When preparing to sell your home, you have things on your list like cleaning the home, staging it, and taking photos before listing. One step you may not have thought of is ordering a professional inspection. While the buyer will order one later, a pre-listing home inspection helps you price your home and better prepare it for the market. Ordering one as the seller will help the process go more smoothly. Here are some of the reasons why:
Price Your Home Accurately
A home inspection gives you a complete overview of the condition of the home. Knowing these details helps you set a fair and accurate asking price. You’ll run into problems selling if you overprice or underprice the house.
Experienced realtors will advise their clients when a home is overpriced. A price under market value raises suspicions if a significant problem isn’t disclosed upfront. After learning your home’s strengths and weaknesses through the inspection, you and your realtor can pinpoint an asking price that will entice buyers and support your bottom line.
Prepare Your Home for the Market with a Pre-Listing Home Inspection
A pre-listing inspection may bring to light issues that you should fix before listing the home. Major problems that might cause the buyer to reconsider or renegotiate should be fixed ahead of time. If you make repairs on your own terms, you can choose the contractor and the timeline, which often saves you money. When the power is in the buyer’s hands after their inspection, they might request a specific contractor who is more expensive and charges a rush fee to meet the deadline.
Get the House Looking It’s Best
If you’ve lived in the house a long time, there are likely cosmetic defects that you don’t even notice anymore. However, they will stand out to a buyer touring the house for the first time. Even if the flaw doesn’t threaten the condition of the house, like an old water stain from a repaired leak, it still sends a negative message to buyers. Paint over stains, fix broken window screens, and replace missing or cracked outlet covers.
Know What to Expect During the Buyer’s Inspection From a Pre-Listing Home Inspection
It’s a nightmare for the seller when the buyer’s inspection reveals serious problems that are a surprise to everybody. It throws the transaction off-course, as the buyer is likely to renegotiate the price, ask for concessions, or lose interest in the sale. A pre-listing inspection eliminates the possibility of this scenario. You’ll know exactly what to expect from the buyer’s inspection because you’ve already had one.
JVC Home Inspection offers inspection services to home sellers, including pre-listing home inspections. Contact us to request an appointment.