As you prepare your property to be offered for sale, you may feel overwhelmed by the amount of work in front of you. Once your home is officially listed with your local MLS, it will directly compete with many other listings in your area. If you are hoping for a quick sale at top dollar, you may first need to make cosmetic improvements and repairs.
Property condition is important to a potential buyer so you may need to focus on repairing or updating different features and systems in your home. With a closer look at how a pre-listing home inspection helps sellers, you may decide that you should order this inspection before listing your home.
What a Pre-Listing Home Inspection Can Do for You
Time and money are often in short supply when a seller is getting his or her house ready for sale. However, ordering this inspection can help you through the home-selling experience in several positive ways:
1. Focusing Your Pre-Listing Efforts
Many homeowners will make a list of items that they know require attention before listing their home for sale and then decide which ones to focus on. A pre-listing inspection report gives you a comprehensive list of work that your home needs, including items you may not have known about so that you can choose to focus on those that may hinder a sale if they appear on the buyer’s inspection report.
2. A Faster Sales Process
While buyers are not usually required to get a home inspection as part of the sales process, many will. You can provide a copy of your property inspection report to the buyer, and while they are still likely to have their own inspector come in, the likelihood of a surprise issue is slim. If you have used the pre-listing report to make improvements, you will save time on pre-closing repairs and allowances that may have come up during negotiations.
3. Fewer Negotiations
In many cases, a buyer will use the information in their property inspection report to negotiate for a lower sales price. The report may also be used to negotiate for repair work to be completed before closing or for a repair allowance from the seller. By addressing issues before listing the home and providing a buyer with a relatively clean property inspection up-front, you may enjoy a less stressful sales experience with fewer negotiations.
4. A Great Offer
Many sellers today do not request a pre-listing home inspection. Therefore, a buyer usually must guess about the condition of the property, and this guess will then be substantiated by the buyer’s own property inspection report. Because there is initial uncertainty when the original offer is made, the offer may not be as high as desired. On the other hand, providing a buyer with a clean inspection report upfront gives the buyer confidence and can actually be a great selling point.
While it is easy to assume that a pre-listing home inspection is an extra step, you may now understand the many benefits that it provides. Remember to schedule a pre-listing home inspection at least a few weeks before listing the home for sale so that you can make repairs as needed.
Greater Tampa Home Inspections serves Tampa and the surrounding areas with home inspection services. Contact us to schedule your appointment.