For sellers, understanding the home inspection process and preparing your home for the inevitable evaluation not only helps to ensure that the transaction goes through, but can often translate into getting a top-dollar selling price as well.
Once the contract has been signed, inspections usually happen quickly. After an appointment is made with the seller, the home inspector arrives with buyer in tow, and goes through the entire house. Typically, a home inspection will take two to three hours and include a check of the home’s structural and mechanical condition. But besides the structural and mechanical inspection, home inspectors may also do tests for radon gas, check for wood destroying insects, or perform other services requested by the buyer.
If you can afford it, one of the smartest things you can do to get your home ready for sale is to hire your own home inspector to go through it before it goes on the market. Doing this will provide several distinct advantages.
First, it is likely to avoid “surprises,” like when the buyer’s inspector proclaims your electrical panel needs to be replaced. By the time the contract price is agreed to, most sellers have negotiated down as far as they want to go and the buyers have also offered up the most they want to spend, so finding a costly problem at this late stage can send the transaction into a tizzy.
Secondly, if problems are discovered, you have the time and the ability to either repair these on your own schedule or to disclose them upfront to the buyer, eliminating the possibility that the buyer will demand you make repairs later. Plus, if repairing the problem is your choice, you can do so without the buyer looking over your shoulder, second-guessing every decision you make.
Finally, once the buyer hires his own home inspector, you’ll have a good baseline by which to compare the new report. While inspection reports will rarely match item for item, major differences are rare amongst qualified and experienced inspectors. Your home inspector can even become your advocate by looking over and dissecting the buyer’s inspector’s report.
Let us provide the best home inspectors we know around town. Being prepared is one of the best ways to ensure an easier selling process.