Left Field Media

Getting A Pre-Listing Home Inspection

Even though most home sales are contingent upon a whole house inspection, if you’re considering selling your home you may want to have a home inspection done before you put it on the market. Also known as a “pre-listing home inspection,” such an inspection can help you avoid headaches later on.

Here are six good reasons why a pre-listing home inspection is valuable:

1) Find out what your really need to do. It boils down to this: Do you really know your house? You can tell pretty easily if you need new fixtures in your master bathroom, but how do you know that you don’t have septic problems? Or mold? With a pre-listing home inspection, you’ll be able to see what repairs—both obvious and hidden repairs—you’ll need to make.

2) Make sure the repairs are done right—the first time. Let’s say you decide to have your house professionally painted. Then, after going through the entire selling process, the buyer’s home inspector reveals that you have dry rot in many of your walls. There’s nothing worse than shelling out cash for repairs—and then finding out you’ll have to have them redone.

3) Avoid problems with disclosure laws. Since all states have varying laws requiring home sellers to disclose certain flaws or defects, getting a pre-listing inspection may protect you from problems down the road. As they say, it’s better to be safe than sorry.

4) Show potential buyers that your house is in good shape. With a pre-listing home inspection you’ll be sending a message to potential buyers that your home is up to standards and is structurally sound. If a buyer has to make a choice between two homes, that pre-listing inspection may be the clincher. In other words, an inspection may give potential buyers a higher comfort level with your house.

5) Get a better idea of what your list price should be. Although a pre-listing home inspection won’t give you an appraised value per se (since a home inspection is different than a home appraisal), if you have an inspection and then complete the necessary repairs you may be able to advertise these repairs as upgrades—and thus list your home at a higher price.

6) It’s one less thing you have to worry about... Peace of mind may be the biggest benefit of all. For under $1,000, you can be sure that you won’t have any surprises when the buyer has their own inspection done—at the tail end of the selling process. What’s more valuable than that? Try to think of a pre-listing home inspection as having all of the answers before you take the test.

Although a pre-listing home inspection is not always a necessity, the pros far outweigh the cons. If you want every advantage possible in this somewhat difficult selling market, having your home inspected before you offer it up for sale is a wise decision.  ∆