Dust off the sensors at the bottom of the door. That's fixed mine twice now.

Home inspections in my area are kinda like: this property is not perfect because... So it may show up on the report. I don't think a non-functioning electronic garage door opener is a deal breaker for a home purchase. I bet the new buyer will find something else of more importance to be repaired/replaced before the doorbell appears on the fix list.

Maybe I don't understand the cost of replacing that mechanism, but an automatic garage door opener would be the least of my concerns with a home purchase. Insignificant.

Thanks everyone. I think she's feeling a lot less apprehensive. I told her she didn't have anything to worry about but I'm MOM so what do I know (g)

It shouldn't be a big deal. The buyer may ask that it be fixed or for a small amount of money off the purchase price or in cash at closing. Last time we sold the buyers raised several minor issues based on the inspection and asked for them all to be fixed. We didn't want to mess with fixing things and didn't want any possibility that they would say things weren't fixed properly, etc. So we countered with a slightly reduced purchase price (I think around $500 off of a purchase price of over $700,000). They accepted and we were done.

It should be fixed whether the inspector finds it or not. If the inspector is worth anything, he will try the garage door for a few reasons.

The inspection is not a pass or fail. It is a report on the condition of the home.