Advantages of Pre-Sale Inspections

Home sellers are increasingly electing to have their homes inspected either prior to listing their home for sale, or prior to finding a buyer.

Having your home inspected and taking care of any issues can virtually eliminate the potential pitfalls and hassles associated with waiting to do the home inspection until a buyer is found. In this case the inspector works for you, the seller, and generates an inspection report for you. You can then share the inspection report with potential buyers. Although the inspector is working for you, and generating a report for you, the inspector still has an obligation to do the best and most accurate inspection possible.

Here are the main advantages of having a pre-listing home inspection completed:

You can choose the inspector instead of accepting the buyer's choice. There are so many instances when the seller disagrees with the home inspector's report and then ends up brining in their own inspector to determine whether the findings are accurate. These kinds of disputes are common. Choosing an inspector that you trust is competent and will ensure the accuracy of the data is important . . . good news or bad news.

The inspection may alert you to items that need your immediate attention, such as insect infestation, gas leaks, radon gas, mold, etc. You will be glad to know about these issues ahead of time so you can have them taken care of before the damage or potential health hazards get worse.

You can be present during the inspection and help the inspector with questions and access to areas of the home that otherwise might end up getting misstated in a report. The seller is asked to not be present during the buyer's inspection to avoid 'getting in the way'.  Often the inspector has questions or cannot figure out how to access items to inspect, and the seller is not there to help. Often the buyer's agent is present at the inspection and will call the seller's agent to ask questions to save hassles or dispel concerns resulting from not knowing the answers, but it can be much better if you are there to answer the inspector's questions.

If problems are found, you can have the issues corrected or items replaced prior to placing your home on the market. This gives you more time to get competitive bids for the work to be done, and to find the best quality contractor. Receipts can then be attached for completed work to the inspection report to prove that issues have been repaired or replaced by professionals. 

From the buyer's perspective, there are also many advantages. 

Home inspections are several hundred dollars, on average, and the larger the house, the more expensive the inspection can be.  So, with a pre-listing inspection, the buyer saves the money they would have spent on an inspection.  They also are receiving a complete report that may dispel some of their concerns about items that would cause them negotiation nightmares.  Of course, the buyer can also have their own inspection completed, but if the report was prepared by a professional home inspector, the buyer may feel comfortable with the accuracy. So, a buyer may be able to sweeten the deal to the seller without increasing the offer price by waiving the inspection contingency.

Even if the buyer decides to have their own home inspection completed, the deal is less likely to fall apart, because the likelihood of a buyer's inspection revealing unexpected last-minute problems is greatly decreased.

Bottom line, a seller pre-listing inspection can streamline the entire real estate sales process for all parties involved.

If you are planning to sell your home soon, Contact Us.  We will visit your home and advise you whether a pre-listing inspection is a smart move, inform you of the value of your home, and discuss strategies to get it sold within your time frame for the best possible price.