Inspection and the Aftermath

Well we certainly had quite the ride last night. Although the home inspection went fine on our existing house, the buyers tried to negotiate for more money. Their “concern” was that the furnace might go south before the winter and that they might have to replace the air conditioner and the roof in the very short term. The home inspector confirmed the obvious with them — something that they were told before the offer was tabled: the home is an older home and the furnace, air conditioner and roof are all original equipment. They will likely need to replace those components over the next few years.

The buyer wanted us to discount the deal to cover the cost of those items. Over 25k!

Home inspections can be valuable and they can also be misused. In this case, there was absolutely no way that I was going to fund a new furnace, a new air conditioner and a new roof for the buyer when the current furnace, air conditioner and roof were in good working condition. They had their opportunity to consider that delta when they put their bid on the table.

The condition on the home inspection was quite clear: only a structural defect would warrant re-opening the deal. And there was no structural defect. Those components were in perfect working condition. Will they last another ten years? Probably not. But that is the joy of home ownership. You have to factor in a cost to maintain the property.

But here we were being asked what we would do about their “concerns”.

The answer to that question was easy. Nothing.

They then asked us to pay for the furnace and air conditioner. They would look after the roof.

Egads. No deal.

The back and forth continued. Silly discussions about them being trapped in a Canadian winter without a working furnace. Pleading poverty when they were bidding on the purchase of a high-end home.

After several hours of this nonsense, the agent asked us if we would take back 2 thousand from the initial offer.

We reluctantly conceded the 2k drop to get it sold. For us, it was a small price to pay to get on with life. And so the sold sticker is on the house as it is now firm.

Fortunately, the inspection and the deal went so much smoother on the new house.

We had three areas of concern: water, heating and cooling and the balcony.

The water test was fine. Lots of water. In fact, the tester could not drain the well. He pulled in excess of a thousand gallons in an hour and the well only dropped a foot in level. Somewhere in excess of fifteen feet remained. Lots of pressure and no evidence of sulfur or cloudiness in the water. The only issue was a secondary valve which redirected half the water flow away from the filtering and UV treatment. We can either turn the valve off or have a plumber come in and do away with the redirection system.

The technician who tested the heating and cooling system gave us his report: a cadillac system. In fact, one of the best designed systems he had ever seen. No worries there.

And, as far as the balcony goes, we will take it as is and cover the subfloor with an appropriate material like Duradek.

So we are absolutely thrilled with the new house. We waived our conditions on the deal and the seller was good enough to move the close date so that we only have a gap of one week between our old house and our new home.

Just over four weeks and we move. I can hardly wait.