Sellers: The Benefits of a Pre-Listing Inspection
While it’s common practice for home buyers to schedule a home inspection in today’s real estate market, it's becoming more popular for homeowners to hire a home inspector of their own before they even list their property for sale. There are a number of benefits to having a pre-listing home inspection conducted, as it can ultimately help the sale of the home go more smoothly.
How a Pre-Listing Home Inspection Can Help Your Home Sale
The single best advantage of getting a home inspection before listing the property is that you’ll be the first to learn of any problems. If this is a property that you live in, versus a fix-and-flip investment, some issues might not come as a big surprise. For example, you may already know that there’s a small leak in a bathroom or that an upstairs floorboard is weak.
In any home inspection, it's inevitable that a homeowner will learn about some major or minor problem(s) that they may not already know about. To learn about an issue in advance is far better than being surprised by the results of a potential buyer’s inspection. With your pre-listing inspection results in hand, you may choose to remedy the problem before listing your home for sale, or possibly adjust your asking price and disclose the flaw, but at any rate you won’t be blindsided down the road.
How a Pre-Listing Inspection Can Save You Money on Repairs
If you find out about needed repairs, one of the benefits of a pre-listing home inspection is that you can take on the project yourself. When a problem is discovered and addressed following a buyer’s inspection, the buyer will typically insist that the repair is made by a professional, which can become costly, especially when there’s a tight timeline before closing.
However, if your pre-listing inspection uncovers the problem that involves a repair you can complete yourself, you can save on the labor costs. Any repairs can be completed by the homeowner before the buyer’s inspection requires a professional repair will save you money. Even if the repair is beyond your skill level, having the time to get multiple estimates can save you money, too.
How a Pre-Listing Inspection Gives You More Time to Choose a Contractor
When the buyer’s inspection reveals a problem, there’s typically a deadline for getting the repairs completed. This often means hiring the first contractor available to do the work, which means you’ll likely be paying more for the repairs.
Alternatively, discovering major repair issues early through a pre-listing inspection will give you time to shop around for the contractor offering the best price. This can help you get quality work with lower repair costs.
How a Pre-Listing Inspection Can Help Speed Up the Buying Process
Another one of the benefits of a pre-listing home inspection is that it can speed up the buying process. When you have a pre-listing inspection and offer to share the report with the buyer, they may decide to skip over the buyer’s inspection.
If the buyer is willing to accept the report from your inspector, this often speeds up the sale process. This can benefit both the buyer and seller, especially if the seller has taken the time to address any issues raised by the inspection.
While another inspection is initially an extra expense, the benefits of a pre-listing inspection are well worth it. It gives the seller an opportunity to uncover hidden problems early so the buying process won’t be slowed down.
It also provides the owner with more freedom in choosing how repairs are made, which can help save money and resources. This can be especially helpful in older homes, where there may be unseen issues that can affect the sale of the property.
AC Home Inspections provides pre-listing home inspections throughout the local area. Contact us to book your inspection.
