How to ask the seller for a credit or price reduction after the walk

When to ask

The ask usually comes near the end of the due diligence period, once the walk is done and the specialists have reported. Your purchase contract sets the deadline and what you may ask for, so check the dates with your broker or attorney the day you go under contract, and leave time for the seller to answer. The due diligence checklist covers the walk, the documents and the specialists that come first.

Price reduction, credit or repair

• Price reduction: the purchase price goes down by the amount agreed.
• Credit at closing: the price stays, and the seller pays the amount toward your costs at closing. Ask your lender whether your loan allows one, and up to what amount.
• Repair before closing: the seller fixes the item. You give up control over who does the work and how well.

Many buyers prefer a reduction or a credit, because they then choose the contractor and the finish. Pick the form before you write the request.

What goes in the request

Ask for repairs, not wishes. A seller will engage on a leaking roof and will not pay for your new countertops. Include:

• Safety items: a loose balcony railing, a missing smoke detector, a scorched outlet.
• Failed items: a water heater that leaks, a roof section that lets water in, a furnace that does not run.
• Worn items past their life: flooring that has to be replaced at the next turn, a cracked parking lot.

Leave out cosmetic choices and planned upgrades. They are your business plan, not a defect. List the bones first (roof, structure, plumbing, electrical, water damage), then common areas and site, then the units.

Evidence for every item

Each line in the request should stand on its own:

• What it is, in plain words, and what you observed.
• Where it is: the unit number and room, or the building and area.
• A photo or two, dated. Leave out any photo that shows a resident, their belongings or their papers: it is not needed, and it is their privacy.
• The cost to cure: what it costs to fix that item.

A line with no photo and no location invites a counter. A line with both is hard to argue with.

How to price the request

Price each item from your cost table at the middle of its range, or from a contractor bid when you have one. A bid is stronger evidence than any estimate, so get bids for the large items first; How to compare contractor bids shows how. Add up the items for the total you request.

Leave your allowance for surprises out of the request. That allowance covers what nobody could see, which is your risk as the buyer, not a condition you can show the seller. Asking for it weakens the items you can prove.

Items a specialist still has to inspect, such as a roof or a sewer line, go in as named items with their report or bid when it arrives.

Conditions and costs only

Write the request as a list of facts, not an accusation. Say what you saw and what it costs to fix. Leave out claims about what the seller knew, what the law requires or who is at fault; those belong with your attorney, and they turn a price talk into a dispute. A calm, complete list with photos gives the seller's broker something to take to the seller.

Also list what you could not see: units with no access, rooms blocked by furniture, places not walked. It shows the request is limited to what you found, and it explains why you may come back with more after a specialist reports.

What happens next

The seller can agree, offer part of the amount, or say no. Decide your own limit before you send the request: the highest price at which your deal still works with the full renovation budget. If the answer lands below that, you can go ahead; if not, your contract sets what you can do next. The due diligence checklist shows how to find that limit from your own inputs.

How DoorWalk does it

DoorWalk's seller report, Condition and cost to cure, is built from the same walk as the buyer and lender reports. It lists only repairs (safety, failed and worn items), bones first, each with where it is, what was observed, up to 2 photos and the cost to cure at the middle of the cost table range. The total is the requested price reduction or seller credit, with no extra for surprises. Cosmetic items and upgrades are left out, places not walked are listed, and a photo appears only after DoorWalk has checked that it shows no people or documents. You save it as a PDF and send it yourself.