There comes a time in most house sales when the buyer and seller have to decide who will pay for any necessary repairs.

Who should take care of it? As with all real estate matters, it depends.

Let’s say the inspection revealed a number of problems: The roof is leaking into the attic, the dryer's door doesn’t shut properly, a few windows are painted shut, the water heater is on its last legs and several window screens are missing or torn.

The buyer and seller agree that the most egregious of these items must be addressed. But who’s going to pay for the work?

Certainly, most buyers want the place move-in ready: no balky air conditioner, clanging pipes or half-working stove to deal with. Consequently, buyers tend to ask sellers to cover these repairs. But that’s not always the best option, according to many realty professionals: They say it’s often better to ask the seller for a credit at closing to cover the cost of the needed fixes.

“I usually recommend that my buyers request a credit instead of a repair,” said Illinois agent Alan May on the ActiveRain website. “The sellers, when doing a repair, will do so as cheaply as they can. As the newest owner of the property, you want to make sure the repair is done to your satisfaction.”

Therein lies the first rub. Sellers tend to spend as little as they can on the necessary fixes. Some even attempt to do the work themselves to save more.

“For sellers, repairs are often just another task to complete before the sale,” said Minnesota agent Bob Elliot. “No one will put more care and attention into fixing a new home than the buyers themselves.”

Buyers who still want the sellers to handle repairs should stipulate in the contract that repairs must be done by licensed professionals, and that paid invoices must be provided at closing. Also, there should be a time limit in which the repairs must be completed.

Without such a proviso, buyers leave themselves open to lousy or even faulty workmanship, which they will have to deal with after they move in. And without a time limit, closing could be delayed for weeks if the sellers drag their feet.

Sellers, on the other hand, are usually already focused on their next homes and don’t want to be bothered with repairing the ones they're about to leave. So it is often worth it to part with some money at closing and walk away scot-free.

But sellers shouldn’t agree to an amount until they have a fair idea of what the requested fixes would actually cost. They should obtain estimates on their own -- as should buyers, to make sure they are not undervaluing the cost. Otherwise, one side or the other may give away too much.

Both parties also need to be “very specific about what is expected and what will be done,” advises Hawaii agent Georgie Hunter. “You had better keep a written record of every detail and conversation.”

Buyers, meanwhile, should make certain their lenders will accept credits at closing for repairs. Some, like FHA-insured and VA-guaranteed loans, won’t. Indeed, the FHA won’t fund a loan unless the repairs are complete and paid invoices from licensed contractors are submitted to underwriters.

That brings to the table another option: The sellers can lower their price to match the amount on which they and the buyers agree is enough to cover the needed repairs. Unfortunately, that choice doesn’t put any cash into the buyer’s hands to get the work done. So if money is tight, it might be best to allow the seller to make the repairs.

Don’t just hope for the best: Be very descriptive in your requirements, demand that licensed contractors do the work (no handy homeowner fixes allowed), and ask for paid invoices to be presented at closing. Realize, though, you cannot require that repairs be made over and above what is called for in your local building codes.

Before settlement, have the place reinspected to make sure the repairs were done correctly. If possible, it is best to hire the original home inspector who flagged the flaws in the first place.

Visually, the fixes “may not be what you had in mind,” warns Virginia agent Pam Dent. But as long as everything is up to code, you're good to proceed.

If not, or if the repairs were not completed in the allotted time frame, the buyer has several choices: Postpone closing until the repairs are completed; ask the seller to put funds in escrow to cover the costs; request a credit from the seller to complete the work; or renegotiate what has to be done.

Obviously, this all involves a lot of give-and-take between the parties. You can always call it quits and move on, but don’t give up without trying to strike a deal. Take a deep breath and keep at it.

You’ve come this far, says Tennessee agent Tammie White, so don’t allow “a knee-jerk reaction to cost you the home of your dreams.”

To reach out-of-state buyers, Arizona homebuilder Camelot Homes recently ran a "Fly and Buy" incentive that covered traveling expenses. In Texas, meanwhile, Highland Homes offered buyers a free generator -- just in time for hurricane season.

Both of those promotions are now over, but they are prime examples of how far homebuilders are going these days to move product. Many are still offering exceptional deals, especially on homes that are move-in ready.

“While many builders ramped up promotions in the spring and summer, fall is often the best time for buyers to find deals,” according to BUILDER, a trade publication.

Ali Wolf, chief economist at Zonda, a new-construction consultancy, says that while "there's nothing new about incentives," today's discounts “are more pervasive across projects, and the dollar amount as a percent of home prices continues to rise.” Even so, sales are not always living up to expectations. Wolf said that some markets are underperforming despite the giveaways.

According to the National Association of Home Builders’ latest tally, two-thirds of builders everywhere were offering some kind of incentive in August. For the most part, they are throwing in free upgrades, helping with closing costs, discounting prices or buying down their buyers’ mortgage rates. Some are offering to delay buyers’ mortgage payments, match any future price reductions or buy back the house at its original price.

As compiled by the trade journal, here are some of the best deals from builders across the country. Starting with national offers:

-- K. Hovnanian Homes is proffering generous price cuts on select "quick move-ins" in various communities. In one Florida property, the discount is almost $130,000.

-- LGI Homes is offering a zero-down incentive at several communities.

-- Taylor Morrison is offering no-interest payments for the first seven months at several markets.

-- M/I Homes is offering to buy down buyers’ mortgage rates, pay their closing costs and provide free design upgrades.

On a market-by-market basis, says BUILDER, companies are responding to high loan rates, high prices and a shaky economy with “a growing array of incentives to help buyers move forward.” Here are some local offers, as compiled by the magazine:

-- Atlanta. Toll Brothers is discounting prices from $25,000 to $56,000 at several projects. Lennar has dropped prices from $25,000 to $100,000 at two locations. Buyers at Beazer Homes receive $50,000 to spend any way they like. And Smith Douglas Homes is offering a low-rate mortgage with no closing costs.

-- Austin. For houses priced in the mid-$300,000s, Lennar has lowered prices by up to $73,000 in three locations. And for houses priced from the high $200,000s, Meritage Homes has slashed prices by as much as $75,000 on move-in ready houses. KB Home has discounted prices from $25,000 to $35,000 at several communities in the city’s higher-end market. Toll Brothers will trim up to $112,000 off its $1 million houses at one location.

-- Charlotte, North Carolina. Lennar has sheared prices by up to $55,000 in numerous communities. And in one neighborhood, David Weekley Homes is giving buyers 1% of the house price to use as closing costs, plus $20,000 as a discount or for closing costs.

-- Dallas. Beazer will buy down mortgage rates for four years, while KB Home and Lennar are offering price cuts up to $60,000. Elsewhere in Texas: In San Antonio, PulteGroup will give quick-move-in buyers a 4.25% mortgage rate, as well as half off design options (up to $30,000) and 6% toward closing costs.

-- Orlando. Discounts here span a wide range, the magazine reports. At one Beazer location, for example, buyers who can close right away can combine price concessions with closing-cost offers up to $73,000.

-- Raleigh, North Carolina. At one grand opening, Profile Homes is giving the first 13 buyers in one community $13,000 for closing costs, plus a washer, dryer, refrigerator, window blinds, backsplash and luxury vinyl plank flooring on the first level.

-- Washington, D.C., area. Richmond American Homes has slashed prices “on a few homes” at one location by $100,000, while Lennar is slicing prices at its townhouse property in Charles County in suburban Maryland by up to $71,500.

They’ll continue to open new projects, she says, but “they're not going to be as aggressive” about starting houses until they have a sales contract in hand. She calls it "a big lesson learned from past cycles."

Homeowners eager for mortgage rates to dip so they can refinance their places may have to wait quite a bit longer.

A study from Neighbors Bank says folks whose current loans are in the 6.5%-7% range would have to wait for rates to drop by at least three-quarters of a percentage point before they would see any significant savings.

It costs money to refinance; the amount depends on the lender. But the exercise makes sense only if you plan to remain in the house -- and keep the new loan -- for longer than it takes to recoup that expense in the form of monthly savings.

For example, if it costs $4,000 to refi but you save $200 a month in doing so, it would take 20 months to break even. After that, you’re saving money. But if you plan to sell before that, refinancing is a waste.

You can do your own math -- and you should, perhaps before you buy the house in the first place. It seems many recent buyers are betting the house, wagering that rates will come down soon.

A survey of 1,000 buyers by Truework, a platform that delivers verification reports to lenders, found that more than half are buying now in hopes that rates will soon come down enough to refi.

“Today’s homebuyers are increasingly desperate for a return to lower interest rates,” said the company’s Victor Kabdebon. He warns that buying now and just hoping for a rate decrease “could be a very risky move if it doesn’t happen -- and most analysts predict it will not anytime soon.”

The general rule of thumb is that you should be able to recover your costs from a refi within two years. The Neighbors Bank study gave it a more liberal three years, and still found it would take a drop of at least 0.6 points before refinancing would deliver clear gains in that time frame.

The bank based its findings on this scenario: a homeowner with a 30-year, fixed-rate mortgage at 6.8% and a loan amount of $386,339. It would cost $5,458 in loan fees and closing costs to refinance at a lower rate.

If this fictional borrower refinanced after rates fell just 0.25 points, they’d still be in the hole $2,424 after 36 months. That is, they'd still be out of pocket more than they'd saved.

With a half-point decline, they’d break even in just over three years; with a drop of 0.75 points, they break even in just under three years. But if rates slid by a full percentage point, they’d recoup the cost in 20 months -- and after three years, they'd net a savings of $4,764.

“Many assume that any drop in rates is enough to justify refinancing, but the math tells a different story,” said Jake Vehige, president of mortgage lending at Neighbors Bank. “Unless you’re seeing a significant drop, refinancing may not make sense right away.”

Vehige points out that refinancing "isn’t just about the rate. It’s about how long you plan to stay in your home, how much you pay up front, and where you live."

To his last point, high-cost housing markets tend to offer the highest five-year savings because larger loan amounts magnify the impact of even a small rate cut. Based on Neighbors' analysis, people in every state eventually break even if they keep the new mortgage for five years. But the amount saved depends greatly on location.

For example, borrowers in New Hampshire, with an average loan amount of $430,247, net nearly $3,000 more in five-year savings after refinancing at a 0.5-point rate drop than those in Louisiana, who have an average loan amount of $252,075.

Savings also vary with the type of loan you have and its duration. Borrowers with shorter-term loans, and with conventional mortgages, tend to realize refinance savings more quickly. Those with 15-year mortgage holders break even faster and accumulate more savings than those with 30-year loans when rates drop by the same amount, the Neighbors Bank study found.

A 15-year loan requires larger monthly payments, but saves significantly on interest over the loan’s term. That advantage carries over to refinancing because 15-year borrowers pay down principal faster and, therefore, recoup their refinancing costs much sooner.

With a half-point rate drop, for example, a typical 15-year borrower would see $1,350 in net savings after three years, while a 30-year borrower would still be $184 in the red.

Refinancing conventional loans also outperforms government-backed FHA, VA and USDA mortgages, largely because of lower insurance premiums and fewer associated fees.

With a government loan, borrowers trade lower upfront costs for higher interest expenses over the life of the loan, the study says. With a refinance, that trade-off carries through. Conventional borrowers generally realize greater long-term savings, while government-backed borrowers see more up-front relief but smaller cumulative gains.

There are other reasons, of course, to refinance. If you want to access equity you’ve built up in the house, lower your monthly payment by extending your loan’s term, or switch from an adjustable-rate to a fixed-rate loan, refinancing might make sense.

But if you are contemplating doing so purely to save money, do the math. It may surprise you. Says Neighbors Bank, “Modest rate improvements still require a multiyear commitment before refinancing truly offsets” the cost.