Inspection Repairs - Who Knew?

The big picture is why would EITHER side blow a deal over $150-450?  Bargaining on principal gets very expensive.  Does your buyer not "love" the property?  Or are they just looking for the best deal possible?  Seems like it's a nominal amount to dispute for EITHER side.  :)  Best of luck with that one!

Just a matter of education about the market. Even in a hot seller's market, unless there were buyers waiting in line outside, why start over for a few hundred dollars. Your seller could be costing himself/herself tens of thousands as a result. 

Carol,

I am never surprised anymore when it come to dealing with the other side of any transaction.  The responses on minor matters (and considering you had everyone braced for at most $1k in repairs) always makes me wonder who is in control for that side.

What I hear most in cases like yours is that a cleaning is not a defect, crazy however that is the response.  You need to remember that you have the duty to protect and satisfy your Buyer,when possible, at all costs....and that is in any market.

I wish you continued success.

Inform your client that the heating season is upon us.

As such, it would be to their benefit to have  both the outside condenser unit and the air handler unit serviced. (I'm assuming that it is a heat pump)

This cleaning will keep the unit running at the efficiency for which it was designed.

Cleaning the coils is usually a matter of spraying on a coil cleaner and hosing it off. Something any home owner should be capable of doing.

If your buyer is incapable of this task, then they should contract with an HVAC company to maintain and service their unit.

This sounds like a "wear and tear" issue that falls onto the buyer.

Heck... I ALWAYS recommend that a unit be serviced when they take possession of the property.

Putting my Listing Agent hat on...As Dan noted, I wouldn't consider "cleaning" a defect either, so why do the Sellers have to pay for that item? If your Buyer has allergies, any HVAC cleaning, duct cleaning, and carpet cleaning should have been negotiated at time of sales price negotiations...so the Sellers could factor that into their bottom-line.

As a Buyers Agent...I would ask the Sellers to pay an additional $450 in Buyers closing costs...which may get negotiated to $225. Then the Buyer can have it cleaned before move-in.

Continuing saga of Home Inspections...  I think you are right, I'm afraid your seller is, hmmm, let me find acceptable words, unaware of the difficulty of selling anything in this market... The seller needs a wake-up call.

Present the facts to the seller;

Pay for the cleaning,

or

Roll the dice, take the one in X shot that you will find a buyer next month if the buyer decides to look elsewhere.

I think the odds are better in vegas at the moment

Push the issue to the ridiculous.  $450/365 days = $1.23/day or the equivelant of a McDonald's double cheeseburger, or 1/2 a cup of Starbucks coffee or 1/3 of a Cappacino, or 1/4 of a Frappacino or 1/5 of a Hardee's Thick Burger or 1/6th of Subway value meal or 1/7th of ...... Oh, well, you get my point.

I had this exact thing happen only I felt that the buyer was crazy enough to walk.  I split the 100 cleaning with the seller.

There's an old quote that covers the situation and it appears that you have embraced it.

"Half a loaf is better than none"

Good for you... that's customer service.