A pre-listing inspection might have saved the deal...

I showed a foreclosure home to some clients a few weeks ago, and they loved it. The home had been flipped by an investor who eventually lost it to his hard money lender. My clients made an offer, and after a little bit of negotiation, we were under contract. Time to order the inspection!

The inspector arrived and right off the bat started finding things we hadn’t noticed previously. Some of the things he discovered were pretty alarming. He found rafters in the attic that were completely broken, a wooden support beam passing straight through the chimney in the attic, exposed wiring in several places, a slight foundation issue, leaky roof, some electrical issues, and more.

My clients decided to pass on the house, so we terminated the contract within the 10-day option period that Texas allows for unrestricted right of termination.

The listing agent was not happy. She called me to argue about the condition of the home, which had been updated with new carpet, fresh paint, granite countertops, and new light fixtures. When I gave her a partial list of the alarming safety issues with the home, she asked if I would send her a copy of the inspection report.

I checked with my clients, who had paid for the inspection, and they asked me not to send the report to her. Their opinion was that the owner should have had his own inspection done prior to putting the house on the market so that those issues would not be a surprise.

I told the listing agent that I could not share the report with her, which didn’t go over well.

Since then, she has called me four times to ask if I would send her the report. Each time, I tell her I can’t, because the report belongs to my clients and they do not want to give it to her.

I can certainly understand how having the inspection report would help the owner determine what repairs need to be made. But there is quite a bit of value attached to that report. The home inspection cost my clients $350, and the termite inspection was an additional $85. Plus, my clients had to pay the seller $100 for the 10-day option period and the right to terminate the contract during that period for any reason. My clients spent over $500 on the report and the option period.

This brings up an issue that sellers should discuss with their Realtor. A seller should consider having a pre-listing inspection done on their house before putting it on the market. A pre-listing inspection will bring to light any repairs that need to be addressed, and will give the seller an opportunity to make sure the house is in tip-top shape. If all of the repairs have already been done on the house, it gives potential buyers confidence and assurance that the home has been well-maintained. A pre-listing inspection is a good selling point!

If the seller of the foreclosure home had done a pre-listing inspection before listing the home, they would have been able to address the serious issues beforehand, and perhaps could have held on to my buyers. They are going to have to make most of those repairs anyway before a buyer can get a loan on the home, so they might as well have had a pre-listing inspection done to help identify what needed to be repaired in advance.

My advice to sellers…have a pre-listing inspection done before you put your home on the market! In the long run, it might help your house sell faster, and it might help you hang on to interested buyers!