Why
a Pre-Sale Home Inspection is Good Protection
Yes, it’s true-- your buyers are going
to have to pay for an inspection, so why should you? The truth is, there are
many good reasons to be proactive and spring for your own home inspection
before listing your home. Here’s why I suggest getting one:
Ignorance
isn’t a good defense. Many sellers are afraid they’ll discover defects
they’ll have to disclose to buyers when the time comes. While it’s unethical
and illegal to omit known issues from buyers, the truth is that understanding
these issues up front can save you a lot of time and money:
First, you’ll have the opportunity to
fix the problems before listing the home. Second, condition issues will help
you price the home accurately for sale. And third: Buyers who are informed of
condition issues up front will be much less likely to pull their contract than
those who get nasty surprises down the line.
You’ll
have your own estimate for repairs. When it comes to estimated repair
costs (or price concessions), which would you rather have? Only the buyer’s
inspection report, prepared for the buyer, or both your inspection report and the buyer’s? It’s also an issue of
repair quality: Some inspectors will propose high-end fixes while others may
propose more modest, but reasonable repairs. It’s handy to know the range you
will be faced with ahead of time!
You
have a credible tool for negotiating issues. Again, when it all comes down
to the buyer’s inspection, you won’t have only one point of view on the topic.
It’s also nice to present buyers with your own home inspection report as a show
of good faith. It starts things off on the right foot when you say, “Listen,
I’m sure you’ll want to have your own inspection, but before I decided to list
my home, I wanted to know what any potential issues might be. Here’s what I
found.”
It
helps protects you from non-disclosure accusations. It’s hard for
a buyer to say you tried to dodge repair or maintenance issues later when you
can prove you paid up front to have your own inspection done. “He knew about
this, but didn’t tell me!” is a tough case to make when you’ve invested in home
inspection protection.
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