Selling Your Home? Should You Perform a Pre-Listing Inspection?
Should a Seller hire their own home inspector to perform an inspection on their property before it is listed for sale? The prevailing wisdom is that there are more good reasons for having an inspection than not.
Sellers understand that buyers are going to need to have a home inspection conducted before they agree to purchase the property. But what if you were to beat them to it?
Getting a pre-listing home inspection offers some advantages to sellers of which you may not be aware. The biggest advantage, of course, is determining the exact condition of the property.
To help you decide whether a pre-listing inspection is right for you, consider the pros and cons.
The Pros
1. You Find Out The Condition Of Your Home
One of the biggest fears of most sellers is that when a buyer does get the home inspected, something will be discovered that kills the sale. This concern is undoubtedly justified. The home inspection is often the point where sales fall apart – leaving the seller to pick up the pieces.
As the seller, you don’t have to wait for the buyer’s inspection. You can have your own done, and get ahead of any issues before even listing the property for sale. By having a home inspection performed before hitting the market, you’ll find out the exact condition of your home.
2. Pricing The Home Accurately Is Much Easier
Choosing an accurate price for your home is one of the most challenging and important parts of the home sale process. It takes experience and skill to determine the sweet spot.
The best way to choose a price is to work with a experienced Realtor but having an inspection before your house goes on the market ensures that you have all the facts, which makes setting a price much easier.
3. Minimize Stress
Not knowing if there is something wrong with your home adds a lot of stress to the sale process. Selling your home is never easy, but worrying that the sale may fall through because of something that turns up during an inspection adds a thick layer of anxiety to your life.
Fortunately, you can wipe away that anxiety pretty easily. Just have your home inspected before it’s listed so you can feel much more confident about the current condition of your home.
4. You Can Make Repairs
If a buyer’s inspection uncovers significant defects, you may be expected to repair them before closing. The limited time frame may put sellers on edge and leave them scrambling to get everything fixed in time. However, with a pre-listing inspection, you set your own schedule for repairs. There is no rush to list the property until you have made sure the home is in good shape.
5. Less Likelihood Of Negotiations
Quite often buyers will use the home inspection as means to ask for additional concessions or renegotiate the sale price. That’s because they know that there will probably be one or more issues that will be uncovered during an inspection.
A pre-listing inspection helps you avoid the typical interactions that follow the buyer’s inspection. You are unlikely to learn anything new about your home from the inspection, and neither is the buyer because you have already had an inspection done. While negotiations still may occur, but they will probably be minimal.
6. Improve The Buyer’s Confidence
Anytime you can hand a buyer an inspection report that details the present condition of a home, you’re probably going to make them feel more confident about the purchase.
Buyers naturally are skeptical about a home’s condition until their home inspection is completed. If a buyer suspects that the house may have hidden problems, the offer they make on your home could reflect their anxiety. A pre-list inspection can help eliminate much of the Buyer’s doubt about the home.
7. Potential For Higher Price In A Seller’s Market
For years, Toronto experienced a very robust seller’s market in which multiple offers on properties were the norm. In a multiple offer situation when time is of the essence, some buyer’s may not have an opportunity to perform their own inspection and thus will rely on the seller’s pre-list inpsection. More buyers means more offers which will lead to more competition and potentially a higher selling price.
The Cons
1. You Will Have To Pay For The Inspection
Inspections are not free. Also, just because you get a pre-listing inspection does not mean you will not have to go through a buyer’s inspection. The pre-listing inspection costs will come out of your pocket. The cost is arguably worth it for the benefits it offers, but some sellers may not have the funds to cover a pre-listing inspection. You can expect to pay anywhere from $400-700 for a general inspection.
2. Disclosure Of Issues
Depending on the nature of the issues uncovered in the inspection, you may be legally required to disclose the problems to the buyer. If you have the money to make repairs, disclosure is not much of an issue. However, if you cannot afford the necessary repairs, the defects you find through the pre-listing inspection may make it more difficult to sell your home.
Courtesy: Bill Gassett @ maxrealestateexposure.com