What is negotiable after an inspection, and what is not

Nothing in the report is required by virtue of being in it

An inspector documents condition. They do not issue orders, and no item becomes mandatory because it was written up. Your inspection contingency gives you the right to renegotiate or to walk. It does not give you the right to compel anyone to pick up a tool.

This cuts both ways in practice. Buyers assume a deficiency obligates the seller, and sellers assume a refusal ends the conversation. Neither is right. What you have is leverage and a deadline.

What is genuinely on the table

More than most people ask for. The mistake is treating the repair itself as the only currency when several of these are easier for a seller to say yes to.

• The repair, done by the seller before closing.
• A credit at closing instead, so you control who does the work and keep the recourse if it goes wrong.
• A price reduction, which is not the same as a credit and interacts differently with your loan.
• A specialist evaluation, which costs the seller very little and resolves your largest unknown.
• The closing date, which matters more than people expect when a repair needs lead time.
• A home warranty, or an existing transferable manufacturer warranty being documented and handed over.

What is not negotiable because a third party decides it

Some conditions stop being a negotiation the moment someone other than the buyer and seller has a say.

Government-backed loans are the common one. FHA, VA, and USDA appraisals apply minimum property requirements built around safety, security, and soundness. If the appraiser flags a condition as failing them, it gets resolved or the loan does not fund. In some cases a lender will permit an escrow holdback so the work can finish after closing, with money withheld from the seller's proceeds and released when it is done, but the rules and the caps vary by loan type and by lender, and the most serious safety items usually have to be complete beforehand.

Insurance is the other one, and it catches people late. A carrier can decline to bind a policy until a roof, a panel, or a water heater is dealt with. No policy means no loan, which makes an insurer's condition just as binding as a lender's even though nobody in your transaction works for them.

Permitting and HOA architectural rules belong in the same category. If the jurisdiction requires a permit for the work, agreeing between yourselves to skip it does not make the requirement go away, it just moves the problem to whoever owns the house next.

What is not negotiable because it is a duty rather than a term

A seller's disclosure obligation is not a contract term you can trade away. In virtually every state a seller has to disclose known material defects that are not readily observable, and an as-is clause does not generally override that. The standard is what the seller actually knows. They are not required to go find out.

This matters when you are reading a report next to a disclosure statement that says nothing. A quiet disclosure is not proof of a quiet house, and it is not a defence for the seller if they knew.

The findings where we refuse to give you a number

Some items cannot be priced honestly from a report, and pretending otherwise would hand you a figure to negotiate against that has no basis. Foundation repair, retaining walls, sewer lines, and moisture or mold remediation are the ones we will not attach a range to. Scope is exactly what a visual inspection does not establish, and the midpoint of a range that wide describes no real house.

On those, the ask is the evaluation rather than the repair. A structural engineer's written report runs a national planning corridor of roughly $400 to $900 before any state adjustment, and a trade specialist's diagnostic visit is roughly $200 to $800 on the same basis. Both are small next to what they scope.

It is also worth remembering that when your inspector wrote “recommend further evaluation”, they asked a question. They did not make a finding. Arguing it as a confirmed defect is how a credible request stops being credible to a seller holding the same report.