I don't know what the rules or common practices are in your state (don't know what state...), but your Realtor is your best resource.

If this were my own personal house, I'd guess the fire door is a red herring, thrown in to distract me from the buyer's real goals.

If my buyer wanted a fire door, I'd likely install one *if that were the only thing between me & waiver of the termination option*.

Since there are more requests involved, though, I tend to think (again, if this were my home, not telling you what to do with yours), I'd strike through it.

My logic is that the door is the one that was there when they looked at the house, & it's doing its job.

& why would you need a fire door between house & garage?

I could see a fire door & fire walls in a condo, where you're at the mercy of your neighbors' habits (fall asleep on the couch, cigarette in hand), but what's the risk of a fire starting in the garage of a detached single family home?

I'd guess the garage is the least likely place for a fire to start, unless that electric panel is a really bad one, in which case why did the city not red tag it when the house was built?

& if a fire did start in the garage, the fire door wouldn't keep it from spreading via the attic-you'd have to install a fire wall in the attic as well.

If the panel is bad, & you replace it, then why would a fire door be needed?

Again, your Realtor is your best guide.

If this were my house, if the panel meets code, I'd be inclined to tell the buyer that it meets code, it's doing the job for which it's intended, & a new panel is not on the table.

If the panel is a fire hazard, you'll have to do something about it whether you sell or stay.

but...
Unless the panel itself is dangerous, an electrician can almost always correct any problem without replacing the entire panel.

(can't remember the brand, but there was one brand of electric panel, built, seems like, during the '70's, that has been linked to a higher incidence of fire; your insurance carrier can likely tell you the brand, & if you have one, you need to pull it out & replace it pronto).

The roof...

I don't understand exactly what's wrong, or what the buyer thinks is wrong, but if it were my house, I'd wait until the roofer looks at it;
sometimes when a house is re-roofed or has roof repairs, the roofers drop heavy bundles of shingles on the roof & crack a rafter or two or seven.

If that's what happened, then something does need to be done, whether you sell the house or stay there.

& if the buyer's insurance company won't write a policy until some sort of repair, roof or otherwise, is done, it's likely that any other buyer's insurance company will make the same requirement.

I hope your sale goes through, & I wish you the best.

1 & 2 I would say no to unless houses take forever to sell in your area and you'd risk losing the buyer. My response would be that these items are grand fathered in as far as code goes due to the age of the house and if the buyer wants to upgrade to today's code they can do so themselves. This is part of buying an older house. I personally have never asked a seller to fix something to current code unless new construction. Code changes constantly.

3. I would want to find out if there is an issue and would be an item I would negotiate on, both as a buyer and a seller.

Both are requirements for homes under the current building codes but are grandfathered in for older homes as that met the code when they were constructed. Yes, I too would want to have those items changed (at some point). And as a buyer, I would try to use that as a negotiating tool in any home sale, particularly in a buyer's market like it is in most areas of the country. That doesn't mean that you should agree to having those items done, just that it's being used as a negotiating point and you should remove the emotion from the situation and view it as such. Perhaps come back with a higher sales price in order to cover having the work done, or agree to the fire door alone. Either way, your real estate agent should be advising you on the negotiations.

Hello everyone again and thank you for your good advices. A litle bit more info about the house. We accepted the offer 6% less than listing price and under average compared to other ones recently sold near by. The listing agent is also representing the buyer whom she doesn't know anything about. The buyer found the house on his own, called her up, had her show the house one time and made the offer despite the house backing up to a street which is the biggest complaint from other buyers keeping them from making offer. We had this house on the market last year, expired, took if off the market for a couple months and back on with this new agent since late September. It's vacant by the way. This buyer doesn't mind the location when asked by my realtor! Anyway, my realtor told me yesterday to get estimates but don't do any repairs because the buyer would consider to do repairs after closing if compensated which she said would help to get the house closed asap because of the holidays. Of course, we want the sale to go through but we don't want to "fix" things that's not broken. My realtor has asked me once if I would be willing to offer an amount for closing to compensate this. It's almost like in this buyer's market, the seller is the sole loser all the way around!

The real estate agent who is your listing agent is your agent. S/he cannot "represent" a buyer, and should have only your interests in mind. Of course s/he wants to make a sale, but the realator does not "represent" the buyer.

If this were my house, I'd hold fast, especially if you have already accepted an offer for 6% less than the listing price. The buyer has just saved enough money to address any of his stated concerns.

Good luck on your project.

I'm speculating, but it sounds to me like the buyer may be an investor and looking to rent the house and thus will need the fire rated door. I know in some areas this is a requirement for a rental home.

Generally real estate commission is structured 50% to the buyer's realtor and 50% to the seller's realtor. Then the realtors give their brokers a cut. Since your real estate agent is doing both sides of the transaction, she should be able offer some flexibility on the commission. If she is also the broker then she is getting 100% of the commission, which is a gold mine for a real estate agent.

How does this help you? For instance, if the fire door is $500, your agent could reduce her commission by that amount so your net will be the same. Don't be afraid to ask.

Deee, I thought about asking the realtor to reduce her commission, but would that be unethical to ask since I have already signed listing agreement long before this offer came along? Would this be one of those situations where the realtor should come in and help out without being asked?

I'd also ask the agent to contribute for the new door. There is nothing unethical about asking. You also agreed to a list price but you are not getting that. This agent also wants this sale to complete to get both sides.

virgilcarter, depending on location the agent certainly can represent both the buyer and the seller.

Offer $150 for the door and $150 toward the electrical for a grand total of $300 credit to buyer at closing.

The door is simply something that the inspector noted. Fire rate doors (and drywall) are often required in garages because cars/lawnmowers could catch fire. It's to protect the rest of the house and contain the fire to the garage. Thicker drywall and fire rated doors give extra time for the fire dept to put the fire out before it spreads.

Your older home didn't require the fire rate door. Basically, I think it is an exterior door. Likely $200 + or -.

Likely this buyer does not plan to get a new door. they are just looking to nickel and dime you and get a credit on these small items. Make them happy and throw them a few dollars as compensation.

realize they might come back and try to up the credit you give them. It's a negotiation game and you have some pretty minor items so play the game and throw a few hundred dollars their way so you can close the sale.

Wait until the roofer comes to find out more info on the roof. get roofer to put their findings in writing. You likely have a warrantee on the roof if you got it new.

Also ask the roofer about the rules for transferring warrantee to new owner. when I sold, I got paperwork and gave to buyer. It had a rule that warrantee (for roof) could be transferred to new owner but it must be within X days of closing. if usually comes from the manufacturer of the roofing material...you go by their rules. Sometimes you simply send a letter to their address and give the new owner details, closing date and specify the date of roof install, type of shingles, etc.

I think if you gave this info to the buyer, they would love it and more likely to move forward with the sale. You might get by with fixing nothing on the roof and passing the warrantee info to them on the roof matter.

We sold vacant land recently, and our agent was also the buyer's agent (more of a rural thing, I think). Anyway, our contract with him said that if this happened, the commission would be reduced from 5% to 4%. Does your contract state anything about this?

"Likely this buyer does not plan to get a new door. they are just looking to nickel and dime you and get a credit on these small items."

Since the house backs up to a busy street, & it's vacant, & no one else has put in an offer...

you might do well to work hard to get this closed.

I wish you the best.

A fire rated door is most often just a steel exterior type door. Given the age of the house, it's likely there is a wood door from the garage to the house. The inspector likely "had" to make this notation.

I don't fully understand what you are saying is wrong with the electrical, but again, it sounds like a newer code is in place and the inspector "had" to note it.

I would look into the roof issue, especially since the roof is only four years old.

Laws and customs vary in different locations. In my area sellers are not required to bring a house up to current codes such as a fire rated door or electrical panel. It comes with buying an older house.

virgil-you are "wrong." In many areas an agent can enter into "dual agency" and represent buyer and seller. Not knowing the laws of the OP's state, you can't really say if that is the case or not.

Hi again and hope everyone had a Merry Christmas. Out of town family just left and here we are back trying to get the estimates going so we can respond to the buyer tomorrow.

You are all correct about the fire-rated door that the inspector only noted "modern constructions standards typically require" and is advisable for safety and security.

The one electrician said we didn't have to do anything, but we are going to get a second opinion just to be sure, hopefully we can get someone out today.

The roof, we found the warrantee cert. and it sure is still under cover, not sure if whatever is wrong now would be covered though. The roofer who did our roof 4 years ago did come by the house on Monday, left a note that he was there but gave no other info so we will have to chase him down today to see what he found.

One of the 4 items on TRR is the chimney that I did not mention with my original post because we didn't have any question and didn't think much about it. We simply thought we could get an estimate to fix the cracked mortal on the crown and the clay flue without any problem. Well the one guy came out on Monday could not give estimate because his son was out of town (hello???) and he thought it would be a major fix! His worst case scenario would be to tear down the chimney an rebuild and that could cost us an arm and a leg and certain would kill the deal!!!! We had to pay him $50 for this bad news! The whole 11 year we lived there, we only used the fireplace 2 or 3 times and that was why we put "unknown" on the seller disclosures. We're having hard time getting people out for estimates due to the Holidays so I'm not sure if we even have everything together to respond by tomorrow, the deadline. This is very stressful!

And no, Ottawa, my contract doesn't say anything about reducing commission if agent also represents buyer :( I wish it did.

We had a busy day but productive and I thought I would give everyone an update.

Another electrician came out, basically said the samething as the first one and quoted $80 (1 hour) for correcting the problem. We went ahead and had him do the fix. There was 1 breaker for just one exterior outlet outside the garage, he removed this breaker and combined the wire to another circuit breaker that was just for one outlet inside the garage for the sprinkler control. That brought the number of hand throws to turn off the electricity to 6 - meet the code!

Got a hold of the roofer who did the inspection on Monday. He wasn't part of the crew that did my roof 4 years ago but he did take pictures and will have someone call us tomorrow. From him, it sounds like we would be covered and they would do the repair needed!

Another chimney sweep came out and inspected and gave a quote for $800 to repair and $1800 to reline, ouch! The repair cap is $1000.

We will wait to get something in writing from the roofing company tomorrow and will have to decide how to respond to the buyer. Thanks everyone for listening.

For anyone who's following my post...We've sent the estimate for the fireplace repair, the invoice for the electric repair and the document stating repair work from the roofing company to the agent. The roof repair warranty will be tranferred to the new owner for 1 year. And refusing to replace the door. Agent emailed back saying that buyer is considering making it a cash deal??? I'm not sure what that means. We worked our tails off for the repairs/estimates just to hear that...weird.

The agent means that the buyer will want you to pay them the amt of money for all the estimates combined. then the buyer will likely not get any of the work done and will pocket that money. Or maybe the buyer gets the work done by another contractor or possibly the one you chose, or maybe the buyer does the work DIY.

The buyer might increase the estimates to add an amt for a door. Or maybe the buyer says the talked to someone else about the estimates and the amt is really more expesive. The game is for the buyer to get more money from you via the inspection checklist items.

How bad was the estimate for the chimney work? And the roof work?

For the chimney work, $800 to repair clay flue, mortal bed, new cap...up to code.

Since the roof is only 4 years old, we are still under warranty for workmanship. They will remove and replace ridge row and tranfer repair warranty to the new owner for 1 year, all in writting.

A cash deal typically means a cash purchase instead of one financed with a mortgage. It has nothing to do with inspection and repairs. It does mean a faster closing, as you don't have to deal with bank approvals and paperwork.

Weedyacres, I sure hope you are right. It's just weird and confusing that the agent stating that in her reply right back to my email about the repairs/estimates. I have noticed that this agent is short in communicating...totally opposite of my previous agent who was very lengthy!

"There was 1 breaker for just one exterior outlet outside the garage, he removed this breaker and combined the wire to another circuit breaker that was just for one outlet inside the garage for the sprinkler control. That brought the number of hand throws to turn off the electricity to 6 - meet the code!

I'm REALLY confused. Isn't there a master breaker, labeled "MAIN" that cuts off everything with one click?

Are houses in your area limited to 6 circuit breakers?

There is no main disconnect. you can have more than 6 breakers but all electric service to the house has to be turned off by operating no more than 6 breakers.

There used to be an old type of panel called a 'split buss panel' that had 6 two pole breaker slots in the upper half, all for 240 V loads.

ONE of those was than used to feed the bottom half of the panel, and the remainder for other 240 V loads.
It met the NEC at the time since 'six hand operations' opened all six two pole breakers.

If one of the upper two pole breakers was replaced with two single pole breakers, you now would need 7 'operations of the hand' to shut everything down.

There are a couple ways to fix this, and you found a simple one.

This post was edited by brickeyee on Sun, Dec 30, 12 at 16:39