Tips on buying a house

[Morrigoon]

re: repairs

The seller is not obligated to fix them, but it becomes a point of negotiation for you. If you want them to fix it, they can either fix it, cut you a deal on the price, or risk letting you walk away from the deal. Some things you will probably get fixed, some other things you might not. Be prepared to pick your battles. Also, there are times when something you need repaired might be better done by yourself, so in those cases, you might be better off asking for a price concession. For example, let's say there was something wrong with the front door, and it needed replacing. Would you want them to replace it with the cheapest POS on sale at Home Depot that day, or would you rather get a different concession (maybe extra money towards closing costs) in lieu of repair, then apply that money now not coming out of your pocket for cc's, towards an upgraded door of your choice?

We made our sellers repair caulking in our place, and that ended up not being the greatest decision because they used some cheap-a$s plastic caulk stripping stuff that looks awful. And naturally, we've been too lazy to go in and undo that, and redo proper caulking.