Pre-Listing Inspection? What's the
Point?
Occasionally I get asked about pre-listing inspections, and I've been
recommending them more and more lately. A pre-listing inspection
is in fact a home inspection done by the seller prior to listing their
home.
Now why would you inspect your house
before you have a buyer?
That I have many good answers for!
1. If there's a large problem with the home that you were unaware of,
you can then decide whether you can price accordingly or whether you
might be able to move at all. Much better to find this out now
than when you're in the middle of selling with a buyer on the hook and
possibly involved in your next property as well.
I
have had a buyer inspection discover something so severe that there was
no way the seller could fix the home and still afford to sell.
2. It gives you a chance to fix items
on the list at your own time and
leisure, meaning that you can shop for repair bids or get it done
yourself. When a buyer finds it at their inspection, you
may only
have a week to get items done before closing and they may ask for
specific contractors, which could easily cost you more than the
inspection would in the beginning.
3.
Fixing items before listing helps
your home show better as it will
appear obviously well maintained and there will be less items that
buyers and their agents will notice. Therefore they are more
likely to give their best or better offers than if they saw unrepaired
items from the get-go.
4. Being able to market your home as pre-inspected gives a nice
warm, fuzzy
confidence to a buyer
that there shouldn't be any big
surprises lurking down the path. You can easily provide the home
inspection and evidence of repairs,
which
again should lead to better
and higher offers. Lots of offers hedge against the
unknowns that
may be found at inspection time.
5.
Already having an inspection
and repairs done, the buyer's own
home inspection contingency should be a breeze. There may
be
minor discrepancies between what everyone finds, as inspectors are
human and each may miss or catch something the other doesn't, but
anything of big concern should already be known. Since many
contracts fall apart at inspection time, having already been through an
inspection means that you're much
much
more likely to keep your deal
together and get to closing.
6.
Even if you're not making any
repairs from the inspection, being
able to provide this report up front should still mean better offers as
buyers see what they are up against. Many buyers who purchase
as-is or TLC properties come in quite low because they don't know the
extent of the problems until inspection time.
I know, I know! Inspections can run you hundreds depending on the
size of your home. But it may be better for you to spend a
few hundred now than to lose a few thousand on the offer side of
things. And the peace of mind from knowing exactly what you're up
against is great. Selling a home is nerve-wracking enough just
trying to find a buyer and wondering why all those other ones didn't
like your house. With a pre-inspection, you can negotiate with
your buyer in the confidence that you know what's going on with your
home and with a higher likelihood that the deal will stay together and
close!
For a list of registered home inspectors in our area and to discuss how
it may affect your particular situation, feel free to contact me!
Posted by 
inspections have a way about them... When your listing goes under contract and the buyer has an inspection...gues what... The home inspection will have repairs on it.. 
;)
;)
;)
Sheree - well it certainly makes lots of sense. There have been homes where I regret not having had the sellers do this. Sometimes deferred maintenance can really be a surprise. And in the market here where things are so competitive and buyers are being so much more demanding, it is a good idea.
Jeff