Did you ever have a question you wanted to ask a real estate professional but were afraid or embarrassed to do so? Or maybe you asked but received a glossy response that didn’t really answer your question. We provide candid answers to questions folks have brought to our attention.
What is a prelisting home inspection?
It’s an inspection a seller conducts on their home prior to listing it for sale on the market. Generally, it’s the same type of professional inspection a buyer will have conducted after you’re under contract, however, this inspection would happen much earlier in the process.
Advantages to getting a prelisting inspection:
- Allows the seller to learn about and take care of issues with the home before listing
- Sellers can feel confident their home is in good shape which decreases stress and anxiety
- More time and less pressure to complete repairs before getting under contract with a buyer
- Greater ability to get multiple bids and potentially pay less for having work completed
- Addressing issues upfront can prevent hiccups during the transaction when buyers are anxious
- Buyers feel better about a home that has fewer items in an inspection report and are less likely to have second thoughts about the home
- Buyers tend to inflate the cost of repairs in their minds during the transaction which could cost you more money
Disadvantage to getting a prelisting inspection:
- You can’t ‘unknow’ something once you know it — you either make the repairs or be prepared to disclose any issues to the buyer
- It can take more time upfront as you’re preparing your home to sell
- Buyers will likely still want to get their own home inspection and different inspectors find different things
Whether you should get a prelisting home inspection depends on a number of factors. Below are some questions to ask yourself to help you determine if a prelisting inspection is right for you.
- Have you been in your attic and crawl space recently? These are common areas where hidden and sometimes costly items are discovered during an inspection.
- Have you been on your roof? When was the last time it was replaced?
- How familiar are you with common electrical issues?
- Has the home been a rental and thus occupied by a tenant who may not have reported leaks or other issues with the home?
- How old is your place? While many times newer homes have fewer issues than older homes — they just don’t make them like the used to — older homes potentially have older systems that can wear out over time.
Keep all this in mind when contemplating whether to get a prelisting home inspection on your house! If it helps you to know our position, we order prelisting inspections for all of our home transformation listings so we make sure we’re focusing our efforts on taking care of the most important items prior to any buyers walking through the home. Surprises aren’t generally a good thing during a transaction so we work hard to minimize the possibility of unknown issues surfacing during the heat of the moment!
