Should sellers plan to get a pre-listing home inspection?

In today’s competitive real estate market, it’s more crucial than ever for sellers to do their homework before putting their home on the market.

You not only need to know the value of your home and price it properly, but you also want to do what you can to avoid issues that might hinder the sales process. In this regard, having an inspection before listing your home can be one of the most important factors when getting your property ready to sell.

For those of us who have lived in our homes for many years, life gets busy, repairs and maintenance can fall through the cracks and we learn to live with the less than perfect aspects of our homes. But when it’s time to sell you don’t want to have an accepted offer on your house only to get to the home inspection and be blindsided by a 50page report from the buyer’s agent revealing issues.

There are many advantages of doing a pre-listing inspection. Among them are:

⏩ You will know the condition of your home. This information is vital and allows you to price more accurately.

⏩ You can minimize the stress of knowing what the problem areas are beforehand, which allows you to decide your plan of attack: repair, replace, leave as is or leave it for the negotiating table.

⏩ You can address issues beforehand with your tried and true service companies without the stress of closing deadlines looming ahead.

⏩ Buyers will have an added layer of confidence if they know that a good, reputable inspection company has already been through the home.

⏩ Save the deal: Inspection items are quite often the Achilles heel of any deal and can lead to ill will between buyer and seller or worse, the deal falling through.

Home inspection costs vary based on your area and the size of your home, but generally can cost anywhere from $500-$2,000 plus. But it is money well spent and can save you money in the end.