Is It a Good Idea to Have your Home Inspected BEFORE You Put It up for Sale?
March 23rd, 2021
When selling your home, you have the option to be proactive and conduct a home inspection prior to putting it on the market, or letting the homebuyer hire their own inspector after you have accepted the conditional offer. In some cases, both pre-listing and post-offer inspections are conducted.
What are the Benefits of Doing a Pre-inspection Before Selling your Home?
Is it wise for sellers to hire their own home inspector?
Do the pros of having a pre-listing inspection outweigh the cons?
In this article, the building inspection experts at Qualitam will share their thoughts on some of the pros and cons of having your home inspected by a building inspector before it is listed.
Spoiler alert: we are heavy on the pros and light on the cons!
Let’s look at why it is a good idea to have your home inspected before you put it up for sale.
Avoid Unexpected Surprises
One of the most stressful parts of selling your home is the “limbo” period between accepting a conditional offer and waiting on the buyers’ home inspection report. Even the most confident of homeowners who feel they know the condition of their home often experience moments of doubt and fear that some unknown problem with the property will stop the sale from proceeding or result in unexpected costs.
Surprises from home inspections can include:
- Water damage
- Faulty wiring and plumbing
- Poor drainage and grade sloping of yard
- Roof and gutter issues
- Foundation flaws
These issues will be discovered by a buyer’s home inspector eventually, so why not find out what you’re dealing with first and hire your own independent home inspection prior to listing? It will lower your stress and increase the confidence of potential buyers all at the same time.
Know the Value of your Home
Once you have armed yourself with a true picture of your home and property, you will be able to price it accordingly. If you find out that you have to replace a roof, plumbing, wiring, or regrade your lawn, for example, you can choose to have the work done yourself and increase the listing price. Or you can opt to disclose the fact that these items will require attention by the home-buyer and can decrease the listing price to reflect these costs.
Either way, by having your own pre-inspection completed, you will be able to rest assured that you have a more accurate valuation of your home and aren’t speculating on an appropriate listing price.
Quicker Sale, Fewer Negotiations
Homes with pre-inspections appeal to buyers who are in a rush and want a quick sale. Having your home inspected before listing will also reduce the number of negotiations about significant repair costs that would otherwise be unearthed by the buyer’s home inspection report (think HVAC, roofs, windows, foundations, etc.).
Some agents do a better job than others at counseling their clients about what is and isn’t appropriate to ask for in terms of home repairs. There’s no easier way to avoid excessive negotiations and nitpicky requests by providing a checklist of required and recommended repairs from a qualified home inspector.
Guaranteed ROI
One of the only items in the cons column is that the home-seller must pay for the pre-inspection out of their own pocket. An inspection made after a conditional offer has been made, on the other hand, is at the expense of the home-buyer. But if you look at the cost of the inspection vs. the savings, the return on investment is an almost no brainer.
If you are proactive and taking steps to stay ahead of the curve by having a pre-listing home inspection you’ll save yourself from anxiety and sleepless nights wondering if your home has any hidden issues that will come up during the home inspection later.
In the event that the pre-inspection reveals that there are expensive repairs to be done on the home, you can choose to have those done at your expense and then increase the listing price of the home. A benefit of doing it this way is that you can choose the contractors/materials and benefit from the ROI on each repair. That is to say, when you replace your roof, windows, HVAC, or other major items, you will oftentimes be able to increase the selling-price more by an amount higher than you spent on the repairs.
You’ll also potentially earn more money by being able to confidently price your house at the highest value and stick to it during negotiations because you know that the inspection won’t uncover any costly repairs.
And finally, you’ll save time and energy in the selling and negotiation process.
Priceless.
