Asking for repairs you were aware of prior to making offer - where's the line?

Alright, I'm going to be honest. My husband and I started looking for homes (first time home buyers) and found one that was ridiculously perfect for us in the neighborhood we wanted to live in and got a little attached. They provided multiple inspections up front (WE GOT OUR OWN, not -that- stupid) and issues were there but it didn't seem like anything major.

This house has been chilling on the market for a while (4 months) sellers are now living out of state. We put in an offer that included sewer line repair, covering our closing costs, and a bit off the top for the other issues (electric panel, water heater). Because we put in a very modest down (3%) I included a letter to woo them/convince them we were serious.

Shit got weird fast. Agent said sellers were getting a counteroffer together but it wouldn't be ready until the next day. FOUR offers came in, one cash for list, one 10K above asking with almost no contingencies beyond the standard inspection/appraisal. Other two tried to low-ball. Even our agent was like "wtf" but verified the offers were real.

Our letter apparently worked because they gave us a counteroffer that tacked on the closing costs we were asking to have covered onto the sales price (putting us at a hair below list). They agreed to pay for the sewer line repair after closing via escrow (they live out of state and can't really be there to deal with it).

To put the maybe bidding war into perspective this isn't an expensive town to buy a home in but a bunch of big film companies have set up shop here in the past year. Home prices have been squirrelly and there's a crush of California money coming in. If we're gonna get bang for our buck now's the time, it's about to get shitty.

We got the inspections, nothing huge and new but a couple things:

• the electric bid they got came in under ours by 2K.
• superficial termite damage and dry rot (treated, deemed A+ by our termite inspector) however they did not deal with the debris in the crawlspace. There are form boards that need to go. They had termite damage but there was none on the beams, since sealed.

I'm spooked by the cash offer so dont want to ask for too much but feel it's reasonable to ask for the overhead on the electric bid (done by someone I work with regularly and trust). I don't really know what I should ask for getting the form boards dealt with. I'm also wishing I had asked for a termite bond. The damage was very superficial (I come from Florida where termites are just something to be dealt with) but I'd still like the peace of mind.

In the end we love the home, it feels totally solid, and is a bit of a weird gem. Built by a locally renowned builder in 1961 and kept mostly original, classy mid-century AF. Brand new roof, less than six months, with warranty, new windows, 4 year old furnace with ducting. Owners were well-heeled CFOs (should have the damn sense not to be negligent), childless, and have lived here for 30 years. They had a structural done by a good friend of mine, he said he thought of making an offer. The worst things about it are the ancient appliances (90s, fridge is new) and it's in a funky neighborhood but one we love and have lived in for 8 years.

We can afford it. As of today our mortgage would be less than 12% of our income. We don't have a ton of cash right now but managed to save our down in less than 4 months, we ain't hurting. I'm just worried about rocking the boat but also feel like I was a bit cavalier in accepting the counteroffer so fast. It's also 25K under initial ask.

Thanks for slogging through my wall of text. I'm just freaking out because this is huge.

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source https://www.reddit.com/r/RealEstate/comments/ex1z2e/asking_for_repairs_you_were_aware_of_prior_to/