Appreciation post: the home inspector who saved me $6k with one sentence

I was dead set on this cute little house in Oakwood, had my offer accepted and everything. The inspector walked over to a corner of the basement and said 'looks like they painted over active water damage here.' I was skeptical at first, thought he was just being dramatic to justify his fee. But he showed me the moisture meter readings and pointed out the bubbling paint, and I asked the seller to knock $6k off the price to fix the drainage issue. Has anyone else had an inspector spot something that seemed minor but turned out to be a huge deal?

3 comments

3 Comments

torres.riley1d ago

Did you end up walking away or negotiating? I had a similar thing with old plumbing that saved me way more than I expected.

zaranelson1d ago

Yeah negotiating saved me a ton too, it's crazy what you can get by just asking.

wade_anderson1d ago

Walking away worked for me on a used car once, but plumbing is different. @torres.riley you're right that asking about older stuff can save a ton, but I wouldn't walk away from a plumbing job unless it's way overpriced. Usually you need to negotiate down a bit because the first quote is always high. I ended up getting $400 knocked off a water heater install just by saying my budget was firm.