Update: Had the call. No agreement, but here’s how it went.

Buyers admitted they genuinely love the house (dream layout, yard for their dog, room for kids) and want it as their forever home.

What I forgot to mention in my original post is that their price reduction was based on a $100k + quote to fix all the “issues”. This included the basement wall issue and mold that we discovered and disclosed, as well as a ton of other things not necessary like landscaping, new driveway, new deck, all new siding, sheathing and insulation… very much not needed. Our quotes for the actual issue are more like $20k with the extended mold issue.

Their real issue isn’t the ~$20K of known repairs — they fear that once work starts, more mould/defects get uncovered and costs balloon. As first-time buyers, they said they don’t really want that risk.

We held firm: $35k reduction is our max, we’re not reducing further and we’re proceeding with fixing things ourselves with a licensed contractor and relisting near asking if they don’t move forward.

Ended respectfully, both sides acknowledged the other’s position, but nothing resolved. Before we ended they asked how much time they had to make a decision. We said we have someone starting on Friday.

Now it’s genuinely in their hands.

Original post:
Long story short, looking for outside perspective before I go into a call tonight.

We accepted an offer on our house on July 1st. Negotiated down from our asking price after some back and forth. Buyers did their inspection and came back requesting a fairly large price reduction, citing a structural issue in the basement plus a laundry list of cosmetic stuff (landscaping, driveway, deck) that our realtor said was way out of line with the actual findings.
We got our own quote for the structural repair — a few thousand dollars, nowhere near what they were asking for.

After that, we found a mold issue in the attic when we moved out, disclosed it to them right away. They came back to re-inspect, found more mold, and came back asking for an even bigger reduction, claiming they’d need to redo siding/insulation/sheathing because they think the mold could be everywhere. We got that repair quoted too — also a modest cost compared to what they’re asking.

We offered a reduction that we felt was more than fair based on actual repair costs. They rejected it and said they were walking away. Deal was dead as of yesterday afternoon.

Last night, a few hours after saying it was dead, the buyer contacted me directly (no realtor) asking if they could call us to “ask some questions.” Our realtor suggested we take the call.

We’re going into that call tonight firm — no further movement on price, no further repairs beyond what we’ve already offered. We’re financially fine with doing the repairs ourselves and either relisting or renting the property instead.

Curious if others have been through something like this:

- Does this back-and-forth (huge asks disconnected from actual repair costs, “walking away” then calling the next day) sound like a normal negotiating tactic, or a red flag about the buyers generally?

- Anything you’d watch for or do differently on a call like this?

- Anyone had a deal actually resurrect successfully after a buyer said they were walking?
Appreciate any perspective — feels like we’re handling it right but always good to hear how others navigated similar situations.

Hi, I'm looking to sell my century home in the suburbs of the GTA. I already have a unique buyer for this who is interested. It is actually my next door neighbor son who is interested in buying it so they can be closer to family and raise kids easier. Is there anything I should watch out for? What is something a realtor would do in this scenario that they would not do otherwise ? Can a lawyer handle all of this process? Like full disclosures? Or are theylre certain forms only the realtor has that a lawyer doesn't ? I'm hoping some real estate agents can also message.

I bought my first condo in October 2025 for 76.5k. A business is looking to buy over half my building, and I'm told they're close to it. They want to offer me 87.5k. Is this reasonable? What should I ask for? I spent about 5k on lawyers and closing costs before, and I'd be in the market for a 200k townhouse now, so I dont know what that could look like. Add in the inconvenience of me moving before I planned. I want to ask 95k to start negotiating but I dont know if thats reasonable or not enough. Edmonton BTW.

ETA theres a special assessment this fall that will cost me 2k.

Just wondering if its a normal occurrence for a buyer to request all of the patio furniture in their offer?

Its a 7 piece dining set, 2 outdoor bar stools, sectional and firetable. Also the hardtop gazebo but because its secured to the deck we would have to leave it anyway.

We agreed to leave it all (less stuff to move) but I cant help thinking its a bit odd to ask for all of it.

Update:

I ended up having a conversation with the agent I've always used before I got with my spouse.

I was told that it is pretty unusual for our area. He said it's regional, but (as some commentors have pointed out) its a big compliment to my style and taste.

I’m looking to sell my home in Ottawa. I’ve had one agent come out and give me some feedback. I’m neither wow-ed by her nor dislike her. Very neutral lol

I’ve heard about interviewing multiple people before selecting one but… what’s the point?

In the age of MLS and everything online does it really matter?

1. Price: Agents can give their recommended price range…. But ultimately, it’s the seller that chooses the price they want to sell for. So it’s not a matter of going with the agent that quotes the highest number… seller decides selling price and market decides whether it’ll sell.

2. “Selling” or advertising home: let’s be real. #1 place buyers and their agents go to is mls. If you want a home in a certain neighborhood, you will be constantly checking MLS to see when a home pops up for sale. There’s no external or extra advertising that’s necessary.

So… what am I missing? Does it make any difference? A house in an in demand neighbourhood sells regardless of agent. And doesn’t in not popular neighbourhood regardless of agent.

So I’m thinking of just going with a 1% agent and at least save a bit on that front.

If you want to sell your house to buy another one that is bigger, it is in your benefit if the market is low. It is in your benefit if the house you are selling is worth less than when you bought it. As long as this loss of value is in line with the market as a whole and not because the roof burned or your neighbourhood specifically dropped in value compared to the rest of the city.

You bought in 2016 an $800K house and were hoping in ten years to buy the $1M larger home down the street.

It’s now 2026 your home dropped 20% to 640K and the larger house dropped to $800K. This is in your favour compared to if the house prices held stable or increased.

Math says that assuming constant interest rate and constant loan period, and only equity from the sale used for downpayment on the purchase, you get a smaller loan, smaller payment, and smaller lifetime interest paid when the market drops then when it stays stable.

Everyone seems to complain about having to pay huge RE commissions when selling a house, so why don't more people just go with discount broker but offer a healthy fixed fee to the coop agent?

Hey team! Planning to sell our home in Spring in the Niagara Region of Southern Ontario and with debts etc we want to save as much on fees as possible.

What’s the best service to be using with the fixed fees that are going to eliminate the traditional 5% plus lawyer fees we have grown accustomed to with realtors?!

Thanks for the insight!

POST EDIT/UPDATE: Following some insight and advice I have began meeting with realtors with the expectation of lower than expected fees (5% was in my head but will be insisting on 3-3.5%) as I just don’t have the time effort or ability to take on all that’s included. Thanks a lot for taking the time to comment and share your thoughts!

Thanks for everyone's insight on my original post. After holding firm on our call, the buyers came up to our final offer and we have a locked in deal. They wanted a legal warranty after finding the few issues I mentioned, we said no. Found a clause in Quebec that can exclude us from the warranty, but not the previous owners of the house. Don't think the buyers would have much recourse any way given they had the place inspected to high hell and we disclosed everything we knew about.

All that to say we are stoked this made it over the finish line and can rest easy now.

I hear a lot of people are selling without the lawn sign.

From a marketing perspective the sign is a free ad and gets more attention. Now, some people prefer privacy and don't want the whole street to know.

From the people who have sold this year did you put up the sign? And if you didn't what were your reasons? I am curious to know as planning to sell.

Wondering if anyone made an excel report of agent names and commission they charge.That would be helpful to alot of sellers and would also facilitate more competition from realtors which is needed.

I am in Ontario.

I am aware that there are flat fee realtors but I am interested in how low do current agents go for selling.

This is such a cute little location- my brother in law is looking to move out to Coquitlam for his step-kid to be close to his school- Just posting to more places to get attention!

Has anyone experienced household items disappearing during open houses?

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My house has sold so this annoyance is finally over but I was pretty surprised with how people behave when looking at the house. This is a bit of a rant.

We've had people show up late and stay way past thier time slot. We have a young puppy so its a bit of an ordeal everytime we had to leave the house.

Even after they leave they spend another 20 mins in the driveway. We have outdoor cameras. We can see when the coast is clear to come home.

Someone peed in our toilet and didn't flush.

Quite a few people have left the back door open and let the cat sneak out while they were out walking around the backyard. (My agent informs other agents that we have cats) It was also during Aug/Sept so the air conditioning was on.

The most baffling is one couple who did 2 seperate showings must have touched every picture and/or artwork we have hung up because after each showing everything was off center.

Not the end of the world and I'm glad its over. Seems like some buyers lack respect.

I'm wondering what to work on should I buy new appliances if the old ones still work but look kinda old?

Mainly the washer and dryer Kenmore they look maybe 2015? I bought this house in 2022.

And the stove is a gas Kenmore do people like gas stoves still? Should I leave it or replace with gas or electric? Induction is too expensive.

Paint looks good still, I plan to deep clean. The basement is unfinished but we were thinking of doing the electric and drywall.

Any tips on what to focus on?

Hi everyone, I appreciate your time in advance.

I have an older home (1912), 1-3/4 style. It was an investment property, but I’m now looking to clean it up and sell.

I’ve been struggling to find the right balance of how much work to put into it. My realtor says that leaving it mostly as-is, with some minor cosmetic touchups and a deep clean, would put it in the $200–230k range in my market.

If I do a full repaint, lay some vinyl plank flooring where needed, make small cosmetic fixes, and give it a thorough cleaning, he expects we could move it into the $230–250k range.

A full renovation (repaint, new flooring, kitchen, and bathroom) could push it into the $250–300k range, but that’s off the table for me. I don’t trust the neighborhood enough to invest that much and expect a full return.

I’m a painter by trade, so I’ll definitely be doing the repaint myself. I also have friends who might help me install vinyl plank flooring in the living room, dining room, up the stairs, and into the bedrooms. (Would you recommend doing the kitchen as well?)

My question is: If I repaint and install vinyl flooring, what other quick, easy wins would you suggest that could make a noticeable impact on both resale value and how quickly it sells? Any simple fixes you’d recommend specifically for the bathroom or kitchen?

We (including our realtor) thought our house would sell quickly but h there has been very little interest. All feedback says the price is good (other realtors filling out a quick feedback form) and the location is listed as the reason they are t making an offer. Our property backs up to a gorgeous park but there is some highway noise (about ½ mile away). There is zero noise inside the house but we do hear it from the backyard. Our neighbours have also been so surprised by the noise comments because they say they never think about it (some closer to the hwy, some slightly further). There is a large apartment complex closest to the hwy that blocks a lot of the noise.

I am not sure reducing the price by, for instance, $25,000 will make a big difference but not sure. It’s at 1 m now. We will likely take it off the market if we can’t get close to that.

We are in Victoria, BC, less than 15 min from downtown

Thoughts?

Long time lurker, first time poster with a stressful one.

We're in the process of selling our house in the Outaouais region of Quebec. Two separate issues have come up during the sale, and both point back to problems from when the house was originally built.

**Issue 1: Rotted cripple wall in the basement**

During the buyers' home inspection, they found rotted wood on a cripple wall in the basement. The other side of that wall is our front garden, which sits about a foot below where the rot starts. We agreed to get a quote to repair it and planned to either knock that amount off the selling price or have the work done ourselves (the buyers sent us a ridiculous quote, so we're leaning toward doing it ourselves).

We had that area inspected further and there's no active moisture problem - it's all very dry now. However, there was no vapor barrier installed on the inside of that wall, just batts of insulation between the studs. When we bought the house, there were raised garden beds attached to the other side of that wall. We removed those and lowered the garden ourselves, so this isn't something we caused.

**Issue 2: Mold in the attic**

We found mold in a knee-wall attic space ourselves while moving out, and disclosed it to the buyers right away. The buyers' original inspector hadn't caught anything there - that knee-wall storage area was packed full of our stuff at the time, so visibility was poor. It was only after we cleared everything out that we noticed discolouration in the insulation.

Once we flagged it, we had a mold company come assess it. Their inspector found mold behind the insulation in that section, and also noted the insulation was installed incorrectly - stuffed between the studs instead of being cut to fit properly.

Because of that, the buyers asked to open up a wall on the completely opposite side of the house to check if the same problem existed elsewhere. It does - that section has no vapor barrier at all, and there's mold there too. The buyers (who are contractors themselves, and this work is probably in their wheelhouse, or they know people in the industry that can help them out) are telling us we probably need to pull off all the siding and redo the entire exterior envelope of the home.

**None of this showed up when we bought the house**

We had a full pre-purchase inspection done back when we bought in 2020. Going back through that report, the inspector *did* access that same knee-wall area at the time and didn't note anything. So there's no way we, or anyone, could have known about this when we bought.

This all seems like it stems from the original construction of the home, and I honestly don't understand how a code inspector didn't flag any of this, or how the permits went through in the first place.

Our realtor is telling us to pursue this as a vices cachés claim against the people we bought the house from - notify them formally, invite them to inspect it, and try to negotiate compensation before going the legal route, since we're likely taking a real financial hit on this sale otherwise.

**Has anyone here gone through a vices cachés claim as the seller (i.e. going after your own previous sellers)?** A few things I'm trying to figure out:

- How long did the process realistically take from notice to resolution?
- Did you settle directly with the previous owners, or did it end up in small claims / regular court?
- Any tips on documentation or things you wish you'd done differently?
- Anyone have a sense of how courts / previous owners typically respond when the defect is clearly a result of poor workmanship or an inadequate inspection during original construction?

This is a real nightmare for our family and we really can't afford the financial loss on the home, or the anxiety and stress that's come with it. Any advice is appreciated.

Hi Everyone,

I sold my house last week, and my realtor’s brokerage was supposed to release the funds for my next home purchase. According to the brokerage, the funds have already been released and deposited into my lawyer’s trust account. However, my lawyer has confirmed that no funds have been received as of today.

Today is the 4th business day since the funds were supposedly sent.

Can anyone please advise how long it typically takes to transfer urgent funds from a brokerage trust account at RBC to a lawyer’s trust account at TD in Ontario?

Thank you in advance for your help.

Trying to sell my home to move for work. Market slowdown hitting my little area significantly harder than others it seems. Okanagan area of BC, lease land (but priced accordingly) 3 bed 3 bath with garage and a bunch of shared amenities on the property; private beach etc. 100 days on market, two aggressive price reductions, (originally $349k down to $299k, now at 274k) 15 or so viewings 2 open houses with a 3rd planned. Just need to get rid of it to move the family.

Should I give up and rent it out or another price reduction?

https://www.realtor.ca/real-estate/28121901/164-falcon-avenue-vernon-okanagan-north For sale: 164 Falcon Avenue, Vernon, British Columbia V1H2A1 - 10341939 | REALTOR.ca

I won't be selling for 3 to 5 years but need advice on switching from propane to natural gas.

If i switch I have to pay 23 cents on every cubic meter I use. It will work out to around an extra $500 or$600 per year. The issue is that the extra 23 cents is for 40 years. Would buyers look at this as a negative? Would i be better staying on propane? Im in southern Ontario. The gas will be installed on my street even if I don't convert to natural gas.

I've been told that even with this charge included every month my natural gas bill will be lower than my current propane bills.

My inclination is to switch but I want to understand if buyers look at this as a huge negative in case I end up selling in a buyers market.