Home Inspection: Does the Seller Have to Fix Everything?

No. A home inspection report is a list of findings, not a legal obligation to repair every item on it. In Nevada, sellers are only required to disclose known material defects — what happens after inspection is a negotiation, not a mandate. The buyer can ask for repairs, a credit, a price reduction, or nothing at all, and the seller can agree, counter, or decline.

What the Inspection Contingency Actually Allows

Most Nevada purchase contracts include an inspection contingency giving the buyer a set window — commonly 7 to 10 days — to have the home professionally inspected and request repairs or credits. If the seller and buyer can't agree on a resolution, the buyer's remedy is typically to cancel the contract and get their earnest money back, not to force repairs. That leverage dynamic is what actually drives the negotiation.

What Buyers Typically Ask For

After inspection, buyer requests generally fall into three categories: repairs completed before closing, a credit toward closing costs in lieu of repairs, or a price reduction. Credits are the most common resolution in Reno because they let the buyer choose their own contractor after closing rather than trusting the seller's repair work — and they're simpler for the seller to negotiate as a single number rather than a punch list.

What's Reasonable to Negotiate vs. What's Not

Safety and functional issues — a failing water heater, active roof leaks, non-functioning HVAC, electrical hazards — are the items buyers most reasonably expect addressed, and refusing them outright often kills the deal. Cosmetic items — worn paint, dated fixtures, minor wear consistent with the home's age — are the items sellers can reasonably decline, especially if the home is otherwise priced to reflect its condition.

• Usually worth negotiating: safety hazards, major systems failures, code violations
• Usually worth declining: cosmetic wear, items the buyer should have anticipated given the home's age and price point
• Case by case: moderate items like an aging roof with remaining life, or minor plumbing issues — often resolved with a partial credit rather than full repair

What Happens if You Say No to Everything

You're within your rights to decline every repair request. The buyer's response depends on how much they want the house and how much leverage they have. In a competitive market, buyers often move forward anyway rather than lose the home and restart their search. In a slower market, or when your home is one of several similar options, declining reasonable requests outright can send the buyer back to their inspection contingency and out of the contract.

Getting Ahead of It

A pre-listing inspection — done before you go on market — surfaces major issues early, when you have time to either fix them or price the home to reflect them, rather than negotiating under a contract deadline. This is optional but often worth the few hundred dollars it costs, especially for homes with older systems or in Old Southwest and other established Reno neighborhoods where home age is more likely to surface inspection findings.

OPL Realty negotiates every inspection response for sellers — knowing which requests are worth conceding to keep a deal alive and which are safe to decline — at a 1.5% listing commission, the same negotiation service a traditional agent provides.

The inspection report is a starting point for negotiation, not a checklist you're obligated to complete. What you agree to fix should reflect what actually threatens the deal, not everything the inspector happened to note.