Negotiating repairs and credits after the inspection

Your inspections are done, the reports are in, and now there is a list. Maybe it is short. Maybe it is longer than you hoped. Either way, this is a normal and expected part of buying a home, and it is one of the moments where having a calm plan really pays off. You are not stuck with whatever the reports found. You have choices, and there is a sensible way to work through them.

Let me lay out the options and how I think about them.

Your four options after the inspection

Once you know what the inspections turned up, you generally have four ways to respond:

• Ask the seller to make repairs. The seller fixes specific items before closing, using their own contractors.
• Ask for a credit. The seller gives you money at closing to handle the items yourself after you own the home. This usually shows up as a credit toward your closing costs.
• Ask for a price reduction. You lower the purchase price to account for the work, then handle it on your own timeline.
• Accept the home as-is. You decide the findings are acceptable, ask for nothing, and move forward.

There is no single right answer. The best choice depends on what was found, how the market is behaving, and what matters most to you. Sometimes the cleanest move is to do nothing and keep the deal simple.

Why credits are often cleaner than repairs

When buyers ask me which to request, I often lean toward a credit, and here is the reasoning.

If you ask the seller to do repairs, the seller controls the work. They hire the contractor, they pick the materials, and they are motivated to do it for the lowest cost before they hand over the keys. The result may be fine, or it may be the minimum. And if something is not done well, you are now chasing a previous owner about it after closing, which nobody enjoys.

A credit puts you in control. You get the money, you choose your own contractor, and you decide how and when the work gets done. You can prioritize what matters and do it to your own standard. For many buyers, that control is worth more than watching the seller manage repairs they will never live with.

A price reduction works similarly to a credit, with one difference worth knowing: it lowers your loan amount and your tax basis, while a credit gives you cash at the table to cover costs. Which one fits depends on your loan and your goals, and it is a quick conversation we can have together.

Staying inside the contingency window and keeping it reasonable

In California, this all happens during your investigation contingency period. By default that window is 17 days, though it can be negotiated shorter or longer in your contract. During that time you can investigate the property and, if needed, ask for changes based on what you learned. That window is your protected space to do exactly this kind of negotiating, so the timing matters. We keep an eye on it and make requests with room to spare.

A few principles keep these conversations productive:

• Focus on the things that matter. Health, safety, and significant cost are worth raising. A list of every cosmetic nit tends to frustrate a seller and weaken your bigger asks.
• Tie requests to the reports. A request backed by an inspector’s finding is easy for a seller to understand and respond to.
• Remember the seller has options too. They can agree, counter, or decline. A reasonable ask is far more likely to get a yes, and a yes is what keeps your deal together.
• Keep the goal in view. You want the home. The point of negotiating is to close on terms you are comfortable with, not to win every line item.

If the findings are serious enough that the home no longer works for you, the contingency period also protects your ability to walk away. I wrote separately about the real math on waiving contingencies for buyers weighing that trade-off.

Most of the time, though, this stage ends well. A reasonable request, a reasonable response, and the deal moves forward. If you are heading into your inspection period and want a steady hand thinking through what to ask for, reach out. This is one of my favorite parts of the job, and I am glad to help.