How to Negotiate Repairs After a Home Inspection in Cobb County, GA
What Happens If a Home Inspection Finds Problems in Cobb County, GA?
In Georgia, a home inspection doesn't cancel a contract on its own. Once your inspector's report comes back, you and the seller negotiate directly through a GAR Amendment to Address Concerns (Form F704), asking for repairs, a closing credit, or a price reduction. You have until your due diligence period ends to reach an agreement or formally terminate; miss that deadline without a deal, and Georgia's default rule kicks in: you're buying the home as-is.
TL;DR
- Georgia's due diligence period is the only window where you can walk away for any reason and get your earnest money back, so any repair negotiation has to close before it expires.
- Repair requests go through the GAR Amendment to Address Concerns (Form F704), and the seller can accept, reject, or counter; there's no legal obligation to fix anything.
- If you don't reach an agreement and don't terminate before due diligence ends, the home is automatically accepted as-is, and objecting to its condition afterward usually costs you your earnest money.
- A closing credit often beats a seller-completed repair, but it counts toward your loan program's total seller-concession cap (FHA 6%, VA 4% beyond standard costs, conventional 3-9% by down payment).
- On a typical Cobb County repair like a roof (about $8,100 average) or an HVAC system (about $7,500 average), a credit is often easier to land than getting the seller to hire a contractor before closing.
Georgia's Due Diligence Period: Your Window to Ask for Repairs
Every GAR purchase contract for a home in Cobb County includes a negotiated due diligence period, the stretch of time after your offer is accepted when you inspect the property, verify financing, and review the title before deciding whether to move forward. During this window, you can terminate the contract for any reason, or no reason at all, and get your full earnest money deposit back.
That protection is also what gives you leverage on repairs. Georgia law doesn't set a fixed length for due diligence; it's whatever you and the seller agree to in the contract. In a slower market like today's Cobb County, buyers are often securing seven to ten days. In a competitive, multiple-offer situation, that window can shrink to three or five days to make the offer stand out.
Most Cobb County buyers spend the first two or three days of due diligence just scheduling and completing the inspection, which means a ten-day period can leave you with a week or less to actually negotiate and land a signed agreement. Book your inspector the day your offer is accepted, not after you've had time to celebrate getting the house.
If you're buying a resale home in Kennesaw, older systems like the roof, water heater, and HVAC are exactly what your inspector is trained to flag first, and they're usually the items worth spending your negotiating time on.
The Amendment to Address Concerns: How the Negotiation Actually Works
Once you know what's wrong, you and your agent put it in writing on a GAR Amendment to Address Concerns (Form F704). This document lists your specific requests, tied to page numbers or photos from the inspection report, and gives the seller a deadline to respond.
The seller has three options: agree to your terms, reject them outright, or send back a counteroffer. There's no rule in Georgia that requires a seller to fix anything the inspector found, even something serious like a failing roof or outdated wiring. The Amendment to Address Concerns is a negotiation, not a demand.
Say your inspector flags a twenty-year-old HVAC system still running but nearing the end of its expected life, a section of roof decking with soft spots near a chimney flashing, and a bedroom outlet with no GFCI protection nearby. I'd typically advise asking for a closing credit tied to the HVAC and roof items, since both are large-ticket and functional, and requesting the outlet be brought to code as a straightforward repair, since it's inexpensive and a genuine safety item.
This is where I tell every buyer I work with the same thing: don't ask for everything on the inspection report. A sixteen-page report full of minor cosmetic items buries the two or three things that actually matter, and it signals to the seller that you're difficult to work with before you've even closed. Focus your ask on safety issues, functional systems, and anything that would show up again on an appraisal or a future buyer's inspection.
Repair, Credit, or Price Cut: Picking the Right Ask in Cobb County
You generally have three ways to resolve an inspection issue, and they aren't interchangeable.
- Seller-completed repair. The seller hires a contractor and fixes the issue before closing. This works fine for smaller items, but it hands you no control over who does the work or how well.
- Closing cost credit. The seller reduces what you owe at closing instead of doing the repair themselves. You control the contractor and the timeline after you own the home.
- Price reduction. The sale price itself comes down, which lowers your loan amount rather than your cash to close.
A credit is often the cleanest option, but it isn't unlimited. It counts toward your loan program's total seller-concession cap, the same cap that applies to any other seller-paid closing costs. FHA loans cap total concessions at 6% of the sale price. VA loans cap concessions tied to the buyer's costs at 4%, on top of otherwise-uncapped standard closing costs. Conventional loans scale the cap with your down payment, from 3% under 10% down up to 9% at 25% or more down.
Here's what some of the more common inspection findings actually cost to fix around Cobb County, so you can size your ask realistically:
| Repair Item | Typical Cost Range | Average |
|---|---|---|
| Roof replacement | $4,950 - $13,500 | ~$8,100 |
| HVAC system replacement | $5,000 - $12,500 | ~$7,500 |
| Electrical panel upgrade | $1,320 - $4,560 | ~$2,230 |
As a Certified Residential Appraiser as well as an agent, I look at these numbers a little differently than most. A repair that restores a home to normal, functioning condition, like a roof or an HVAC system, usually supports the price you're paying. A repair that's purely cosmetic rarely moves the appraised value at all, which means asking for a credit on it is often the stronger move rather than asking the seller to spend money on something an appraiser won't credit back to you anyway.
What Happens If You and the Seller Can't Agree
If you and the seller don't reach an agreement on the Amendment to Address Concerns before your due diligence period ends, Georgia's default rule takes over: you're buying the home as-is. No further negotiation, no discount, no do-over. This is the single most common mistake I see buyers make: letting the clock run out while they're still going back and forth over line items.
If the seller won't budge and the issue is serious enough to walk away from, you terminate the contract before due diligence ends using a Unilateral Notice to Terminate (Form F522), and you typically recover your full earnest money deposit without a fight. Termination after due diligence ends is much narrower, generally limited to financing falling through or a genuine title defect, and objecting to the property's condition at that point usually puts your earnest money at risk.
If a dispute comes up over releasing earnest money, the holding broker or attorney can issue what's called a ten-day letter, giving both sides notice before disbursing funds according to their read of the contract.
None of this means you should threaten to walk over every issue, either. Sellers in Marietta and across Cobb County can tell the difference between a buyer negotiating in good faith and one trying to renegotiate the price under the cover of an inspection report, and overplaying your hand can sour a deal that was otherwise fine.
Frequently Asked Questions
Do I have to accept whatever the seller offers on repairs?
No. If the seller's response to your Amendment to Address Concerns doesn't work for you, you can counter again or terminate the contract before your due diligence period ends and recover your earnest money. You're never obligated to accept a counteroffer you don't like.
What's the difference between a repair credit and a price reduction?
A closing cost credit lowers what you pay out of pocket at closing but still counts toward your loan program's seller-concession cap. A price reduction lowers the sale price itself, which reduces your loan amount and can also lower your appraisal risk since the contract price and the appraised value move closer together.
Can I still walk away after the due diligence period ends?
Only in narrow situations, mainly if your financing falls through or a genuine title defect turns up. Trying to terminate over the home's condition after due diligence has expired usually means forfeiting your earnest money, which is why the deadline matters more than almost anything else in the process.
What if the seller refuses to fix anything?
Sellers are never legally required to make repairs in Georgia. If you can't reach an agreement before due diligence ends and you don't terminate, the property is accepted as-is, and your only remaining leverage was the deadline that just passed. This is exactly why timing the negotiation matters as much as the request itself.
Do I need an attorney to negotiate repairs in Georgia?
Georgia requires a licensed attorney to handle your closing regardless, but the day-to-day repair negotiation on the Amendment to Address Concerns is typically handled by your agent. If you're buying in Kennesaw or elsewhere in Cobb County, you can also see how other buyers have approached inspection issues at Path2Sold.com.
Repair negotiation isn't about winning a fight over a home inspection report. It's about knowing which items actually matter, sizing your ask to real repair costs, and getting a signed agreement before your due diligence deadline passes. That last part is where most buyers lose ground without realizing it.
Whether you're under contract in Acworth or anywhere else in Cobb County, I walk every client through their inspection report line by line before we send a single word to the seller. Schedule a consultation with me, Robert Masoudpour, Associate Broker in Atlanta, GA, and get a clear, personalized plan for handling repairs with confidence. Schedule a 15-minute consultation
