Once you have made an offer on your future home and that offer has been accepted by the seller, you’ll have a period called ‘due diligence’.
During the due diligence period, your job is basically to make sure you’re comfortable buying the home. This is when you’ll call in a home inspector and any other professionals you need to look through the house and make sure that there aren’t any issues you don’t want to handle.
After the home inspection process has been completed, issues will come to light. Every home has issues- even a brand new home!
Let’s say you just went under contract on a home built in the 1950’s. After the inspector has gone through the home, he’s discovered a few issues.
It’s decision making time! You can move in three different directions from here.
1-You decide the issues on the home are too much for you, so you cancel on your contract and get your earnest money back.
2-You ask the seller to do a few repairs for the things that are most important to you. These repairs should be things relating to health and safety that you couldn’t have known about before making your offer.
3-Ask for a price reduction. If you decide to ask for a reduction in the price of the home, you’ll want firm numbers that quote the costs of the repairs. Utah is an ‘as-is’ state, meaning that a seller can sell their home in ANY condition, as long as the buyer agrees to it.
If you ask for a price reduction, you’ll need actual bids from professionals. All of this needs to happen in the first 10-14 days of the contract period, so you have to move fast! Luckily for you, I’ve got a list of great contractors, like roofers, plumbers, electricians, HVAC, etc., so we can get a professional in ASAP to get you a quote!
If you have other questions about due diligence, feel free to contact me and I can give you specific answers about your situation that will be better than even asking Google!
