almost all of the negotiation happens in the third pile.

The three things you can ask for

A repair before closing

Best when the issue affects insurability or financing and has to be resolved before anyone will fund or cover the house. Worst when you care about how the work gets done, because you are not choosing the contractor and you are not there while it happens.

A credit at closing

My usual preference. You get the money, you choose the contractor, you control the standard of work and the timing. Note that lenders and lawyers have views on how credits are handled, so this needs to go through your lawyer properly rather than as a handshake.

A price reduction

Cleanest on paper, and it lowers your land transfer tax and your mortgage. The catch is that it can trigger a fresh look from your lender, and if an appraisal is already in motion the timing gets awkward. Not a reason to avoid it, just a reason to tell your lawyer and your lender early.

How to ask

Bring the number and where it came from. A quote or a written estimate moves a seller. A feeling does not. Sellers respond to evidence for the same reason buyers do, because it turns an argument into arithmetic.

And ask for the deal items only. A list of nineteen things reads as a buyer looking for a discount, and it makes the two items that genuinely matter easier to dismiss.

When to walk

When the cost is unknowable, when the house cannot be insured on terms you can live with, or when you have stopped wanting it. That last one counts. If the inspection turned it into a project you do not want, that is a legitimate answer and the condition exists precisely so you can give it.

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Written by Mike Elsey, Broker, Royal LePage Real Estate Associates, Brokerage. General information about the process in Ontario, not legal, financial, tax, insurance or inspection advice.