"Subject to satisfactory home inspection"

Omaha Real Estate Contributed by David Matney with Alliance Real Estate

Everyone understands the importance of a professional home inspection when buying a home. However, what happens if the seller does not want to fix or address an issue? Is the contract automatically null and void? Normally, there is a home inspection addendum to address the specific time frames of the home inspection. However, just because the seller will not fix an item does NOT give the buyer an automatic release.

First of all let me say that I am not an attorney. When an issue arises like this it is best to seek legal advice. A while back we had a buyer purchasing a home in the $400,000 range. The home inspection was conducted and several issues were found. The seller did not respond in a timely manner to the items and the buyer decided to back out. Not so easy, the seller decided to then fix the items after the fact. After attorneys were hired on both sides the buyer was still on the hook because the "items were not material in terms of price in relation to the price of the home."

In the end, the sellers did finally decide to release the buyers. However, this could have been avoided if the contract was "contingent on a satisfactory home inspection." That would have protected the buyer and would have saved a tremendous amount of hassle for everyone involved. By having that in the contract it would mean if ANY issues were found the buyer had the opportunity to back out.

When issues and disputes arise it is best to seek qualified legal counsel. Every situation is different and legal counsel will be able to help resolve issues such as this.

Thanks,

David Matney, CRS,GRI

Alliance Real Estate