Some negotiations at an impasse after home inspection

My understanding is that, per the standard real estate contract language, inspections are simply to guarantee “habitability,” i.e., integrity of the structure and major systems such as plumbing, electric and climate control.

Would the seller be justified in keeping the earnest money if a buyer backed out of a contract based on an inspection that did not reveal such major problems but merely the purported need for minor repairs that the seller was not willing to do at the contracted selling price?

A: Good question. We’ve often wondered the same thing.

Back when Sam started his career as a real estate attorney, it seemed that buyers were focused on making sure that things that were actually broken were fixed by a seller. Now it seems that buyers often ask sellers to not only fix things that are broken but want many items (like appliances) to be new.

Forty years ago, professional home inspections were different from what buyers today experience. Back then, a home inspector walked around a home with a home inspection checklist and would note things that were wrong with the property. At the end of the home inspection, the home inspector would hand the original copy of the home inspection to the buyer and the inspector would keep a carbon copy of the report. (Yes, back then inspectors used carbon copy paper for their reports.)