I guarantee that every home inspection will show something that could be fixed. Most buyers can handle the minor things, but when the number adds up, many times the buyers and sellers will negotiate something for it.

With the larger issues, often times buyers and sellers will negotiate some sort of credit and/or the seller may offer to fix a thing or two.

Sometimes, a seller HAS to fix something, if they want the sale to go through.

If a property needs something fixed in order to get insurance, the seller has to do it.

But why wouldn’t the buyer do it since they are buying it?

Because it isn’t their home just yet. And as much as we all think this property is transitioning to this buyer in a matter of days or weeks, nothing is 100% in real estate.

What if:

There is a problem with title?

There are liens on the property?

Open permits?

The buyer can’t get the financing even if the insurance works out?

Countless things could go wrong and the property could not close.

Well, what happens to the work the buyer could have paid for to get the property in the shape it needed to get insurance?

Congrats, they just fixed up someone else’s property for them. What nice buyers!

As much as it sounds so simple, a buyer should never spend money or work on a property until they own it.

I had a listing, where the seller needed a new roof so they could only accept cash, since you couldn’t get insurance to get financing. A buyer (who needed financing) said that he would go to contract to fix the roof during the contract, so that it would be done before the closing and he could get financing.

It sounds simple, right?

Sadly, this was a really poor idea.

What if he couldn’t get the financing even if he did put a roof on?

What if the roof was done incorrectly and caused more problems with the house?

What if while the roof was inspected, and the city saw more code violations?

What if the roofers started the roof, disappeared and then the buyer decided he didn’t want the house? My seller could be stuck trying to sell a property without a roof!

(The list could go on.)

There is no good reason, for the buyer or the seller, for a buyer to do work on a property before they own it.