Should seller remove wallpaper?
We just made an offer on pre-war co-op that is carpeted throughout and has dramatic (!!!) wallpaper in every room. Sellers accepted the offer instantly. No papers have been signed yet. As part of the negotiation of terms, is it reasonable to ask the sellers to agree to deliver the apartment free of wallpaper and…
We just made an offer on pre-war co-op that is carpeted throughout and has dramatic (!!!) wallpaper in every room. Sellers accepted the offer instantly. No papers have been signed yet. As part of the negotiation of terms, is it reasonable to ask the sellers to agree to deliver the apartment free of wallpaper and carpet? Or is it at all reasonable to negotiate a slightly lower price at this point to take into account the cost of removal? Should we have taken this into account before we made the offer and now we should just suck it up? There is no way to tell the condition of the floors under the carpet, and it will take a fair amount of work to remove all the wallpaper from this 920 sq ft apt. We are first time co-op buyers and friends have told us that there is room for negotiation even after an offer is accepted.
We don’t want to lose an opportunity to ask for something that we might be able to get, but we don’t want to be obnoxious either!
Thanks very much for any advice.
Oh wait, sorry, this is a coop. I didn’t realize. Sure, go to town on the wallpaper and carpet. The coop is responsible for everything that matters.
there are a million ways to re-negotiate. have you read the by laws, board minutes see the budget and the issues of the co-op? everything is negotiable. in this market, unless you are borderline obnoxious you are probably paying way too much. i have seen one or two offering places out of a hundred in the past year i would say were reasonable.
indeed, since you knew about the wallpaper and carpet, it seems like you are second guessing the fast acceptance of your bid. as a first time (read: gullible) buyer and the nature of your question, i wouldn’t hesitate to guess you are. for the last year i have been wondering what morons have been paying the prices that have been reported. after seeing a lot of the comments on this board, it is becoming evident. realize there are a lot of people entwined with the RE market on this board who don’t like remorseful bidders. i will admit i know a lot of people have been bidding out of curiosity and walking away (like ebay) when accepted. however, because of the huge gulf between asking and selling prices, this does not bother me as it is like most other assets today. don’t be stupid – re-negotiate until they are willing to walk away. even then you are likely to be only modestly overpaying imho you have to be willing to walk away right now. we are in a free-fall.
ps. no way you can fill in all those holes with woodfiller and have it look good. I once tried something similar. Looks horrible and doesn’t blend in.
I don’t think it’s appropriate to do the work before you close. Basically they would be ripping apart their apartment (walls and carpet) and you could still walk away before the close (albeit without your deposit). Generally the seller’s lawyer will keep them from doing buyer-directed work before the place is in fact bought.
You could ask, but I doubt you would get a yes from the sellers.
You could ask for a discount, but you really should have factored this into your offer already.
Haley
As my father always said, “It can’t hurt to ask.”
Bolder, can’t you fill those holes with wood filler in a color that will blend in with the wood? Aren’t you being crazy picky?
I think the comment about the floor being fair game for inspection is valid. I suspect you’ll find that there are a lot of tiny holes where the nailers for the carpet go, and that the floors may not be salvageable even if they could be sanded. That’s the case in our living room, and we’re just, well, living with wall to wall there.
But if you have the stomach for it, in this climate, you could ask for a lower price based on wallpaper removal. I wouldn’t, though, as real estate karma is not to be trifled with.
This comment would be a whole lot more useful if I could remember the brand name, but I once applied a liquid to some old wallpaper and after letting it soak for the recommended time, it pulled right off the wall. I had tried all sorts of methods in the past and when I saw it work, I said to myself, “where have you been all my life?”
inlude the carpet removal in the contract or negotiate a slightly lower sale price at the closing thru your lawer.
don’t give up there is always a way.