Home Inspectors - Negotiating a Lower Price

To help you negotiate a fair sale price for a home, it's best to get an appraisal and inspection report. Even if you agree directly with the home seller on a sale price, you may want these items to safeguard the value of your new investment.

To hire a professional inspector, contact the American Home Inspectors Directory (AHID). The American Home Inspector Directory includes inspectors from all national recognized home inspector organizations. Including the American Society of Home Inspectors (ASHI), National Association of Home Inspectors (NAHI), or National Association of Property Inspectors (NAPI). A certified inspector checks a home for: Structural components. This includes the foundation, floors, walls, columns, ceilings and roof.

Home exterior. This includes doors, windows, chimneys, decks, balconies, steps, drainage and driveway.

Plumbing. This includes pipes, sinks, drains, and bathroom fixtures.

Electrical system. This includes wiring and grounding equipment, amperage and voltage ratings, circuit breaker and lighting fixtures.

Heating and cooling systems. This includes boilers, thermostats, heat pumps, insulation, air conditioning, central controls, fans, ducts and filters.

An inspection report may exclude condition of paint, wallpaper, carpeting, household appliances and draperies. These are generally replaced by the buyer, whose tastes are likely different. You may also want a special inspection for pests, or for soil and drainage. Inspections generally cost between $250 and $500.

An appraisal is almost always required when you buy a home. However, if you disagree with the appraisal value, you can always order your own appraisal. You can find an appraiser through such organizations as the National Association of Master Appraisers (NAMA). Appraisals generally cost between $250 and $500.

Negotiating a sale price usually starts with you making an initial offer on the home. The initial offer is usually less than the seller's listing price.The seller can accept, reject or ignore your initial offer. He can also make a counter-offer. A counter-offer is a concession to lower the price to meet your offer at least part-way.

After the first counter-offer, the buyer and seller may go through a series of counter-offers to arrive at a sale price (if agreeing at all). This means the spread, or gap, between listing price and initial offer gets narrower. Armed with your own appraisal and inspection report, you can make an informed offer and more effectively negotiate a final sale price.

Article submitted by the American Home Inspector Directory

Micheal Plank
American Home Inspector Directory
http://www.americanhomeinspectordirectory.com/

The talk show host pays $12 million for the 4,088-square-foot house with four bedrooms and four bathrooms. The ocean-view home sits on 1.26 bluff-top acres with beach access.

In one of the more talked-about transactions in town, actors Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie have sold their Malibu beach house to daytime host and comedian Ellen De Generes for $12 million.

The four-bedroom, five-bathroom house built in 1920 for industrialist James Wigmore lists for $2,875,000.

A decorative cast stone entrance opens to this restored Spanish Colonial Revival-style house in Pasadena's South Orange Grove area. Built in 1920 for industrialist James Wigmore, the house retains such original details as coffered wood ceilings and arched doorways.

They don't believe they can sell their property for what it's worth, so they're spending money on making their homes more comfortable.

Do you fit any of these descriptions?

A biennial research report by the National Assn. of Realtors indicates that a handful of real estate agents and brokers and their clients either don't know the law or don't care to follow it.

When it comes to lawsuits, real estate agents and brokers tangle mostly among themselves.

The president aims to help about 3.5 million people with good credit who are unable to refinance at historically low rates because their homes are worth less than their mortgages.

 

The White House hopes to help millions of homeowners lower their monthly mortgage bill with a $5 billion to $10 billion plan to set up a streamlined refinancing program for people who are current on their payments.

The Standard & Poor's/Case-Shiller index of 20 large U.S. cities fell 1.3% in November from October as foreclosures continue to drag down the housing market.

Three straight months of home-price declines in the biggest U.S. cities showed that foreclosures remain a significant drag on a housing market that is entering its fifth year of deterioration.

L.A. Clipper Chris Paul may be quick down the court, but he moves pretty fast when it comes to buying multimillion-dollar real estate too.

Karen Mena managed to get a foreclosure on her San Bernardino home rescinded. But she continues to negotiate with Bank of America over loan terms and could still lose the house.

Foreclosure commonly represents the end of a struggle. A borrower can't pay a mortgage, loses a home and moves on.

A.F. Leicht designed quirky Spanish Revival houses in Los Angeles as well as evangelist Aimee Semple McPherson's landmark Angelus Temple. His interiors often had irregular-shaped or curved walls, rooms or hallways. This Los Feliz villa, with rounded rooms, fancifully shaped living room French doors and elliptical master bathroom, captures his signature style.