If you are looking to sell your home, your listing agent might propose a Pre-Listing Inspection before you list your home on the market. A Pre-Listing Inspection is just like a home inspection, except for the home seller.
The Pre-Listing Inspection can help a seller sell their home faster, for more money, and with less stress. In this blog, we are going to cover how the pre-listing inspection works, the benefits, and when you would want one.
How The Pre-Listing Inspection Works
As mentioned, the Pre-Listing Inspection works just like the home inspection, except the seller is the one who orders the inspection. Additionally, the home is not listed for sale, yet.
When a seller orders this inspection, the home inspector will evaluate all aspects of the home and deliver a home inspection report to the seller. The seller now is fully knowledgeable about everything with their home.
This will give the seller some pretty awesome benefits that we will see in the next section.
The Benefits of a Pre-Listing Inspection
Why would a seller want to pay for an additional inspection when the buyer usually pays for the inspection anyway? Well, when the buyer pays for the home inspection, it is their home inspection report. Therefore, as a seller, you do not have a right to see the home inspection report.
This can have a huge impact on you selling your property.
No Surprises
If you have your own home inspection before you list the property, you cannot be surprised by any findings the buyer’s inspector finds since you are aware of everything. (Just make sure you choose the best home inspector!)
This definitely helps not only your stress, but money as well.
For example, if you know about some issues with the roof ahead of time, you can choose to fix them yourself and get a better return on your money. On the other hand, you can choose to just disclose the information and price your property appropriately.
The best aspect of this Pre-Listing Inspection is definitely no surprises. With the seller and buyer fully knowledgeable about the issues with the home, everyone is much more likely to work together for smoother transactions.
More Freedom
Since a seller knows what is wrong with their home, they can be more choosy about what they want to fix and what they do not want to fix with their property.
For example, you can bet buyer’s exaggerate the truth of their home inspection report a little bit to the seller. This is so the seller is more likely to fix items for the buyer before the sale.
Well, when a seller is armed with their Pre-Listing Inspection, the seller can pick and choose want they want to fix rather than being coerced by the buyer.
Marketing
In a competitive buyer’s market, a home seller needs everything they can to help market their home as a better deal. A Pre-Listing Inspection can do just that.
If a buyer is choosing between two homes, one with a clean Pre-Listing Inspection and then, one without a Pre-Listing Inspection, you can bet they are going to choose the property with the inspection. This is because there is more confidence the deal will go through!
The Bottom Line
The benefits of a Pre-Listing Inspection can be summed up here:
- Find out the condition of your home.
- Choosing what you want to fix.
- Pricing the home appropriately.
- Less Negotiations.
- Less Stress.
- More Marketability.
With the real estate transactions being one of the most stressful times, you should want to do everything you can to make the process as easy as possible.
Just check out the Waypoint Real Talk Podcast with some awesome listing agents where we discuss their success with Pre-Listing Inspections.
When Do You Want A Pre-Listing Inspection?
A Pre-Listing Inspection is not always applicable and there are some cons to consider.
What Type Of Market Is It?
If it is a seller’s market, then, there are more buyers than sellers. This tells us there is less supply than demand.
Ultimately, a home might have so much competition from other buyers that a pre-listing inspection would not really help in this situation. Buyers might be willing to waive their inspection period or buy a property for more even though there are issues with it.
Quick Sale
If you are looking for a quicker home sale and you do not really care about getting the most money for your home you may not want to pay for the home inspection. Nor, would you want to take the time to have the home inspection and disclose information about the property.
Disclosing
With current laws, you will more likely than not, have to disclose the home inspection findings if there is a serious concern. This is severely impacting the price of the home.
However, a smart buyer will find that issue during their home inspection most likely.
Final Thoughts
A Pre-Listing Inspection is a home inspection before the home is listed for sale. This can help the seller be more knowledgeable about their home, choose what they want to fix, and make the process easier for everyone involved.
My personal recommendations are to always have the Pre-Listing Inspection completed. While there is an additional cost to the seller, the return on that money is far worth it for the home and peace of mind.
Comment below if you have additional questions!
