Does doing a home inspection open the door to re-negotiate the entire deal?

Negotiating a price on a house and signing the agreement is no longer putting an end to the negotiations. When I first started in Real Estate, it was much simpler... Sellers and Buyers come to a "meeting of the minds" on price and terms to sell a house, they sign on the dotted line and wait for the funding to get approved and title policies to get written. That was so much easier, but people were not as informed as they are now... buyers did not know as much about the house they were buying. So they started to get home inspections. This is a great way to find out what you are buying.

Home inspectors do a thorough job at inspecting all facets of a home. They check the plumbing, electrical, heating and air conditioning systems. They make sure the roof does not leak, they also check various other areas, they make sure windows and doors function properly, they check to make sure all safety requirements are met.... smoke detectors, CO detectors, hand railings, etc, etc., etc. They provide valuable information to both the sellers and the buyers about the home.

After the house is inspected is when the re-negotiations sometimes start. Since the buyer's market kicked in... the buyers are suddenly asking for everything and anything to be repaired, updated, upgraded. And the seller's are looking at request lists that are longer then ever.

The buyer's attitude (sometimes expressed by the agent) is often, "Well, it's a buyer's market, and if they don't do it, we'll find another property." Even when it is spelled out clearly in the agreement that the house is selling "AS-IS" and is carefully worded by legal council, the buyers are coming back to ask for more.

So what can you do? As a seller... if it's broken... fix it before you list it, if it needs attention... give it the attention before you list it... Don't think you are going to 'sell' your problems to someone else. Buyers are looking to find the "BEST" deal.... is your house it?