Tips to Negotiate Repairs and Property Upgrades When Buying a House

By Tali Wee

As a homebuyer, there’s no such thing as the perfect house. Even if you find your dream home, you may still want to have some rusty appliances replaced or a new fence built. 

In order to speed up the process, or to win the seller over, some buyers overlook their concerns about upgrades… and end up taking on the costs and labor themselves. Many buyers also fail to realize that their real estate agent can help them negotiate for upgrades. 

Fortunately, you don’t just have to accept a home as-is. If you’re wondering how to negotiate repairs and upgrades when buying a house, here’s how to do it confidently.

1. Insist on an inspection

Unless it’s brand new, the home you find will have some wear and tear. It could be a small issue like holes in the walls where photos were hung. Or it could be something bigger, like an odd smell coming from mold in the walls.

But even new homes can have problems. For example, the house might not have basics like glass enclosures for showers or complete lighting fixtures.

You may not catch all of these big and small issues before you submit an offer, so it’s crucial to include a home inspection contingency in your offer. This allows you to do a few key things:

• Choose how many days you need to complete an inspection.
• Cancel the contract and recover your deposit if the inspection goes poorly.

To properly determine the condition of the home, and pinpoint the upgrades you need, it’s essential to hire a licensed contractor for the inspection. While your real estate agent can initially examine the property with you, you can follow-up by asking them to recommend a trusted inspector.

According to Angi, a service that connects homeowners to service providers, the average cost for a home inspection is $343 in 2025. That price is easily worth it when you consider all of the costly issues the inspector can unearth with the electricity, plumbing, roofing and more. 

On top of that, when it comes to essentials like stoves and refrigerators, your mortgage lender will require the appraiser to verify that they’re fully functioning prior to closing, which helps your negotiating power.

2. Research the cost

After attending the inspection, make a list of the items you want upgraded. While the seller is not required to fix any of the problems found during inspection, understanding how to ask for repairs can give you leverage. 

As you go through your list, prioritize the items that are necessities. If the seller is hesitant to make all of your upgrades, you might consider cutting the nice-to-haves and focusing on the essentials. 

Once you know what your deal-breakers are, check with your agent or a contractor to get an estimate of what each one will cost. 

3. Know your options

Once you have a sense of what your upgrades will cost, you’ll need to prepare to negotiate. 

If this step makes you anxious, know that you can lean on your real estate agent for help. According to a report from Clever Real Estate, buyers who have agents are about 55% more likely to get repairs and upgrades paid for by the seller than those who don’t. 

When it comes to upgrades, you can typically take a few different approaches to getting the outcome you want:

• Negotiate for the seller to make specific upgrades.
• Ask for closing cost credits (also called seller credits) which involve the seller paying you for the cost of the upgrades at closing.
• Make the purchase more affordable by asking for a lower price.

Which option is best for getting upgrades covered? It depends on the work that’s needed. If there are items that will impact your daily life, like leaky tubs, push for them to be repaired before you close.

If there are minor issues, like scuffed walls or broken interior doors, you could be more successful asking for a seller credit. This also allows you to do the repairs to your liking. 

Just keep in mind that lenders don’t allow seller credits to exceed your closing costs. So if the price of upgrades exceeds your closing costs, you might have to ask for a price reduction.

Ultimately, the seller may refuse all of these options. If they do, be realistic with yourself about whether or not the home is still a good deal. If the cost and labor involved with the home upgrades or repairs are too much for you to handle, be prepared to walk away. 

Tali Wee is a Marketing Content Specialist at Zillow.com. She writes about personal finances, mortgages, and home improvements for the Zillow Blog and other Zillow partners.

Views expressed are the personal views of the author, and do not represent the views of the National Foundation for Credit Counseling, its employees, its members, or its clients.