There is no universal dollar figure, and anyone who hands you one without seeing the purchase price and the actual defects is guessing. Use your due-diligence period to get real contractor bids on the items that concern you, then base your request on those numbers instead of a gut estimate. Focus the ask. Pile every minor line from the inspection report into one request and the seller tunes out. Bring a short list of the big-ticket items that genuinely worry you (roof, electrical panel, slab, HVAC) with bids attached, and you are far more likely to be taken seriously. Set expectations on how sellers respond. An old-but-functioning component, say a nearly 30-year-old roof with no active leak or a water heater near the end of its life, often draws a "it works fine" and no credit. Health-and-safety problems move sellers more than cosmetic or grandfathered ones. Everything in the contract is negotiable, so asking costs nothing, and the worst answer is a no that leaves you where you started. Your leverage depends heavily on the deal. If yours was the only offer in months, the seller is more likely to work with you. If you beat out thirty offers, expect far less room, and the outcome is often a partial credit rather than the full repair. Lean on a good agent to have that conversation for you. It can produce a credit, a repair, or another concession even when it feels awkward to raise.