new blog

So, you now have buyers for your home and have negotiated a price, signed the sale contract and it is in escrow.  The buyers, as all wise buyers should, have scheduled their inspections of your home.  One of the inspections is of the on-site sewage disposal sustem, commonly known as a septic tank and leach field.  The inspector has visited the site and he has some bad news.  He said “the septic system has reached the end of its useful life and must be replaced.”

Your reply is: “I have lived here for 28 years and have never had any trouble with the system.  When I flush the toilet it always works.”

Inspector: “Yes, that is the nature of septic septic and leach fields in that they do function and then fail without notice.”  Many people fall into that trap that “not seen no problem.”  However, as with most things in life sewer systems require maintenance.  We will deal with that in a a future article.

But, for now, what do you do when you are about to lose these buyers?  They are about to cancel their purchase contract based upon the “failed” septic system.

NEGOTIATE!  Offer to have the system repaired or replaced as the case may be.  However, a new system may cost as much as $30,000 and you have already lowered your price to the lowest amount you can afford to sell. 

Your choices are limited.  First you can tell the buyers that you will not or cannot afford to pay for repairs.  They will then most likely walk away from the sale.  Second you can offer to split the cost of of repairs, after all they will be getting a system that should last them another 30 years.  They may or may not be agreeable to such a solution if they have really fallen in love with your house.  Third you could offer to lower the price to offset the cost of repairs.  Thus saving this sale, but ending up short of the money you need to further your dreams.

One other option is to offer to replace with failed system with this functional one.

Any time negotiations are reopened after the initial purchase contract has been agreed upon there are risks of losing the sale, but sometimes that is the only solution.  You can avoid flushing your sale.  A much better course of action would have been to eliminate the need to reopen negotiations.  Prior to putting your house on the market have the usual inspections completed.  This would include inspections that most sellers and buyers think of such as pest and roof.  However, you should also consider having other inspections that are less common and less known and sunseen such as the septic system.  Then you will know what the potential obstacles to a sale are prior to obtaining a buyer and thus avoid the hazards of having to renegotiate after the fact.

More on inspections and septic systems in a future article.

Photo courtesy of Texas Hold ‘Em Blogger

There are fixers and then there are “FIXERS.”  What is meant by this term?  Are we talking about the latest sports news item about the NBA referees manipulating the outcome of games?    Or, the chemicals used in the old fashioned method of printing photographs?  Maybe the legal “fixer” as in the movie “Michael Clayton” starring George Clooney.

What exactly are you asking when you  say to a real estate agent “Are there any fixers for sale?”  None of the above? 

It is obvious none of the “fixers” above are intended.  Is this what you have in mind?

I am often asked if there are any fixers currently for sale.  The conversation usually goes something like this.

New contact buyer: “I would like a fixer in the woods.  It doesn’t have to be large.  Just a cute little cabin or small house on at least an acre. I am handy and do quite a bit of work.  I want to spend no more than $jjj,jjj.”

Me: “Yes, there are a couple that are currently on the market. They are just a short drive from the Village. One is on a wooded and level 2 acre parcel with a good well. It does need quite a bit of work, but well priced at $jjj,jjj.  The other is price a bit higher at $kkk,kkk, but does have some marketable timber on a rather steep 5 acre parcel.  Would you like to see them?”

New contact buyer: “Oh yes, they sound delightful.”

So we go to see these fixers and the conversation is as follows:

New contact buyer: “I am not up to taking on this much work.  I had in mind something requiring a little less work.?”

Me: “OK. I can show you some properties that need less work.”

After showing several houses it becomes perfectly clear that what this buyer had in mind was something that maybe needed a little paint in a coule of rooms, but wanted to purchase it at the falling down price.  They had imagined this.

The moral to this story? Define our terms.  What is a fixer to one person may be a house in near move in condition needing a little paint and to another with the skills of a master carpenter is a house that requires a new foundation, plumbing and roof. While to another this is what they have in mind.