Many sellers are often reluctant to get their homes inspected before they list it for sale. For buyers, a home inspection is a necessity, and sometimes, they have a better chance of out-negotiating sellers when sellers refuse to inspect their homes.
The real estate professionals at CSN Realty Team in Reidsville, NC frequently advise sellers to get a home inspection as it helps them identify potential problems that either need fixing or will affect the price of the home they want to sell.
So, Why Should A Seller Get A Pre-Listing Home Inspection?
Getting a pre-listing home inspection potentially saves the seller time and money. The fore-knowledge of the disrepairs or problems that the inspection reveals enables the seller to decide on his best strategy. This can go from fixing the problem to having the necessary information for negotiation to reduce the listing price. This makes a home inspection a tool in the seller’s hand that can be used as a negotiating tool or selling point.
Below, we shed more light on some of the benefits of inspecting a home before putting it on the market for sale.
- Accurately Pricing Your Home
Getting a buyer for your home can be challenging, but it can be more challenging to price your house adequately. If your price is too high, your buyers might turn away. Set it too low and you will be leaving money on the table that belongs in your pocket. When you carry out a pre-listing home inspection, you get the details that will help you set your price at or close to the property’s actual market value. In other words, having the facts from the onset makes setting the price of your home much more straightforward.
- Reduced Stress
Most times, the sale of a house often happens alongside other significant events, such as relocation, buying a bigger house, and moving all your belongings. All of these are stressful in their own right when they are not compounded with worries regarding whether or not the sale of your house will fail because of an issue that wasn’t discovered by inspection.
Not knowing the correct details of the house can come back to bite you during the negotiating phase and result in more stress to you. As a seller, you can save yourself from unnecessary stress by getting a detailed evaluation of the house in advance (through inspection). This way, you will not only be aware of repair concerns; you will also be able to do the repairs in advance and save yourself any stress that hurrying to do it under pressure could produce.
- Make Homebuyers Confident About Your Property
Sometimes, homebuyers are reluctant to complete a deal on a home because they lack confidence in the property. Nobody wants to make a purchase and regret it. Besides, buying a home is a big decision, and they will want to be sure they are not being blindsided by needed maintenance. When you present buyers with an inspection report, it gives them the necessary information to make a decision and submit an offer. They will also be uninclined to ask for a “buffer” for potential unknowns.
- Pre-Listing Home Inspection Gives The Seller Enough Time To Strategize Or Make Repairs
Conducting your own inspection, instead of allowing the buyer to do so, gives you enough time to strategize without rushing to beat a deadline. It also affords you time to get many repair quotes while avoiding charges for expedited services. This means that, as a seller, a home inspection gives you the opportunity to carry out repairs on your schedule or help you decide to drop the listing price.
It also prepares you adequately for any final sales price negotiations. For example, if a buyer is asking for a $10,000 price cut to cover the cost of roof repairs because he thinks it will need replacing, you can present them with several of the quotes you received, which average (let’s assume) $5,000. After that, you can explain to the buyer that you already factored in the repairs into the sales price. You can also choose to counter their request for a $10,000 price-deduction with a deduction of $5,000 from the asking price.
- Fewer Negotiations
Buyers order a home inspection for two reasons: to be pre-informed and armed with details about potential repairs, and to utilize those repairs as tools for negotiation. When the details of a home inspection have been made available, buyers will often request that sellers do the rehabilitation. They also frequently ask that sellers reduce the house price to reflect the cost of the repairs in cases where the seller does not want to do the repairs himself. Typically, when a home buyer requests that a seller makes the needed repairs, the sellers must comply before a deal can be sealed.
If, as a seller, you have not done your pre-listing inspection, you will start scrambling to make those repairs, which can be time-consuming and very costly. If it is the case that the buyer wants you to take a price cut to cover the costs of repairs, you will also have to make a potentially monumental decision in a short time to prevent the buyer from walking away from your deal. Whatever the case, the pressure on the seller to make a quick price-cut or repair decision can be tough with more time and money involved than the seller might want.
If, as a seller, you do your pre-listing home inspection beforehand, you’ll be armed with whatever decisions you need to make. You will also have ample time to either do the repairs or decide how much you’re willing to let go from your originally intended price.
- Eliminate Repeat Repairs
In many cases, sellers will do a repair before listing a house for sale. Those repairs could often be focused on fixing the effects of a problem rather than the problem itself. The true problem is often only revealed through an inspection, which the buyer will conduct.
For instance, instead of fixing a problem originating from a breaker, a seller might fix or replace a ceiling light fixture because he thinks that’s where the problem is. After the buyer’s inspection and the source of the problem is discovered, the buyer will demand the breaker be repaired. The result is that the seller will be paying twice to fix one problem, something that would have been eliminated had he conducted an inspection.
- Less Time On The Market
A house with an inspection report generally spends less time on the market because the seller’s agent will milk it as a great selling point. The seller will likely mention the fact that the house has an inspection report at every opportunity possible. This will also attract more buyers to the property and facilitate a buyer’s speedy signing of an offer. In other words, you will potentially get a sale in a short time if you have a home inspection report. As you already know, the quicker the sale, the more you save in time and money.
Full Disclosure
Sellers must prepare themselves to disclose all information pertaining to a house whether or not it negatively impacts the sale. You must understand the rules of full disclosure. You should also be aware that regulations for full disclosure might differ from one state to another, and you might be legally required to disclose any known issues fully.
In states legally requiring it, you cannot omit an issue from the sales process if you knew about it and still did not fix it; it must be made known. The buyer can cancel the contract or even sue you if you omit any known issues.
With a home inspection done, you’ll be thoroughly informed of any issues your property might have. This way, you’ll also have all the information to disclose if you choose not to fix them.
Conclusion
Committing to full disclosure of problems your property might without having firsthand knowledge of them can be scary. This is one of the most significant reasons you should order a home inspection. If you fail to order one, attempting to make a sale, the buyer will still request an inspection and discover any problems your house has. This will only arm him against you when the time comes for negotiation. Ordering a pre-listing inspection puts you ahead in the game, providing you with the information you need to make confident, well-informed decisions.
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