I was at a home inspection the other day with one of my Buyers. We had all arrived and were settling in for the inspection when we started to feel that something was wrong, that something wasn’t quite right.
After a quick look around, we realized that the appliances we had negotiated for in the contract were not in the house.
Hmm. Ehm, where’s the oven? And the dishwasher?
It turns out that the appliances listed for that house in MLS were never in the house. When my home buyer and I wrote the contract for the house, we included the oven and the dishwasher, because they were included in the listing in MLS. When we came to the house for the home inspection, we realized that those appliances were missing!
My buyer had a decision to make. He is owed those appliances, by the contract. I called the Listing Agent to ask what the Seller’s plan was, and was told they were planning to have an oven and dishwasher put in before we closed escrow.
If my Buyer were to let the Seller install appliances, he may not be able to specify what KIND of appliances: like stainless steel, or a flat-top range, things like that. The Seller could go purchase cheap white stuff, which my Buyer would hate.
Instead of accepting the Seller’s choice of appliance, we decided to negotiate a credit towards the Buyer’s closing costs before the end of the inspection period. This way, the Seller doesn’t have to go through the hassle of installing new appliances, and my Buyer can go purchase what he wants. If the Seller didn’t agree to the credit, then my Buyer would still have the opportunity to walk away from the deal, or to try to negotiate further.
Real Estate isn’t always a simple business, but it is almost always interesting!
