Some time ago we listed a very fine home in an exclusive community outside of Nashville. The neighborhood was wonderful, the price point was great, and we were thrilled to have obtained this listing. It's important to note that at the time this occurred this community was in a buyer's market.
The sellers were wonderful people: kind, considerate, and a joy to work with. We made suggestions to them about decluttering and getting their home ready for the market. They cooperated completely. Everything was going great. Or so we thought.
You see, sometime after the home was put on the market our homeowner had dropped a large heavy pan on their cooktop. It had cracked. They did not mention it to us, and they did not amend their disclosure. We were unaware of it until a buyer's agent mentioned it to us after a second showing.
We talked to the seller about it and he said that the cooktop functioned perfectly well, and besides, we didn't know for certain it would come up in a home inspection! We were stunned. We told him in no uncertain terms that they needed to make that repair as soon as possible. They didn't.
Sure enough, sometime later we received and accepted an offer from that same couple whose agent had mentioned the cooktop. They performed a home inspection and listed a number of things to be repaired including (of course) the cooktop.
Our seller balked at the list of repairs. He eventually agreed to replace the cooktop, but would not agree to repair many other relatively small items on the list. We were directed by our seller to counter on the repair list.
By now you can guess what happened. The buyers decided to walk. The agent explained to us that since our seller had been so difficult surrounding the repair list (and especially the cooktop), they were concerned about what else was wrong with the house that had not been disclosed or caught in the home inspection.
The sale was lost and unfortunately, no other offers were forthcoming. The seller withdrew the home from the market.
In this case the sellers missed the opportunity to sell their home because they said,
"I'm Not Making That Repair!
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