Torn on chimneys fix before listing

Hello, we are currently in preparation to list our house within a month or so. We had our relator come out and recommend some fixes prior to listing and we've taken care of most of them. However, we have a few items still hanging and wanted additional inputs.

House estimate: $280k

Repairs done so far:

- Septic aerator and pumped - $1760 (aerator just died this month of course)

- basement leaks - $2197 (includes 10 year transferable warranty)

- storm door replacement - $157

- mold remediation - $32

- hornets nest removal - $20

- landscaping - $1781 (we had an above ground pool that was removed and needed a lot of dirt to be filled in)

- carpet cleaning - $179

- tree branch removal - $1500 (widow maker from a bad resent storm)

- hvac tune up - $198

- tub reglazed - $850 (it's a toothpaste green tub that was redone before and started chipping bad, also the main bath so it needed done)

All-in - $8674

Remaining items:

Driveway - concrete driveway, very large and is rough in some places. Relator suggested to leave as-is.

Roof - older roof, probably only had a few years left. Relator suggested to leave as-is.

Chimneys - spalling on both chimneys, tuckpointing needed on both chimneys, the back chimney was an addition by a previous owner and is slightly pulling from the house. Estimate was $3,975 to fix both. Relator suggested to fix it prior to listing depending on fix price as it could get more expensive in the negotiating phase.

That would put us up to $12649 in repairs before listing, some of that was just bad luck (tree branch and septic aerator happening in the last month cost us nearly $3k).

Here's my real concern, if we fix the chimneys, they will find other things in the inspection and then we spend an additional $xxxx mount of money to fix those items. We are suddenly in the 5-6% of list price range in repairs.

Whereas, if we leave the chimneys, we could use that as the primary negotiation and get it fixed and leave some of those other minor items that end up coming up on an inspection. However, I don't want to scare buyers off with too much popping up on an inspection.

I feel like either way is a gamble, but wanted more insight from other minds. Thoughts?

submitted by /u/LOP5131
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source https://www.reddit.com/r/RealEstate/comments/1vwaa06/torn_on_chimneys_fix_before_listing/