If your Gilbert, AZ home inspection turned up major issues, you have four practical options: renegotiate the price, request repairs before closing, ask for a repair credit, or cancel the contract under your inspection contingency. Nothing in an inspection report forces you to buy or to walk — the report exists to hand you the facts while you still have the leverage to act on them. Which option makes sense depends on how severe the finding is, what it costs to correct, and how much of your inspection period is left.
What Counts as a "Major Issue" on a Home Inspection?
Not everything highlighted in red is a crisis. A major issue is generally something that affects safety, structure, or a major system — the kind of item that costs real money and cannot be deferred indefinitely.
In practice that means:
- Structural movement — foundation cracking, settlement, compromised framing
- Roof failure — widespread covering damage, active leaks, failed flashing
- Electrical hazards — improper or amateur wiring, damaged panels, missing GFCI protection at wet locations
- Plumbing failures — active leaks, failing supply lines, a water heater at end of life
- HVAC failure — a system that cannot cool the house, or ductwork that has come apart in the attic
- Significant moisture intrusion or mold growth
Everything else — a loose railing, a stuck window, a missing outlet cover — is maintenance. Sorting the two is the entire job of the first hour after you get the report.
Why Does an Independent Inspector Matter Here?
Because the person who tells you how bad it is should have nothing riding on the answer. Every Leading Edge Plus Inspections report is produced by an InterNACHI certified inspector working under AZ License #20942, with no financial interest in whether the deal closes.
That independence is what makes the report usable in a negotiation. Serving Gilbert and the East Valley since 2003 and with 20,000+ inspections completed, the standard is the same on every property: document the condition, photograph it, explain what it means, and let the buyer and seller decide what to do about it.
What Are Your Options as a Buyer After a Bad Inspection Report?
You have four, and they are not mutually exclusive.
Renegotiate the price. The simplest path. You ask for a reduction that reflects what the repairs will cost, and you handle the work yourself after closing on your own timeline with your own contractor.
Request repairs before closing. You ask the seller to correct specific items and provide proof of the work. Best reserved for safety items and anything a lender will require.
Ask for a repair credit. A middle path. The seller credits money at closing, you control the repair. Many buyers prefer this because a motivated seller tends to buy the cheapest fix available.
Cancel the contract. If the contract's inspection contingency is still in force and the problems are beyond what you are willing to take on, you can withdraw. That option is exactly why the contingency exists. It is also why a home inspection East Valley buyers order early is worth more than one squeezed in on the last day.
What Can a Seller Do When the Inspection Comes Back Rough?
Sellers have leverage too, and panic is the wrong first move.
You can complete the repairs and keep the price where it is. You can decline the repairs and adjust the asking price instead. You can offer a credit. Or you can hold firm and sell as-is, which is a defensible position in a market with real demand and a buyer who wants the house.
The one thing you cannot do is un-know the finding. Once an issue is documented, it is a disclosure item for the next buyer too — which is why sellers across the East Valley increasingly order a pre-listing inspection Tempe AZ and Gilbert agents recommend, and get ahead of the whole conversation.
Which Major Issues Show Up Most Often in East Valley Homes?
Arizona produces its own list. On a typical Mesa AZ home inspection or a Gilbert property, the recurring big-ticket findings are:
- Roofs cooked by years of direct sun — brittle underlayment, dried flashing sealant, failed vent boots
- HVAC systems that are functional in March and marginal in July
- Attic ductwork that has separated, collapsed, or lost its insulation
- Grading and irrigation that push water toward the foundation instead of away from it
- Stucco cracking and failed sealants at penetrations
- Water heaters well past their service life
None of these are exotic. All of them are expensive to discover after closing.
How Do You Decide What to Ask the Seller to Fix?
Work down in this order:
1. Safety and habitability first. Electrical hazards, gas issues, active leaks, anything the lender will flag.
2. Major systems next. Roof, HVAC, structure, main plumbing and electrical.
3. Everything else last, if at all. Asking a seller to fix twenty small items rarely gets you twenty repairs. It gets you a defensive seller.
A focused request on three real problems lands far better than a fourteen-item list, and it protects your credibility for the items that actually matter.
Can a Seller Refuse to Make Repairs?
Yes. A seller is not obligated to fix anything an inspection reveals unless the contract or the lender requires it. When that happens, the ball goes back to you: renegotiate, take a credit, accept the condition, or exercise your contingency and move on.
That is not a failure of the inspection. That is the inspection doing its job — you are making the decision with the facts in front of you instead of finding out in your second August in the house.
What Should You Do the Day You Get the Report?
Read the summary, then read the full report. Call the inspector with your questions — a good one will take the call and tell you plainly whether an item is a five-hundred-dollar problem or a five-figure one. Then get one real contractor quote on anything significant before you name a number in a negotiation.
Guessing at repair costs is how buyers ask for too little and sellers reject too much.
Who Is Leading Edge Plus Inspections?
Leading Edge Plus Inspections is a home inspection company based in Gilbert, AZ, serving buyers, sellers, and homeowners throughout Gilbert and the East Valley — including Chandler, Mesa, Tempe, Scottsdale, and Queen Creek. Inspections are performed by Kelly Lopez, who is InterNACHI certified and works under AZ License #20942. The company has 20,000+ inspections completed and has been serving Gilbert and the East Valley since 2003. Every inspection is a visual, non-invasive review of the home's major systems and components, delivered as a written report with labeled photos.
How Do You Schedule a Home Inspection in Gilbert AZ?
Call (602) 581-5678 or book online at leadingedgeplusinspections.com. Whether you are a buyer searching for a home inspector Gilbert AZ families trust, someone typing "home inspector near me Chandler" into a phone at the kitchen table, or a homeowner in Queen Creek who wants to know the condition before a repair bill decides for you — get the report while you still have options.