The Pre-Listing Inspection

Tips on How to Sell Your Home FAST for the BEST PRICE

Most Realtors and Home Sellers will tell you that a detailed home inspection is the responsibility of the Home Buyer to have done prior to closing. We would like to offer another point of view on this subject. One that may help you sell your home a little faster and help ensure your home closes.

In today’s housing market, homes are not selling as quickly as before. You need every tool available to ensure your home sells and closes. So, how can a pre-listing inspection help? I believe there are 3 ways a pre-listing inspection can help which I have listed below.

• Create confidence and trust for potential home buyers. When a home buyer knows of potential problems ahead of time, they are more likely to feel comfortable with the purchase and prepare themselves for the repairs. They are going to find out later anyway and deals have a tendency to fall apart when problems are discovered at the last moment.
  
• Knowing about problems ahead of time allow the home seller to budget for repairs. Imagine receiving a contract on your home, getting excited about moving and then find out you have to come up with a thousand dollars to replace a few windows just days before closing. If you can’t get it fixed in time, the closing could be delayed or worse, buyer’s remorse could set in and the buyer cuts and runs. If you know ahead of time, you can have the money set aside or be able to adjust the listing price ahead of time to be able to come down on the sales price as part of negotiations.
  
• Market your home as “Certified Pre-Owned”. Okay, so this may sound funny but Steve Rodriguez with Realty Times made a good point in his recent article.
  “Pre-listing inspections allow agents to market homes as “Certified Pre-Owned;” and homebuyers, like those purchasing new cars, are willing to spend more money on properties that have been professionally inspected.”Source: Realty Times, Steve Rodriguez (12/27/07)
  
  It makes a lot of sense to spend the few hundred dollars on a Home Inspection prior to listing your home. The benefits are real and can help reduce the stress level during the negotiation when everyone is already on the same page. Please let me know if you have questions about home inspections and what your responsibilities as a home seller are.