Most home transactions (roughly 85% according to the U.S. General Accounting Office) have a home inspection (either requested by the buyer or their mortgage company). The reason for this is not hard to guess, home inspections can reveal pricey flaws. Some can be very serious issues. Don’t put yourself through the nail-biting-wait for the inspection results. Be prepared beforehand and feel confident that your asking price is fair. Here are reasons why you should think about having your home pre-inspected before listing it.
Reason #1: Provide assurances to the buyer
By having a pre-inspection, you are assuring the buyer that they are buying a sound home with no major issues lurking. They may still decide to have their own inspection, but at that point, they’ll feel much better about the home.
Reason #2: Save concessions by acting early
When you’re dealing with an issue that’s been uncovered with a buyer’s home inspection, you only have a few days to act upon the problem, whether that be by fixing it or adjusting the price accordingly. Rather, have the house pre-inspected in order to give yourself plenty of time to make needed repairs. You will also avoid a large amount of money in concessions due to issues you might never think of (termite damage or radon mitigation).
Reason #3: Know what’s lurking, be prepared
Home prices are determined well before an inspection ever takes place. This can be a big question mark to linger over your actual negotiating power. What you may perceive as a fair and honest price may take a dive after you’re forced to drop that final price if a major problem is found. If you have the home inspected earlier in the process, before the actual listing, you can have a much better idea of any concessions a buyer may ask for. Plus, you’ll build that goodwill with the buyer by showing them what’s been found and addressed already.
Reason #4: Don’t do it yourself, let an expert review the home
Weekend-warriors, there are many of us out there, always run the risk of not diagnosing a problem correctly. However, if you have your home pre-inspected, you could avoid having spent your time and money “fixing” a problem to only have it come back and actually be a bigger issue altogether. A pre-inspection can help you avoid those headaches, let the inspector find the issues and recommend the correct actions to take.