Lender Required Repairs on a Home In the San Francisco Bay Area

Dealing with lender-mandated fixes poses a tough hurdle in home transactions for buyers and sellers alike. Such repairs are prevalent in standard home loans as lenders prefer funding houses ready for immediate occupancy.

Generally, neither party is consistently liable for covering these repairs. The responsibility for repairs is open to negotiation, either falling solely on the buyer and the seller or being split between them. Failure to address lender-mandated fixes could derail the sale. In such instances, selling the property in its current condition to a cash buyer may be an option worth considering.

Lender Required Repairs on a Home in San Francisco Bay Area

Want to learn more about handling lender-required repairs? Check out the rest of this blog!

Lender-mandated fixes are critical concerns with property and need resolution for the lender to fund its purchase. These fixes become crucial, particularly with Federal Housing Administration (FHA) or Veterans Affairs (VA) loans.

Lenders insist on repairs to safeguard against potential losses if the buyer defaults on their mortgage. The property serves as collateral, ensuring that its value can offset any unpaid loan amounts and associated penalties. Lender-mandated repairs are recognized for enhancing property value, prompting lenders to demand thorough inspections and resolution of all identified issues.

What are Lender Required Repairs in San Francisco Bay Area

Appraisal Required Repairs

If you applied for a Fair Housing Administration (FHA) loan to buy a property, here are the FHA lender required repairs that you need to carry out in a certain time frame:

  • Downspouts that are unpainted and rain gutters that are broken
  • Peeling paint
  • Outbuildings that are already rotting
  • Doors that don’t open and close properly
  • Exposed junction box and faulty wiring
  • Leaks and plumbing issues
  • Non-functioning HVAC systems
  • Damaged or leaky roofs
  • Roofs that only last for three years
  • Pest infestations
  • Rotting support columns, eaves, and window sills
  • Missing appliances that are typically sold with the home, ex. stove, air conditioning, water heater
  • Structural issues
  • Wet or flooded basements
  • Standing water present in the crawl space
  • Kitchen appliances that aren’t working
  • Unusable pools
  • Ripped screens
  • Broken or leaning fences
  • Code violations involving a converted garage

The Veterans Affairs (VA) loan requires repairs that are centered on the structural soundness, security, and safety of a property. Here are some of the VA lender required repairs tagged as Minimum Property Requirements:

  • The home’s mechanical systems should be safe and in working order
  • There should be adequate roofing and heating
  • There should be no exposed wiring
  • Basements and crawl spaces should be dry
  • No fungus growth, termites, and dry rot
  • Lead-based paint should be removed

Conventional loans aren’t supported or provided by the government. Typically, these loans come from credit unions, banks, mortgage firms, and other private lenders.

Because there’s no government involvement, traditional lenders usually have fewer stringent repair demands compared to VA or FHA requirements.

However, most traditional lenders may still ask for substantial repairs post-home inspection, like replacing roofs, addressing fire and water damage, and preventing mold.


To identify what VA or FHA lender required repairs are needed in a home, mortgage servicers typically depend on the disclosure of the seller and the appraisal report. 

How Do Lenders Determine Required Repairs in San Francisco Bay Area

seller’s disclosure document details all the major issues of the home that the homeowner is aware of that can hinder the new owner from enjoying the property.

Here are some of the things that can be included in a seller’s disclosure:

  • List of repairs needed and repairs that are already completed
  • Threats to safety such as if the house is prone to flooding or near a fault line
  • Pests and termites
  • Death on the property

An appraisal report is a document that details the market value of the property based on its physical condition, quality, and location. This objective report is furnished by a professional appraiser after a home inspection.


You can’t escape FHA lender-mandated fixes when selling nowadays. Lenders demand repairs to safeguard against losses if the buyer defaults. Even private lenders expect these fixes before approving loans. The only way to dodge FHA repairs is to sell differently, opting for cash buyers who buy as-is, saving you from pricey repairs.

We’ll talk about the cash buyer-selling process in a later part of this guide.

Can You Avoid Lender Required Repairs in San Francisco Bay Area

Who covers VA or FHA lender-mandated fixes hinges on talks between the buyer and seller. Many assume it’s the seller’s duty, but actually, it’s a shared responsibility.

State laws don’t dictate payment for lender-mandated fixes, so both parties need to agree swiftly to seal the deal.

Who Pays for Lender Required Repairs in San Francisco Bay Area

In connection to who pays the lender’s required repairs, sellers and buyers have five main options to deal with such matters. Note, though, that it would still depend on how the negotiation turns out.

Options for Buyers and Sellers in San Francisco Bay Area

In the typical real estate scene, buyers often wield more sway when it comes to negotiations. They may ask the seller to handle all the fixes demanded by the lender, along with any extra repairs, especially if the property’s price seems inflated compared to its true market worth, as determined by the appraisal.

To maximize their profit, many sellers require repairs to be shouldered by their buyers. When a buyer refuses, they let the sale fall through and wait for another buyer to step up and pay for the lender required repairs. This is most common in a seller’s market.

If the buyer and vendor want to reach a middle ground or neither holds significant bargaining power, they’ll share the expense of repairs mandated by the lender.

For example, the vendor may cover the expense of redirecting pipes for improved water flow, while the buyer would be responsible for the cost of remedying and cleaning a moldy closet.

Most buyers depend on a loan when buying a home, so they don’t really have the cash to deal with lender required repairs.

If this is the case, the seller may take care of the lender’s required repairs and increase the selling price of the property. This way, the buyer won’t have to pay repair fees with cash but through the financing of the lender or loan company.

If it is decided that the seller would pay for the lender required repairs, but doesn’t want to use his earnest money to pay for it upfront, the buyer can pay in the meantime and ask the seller to lower the selling price of the home.

In other words, the cost of lender required repairs is deducted from the sale proceeds.

This is the final and likely least desirable option. If the buyer and seller can’t agree on who will cover the repairs needed by the lender, the sale will collapse. If that occurs, all the negotiating time and effort will be for nothing. However, it will give the seller a chance to seek out another buyer who may be willing to cover the lender-required repairs.


We get how stressful it can be to handle repairs the lender wants, especially if your buyer is using a standard loan. Here’s another option: sell your house as-is to a cash buyer!

Getting a cash offer is pretty common nowadays to skip lender-required repairs. It speeds up the whole sales process by cutting out those repairs and loan applications.

Basically, even if your house is in rough shape (like it’s been hit by a storm, has squatters, or is a hoarder’s house), it can stay as it is and the cash buyer will still make an offer.

Cash sales are more dependable than traditional ones, where regular buyers may back out because of the repairs needed for an appraisal.

If you decide to sell your house quickly to a cash buyer, the process is straightforward. You request a cash offer by calling or filling out a form on the cash buyer’s website. Then, they’ll come to your property to make an accurate offer.

sell the house as is in San Francisco Bay Area

If you accept the offer and sign the contract, the sale moves on to closing.

The time it takes to sell to a cash buyer and sign the contract is much shorter compared to scheduling a home appraisal and doing repairs in a traditional real estate deal.

Lender Required Repairs on a Home in San Francisco Bay Area

Who covers the costs for repairs that the lender demands can be a tricky matter. There’s no strict rule saying who must pay according to the law, but everyone bears some responsibility.

Repair expenses when selling your previous property can soar into the thousands. Both buyers and sellers need to negotiate fairly to handle required repairs swiftly for the appraisal and to finalize the loan.

Alternatively, sellers can choose to receive a cash offer and sell the property as-is to dodge required repairs from lenders. Cash buyers, as mentioned earlier, cut out the involvement of lenders entirely from the sales process.

If you’re looking to sell your property quickly without the headaches, contact us at We Buy Houses in San Francisco Bay Area. We’ll present you with a reasonable offer and handle any necessary repairs so you can avoid the hassle.

Fill out our form below or call us at (408) 557-7554 to sell your house and avoid lender required repairs!

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The Easiest Way To Sell Your House Fast In San Francisco Bay Area

You’re in the driver’s seat when you accept our cash offer for your house. We make the process simple, fast, and easy to follow when working with us. You have no obligation to accept our cash offer for your home when contacting us for a fair cash offer for your home. No matter the reason you want to sell your house, we want to buy your home as is. Remember that you get many benefits that include no real estate agent commissions, no cleaning, no improvements, and no stress. Our cash offer for your as-is house assures you of fast cash payment at closing with a reputable Title company. You can count on our company to give you a fair cash offer for your home! If you’re still thinking, “I need to sell my house fast”, calling us could be your best decision all day. 🙂

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Gagan Saini

Author: Saini

My name is Saini, and I founded the We Buy Houses in San Francisco Bay Area team with years of experience in the real estate industry. I have assisted numerous sellers in selling their homes quickly, “AS-IS”, and for a fair price.

He’s been featured in multiple publications including Yahoo Finance, GoBankingRates, LegalZoom, The Mortgage Report, Apartment Therapy, US News and World Report, and SuperMoney among others.

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