In Buyer's Market, the Message Is: Fix It, or Else

The broken outdoor spigot was almost a deal-breaker for Kymberly Falkler.

When she and her husband, Jonathan, began house hunting recently, they knew they wanted a residence in move-in condition, and they were willing to walk away from any sellers who balked at their requests for repairs.

Indeed, the three-level townhouse-style condo they saw in Arlington was in good shape. Falkler said she instantly fell in love with its hardwood floors and open, airy design.

However, there was a small sign taped to the outside spigot, explaining that it didn't work.

"We were looking for a townhouse type of house with a back yard and a hose. Without that pipe working, we would have walked away from the home," Falkler said.

Like the Falklers, many of today's would-be home buyers are demanding that sellers fix every problem they find. If they don't, the buyers will walk away. After all, there are plenty of other houses on the market.

It's all made life even more difficult for sellers who are already struggling to attract solid offers.

To repair the spigot, the Arlington sellers -- who had lived in the home for five years, during which the outdoor faucet had never worked -- would have had to pay a plumber to cut through a wall. It was a costly repair, in the $3,000 to $5,000 range.

The sellers initially balked, but they relented to save the deal. The $420,000 sale closed in early March.

"With the market we have now, the buyers are really picky. They are looking for everything to be done," said Jessica Richardson, an agent in the Alexandria office of McEnearney Associates who worked with the Falklers.

"Most of the sellers I deal with do have a good understanding of what is going on in the market right now," she said. "If they want to sell their property, they realize that they have to take care of almost every problem a buyer finds."

In the face of picky buyers, however, some sellers are giving up. Dan Krell, a real estate agent with Fairfax Realty in North Bethesda, has seen this happen.