BY Cara Ameer a broker associate and global luxury agent. You can follow her on Facebook or Twitter.
Just as a buyer needs to do their due diligence, a seller needs to do theirs so that bad judgment calls don’t derail their deal
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7 Reasons Pre-Listing
Inspections are a Must
After days (or weeks) of negotiating, an agreement between the buyer & seller is finally reached!
The buyer is excited that they’ve found their new home, the seller is glad they will be able to move on to whatever is next and the agents are glad that their goals for that listing have come to fruition.
Contrary to what might be depicted on television or what many real estate agents think, when a contract is executed is not the time to begin celebrating.
It marks the beginning of a long and uncertain process to a potential closing. There are almost always inspections to go through as well as an appraisal, if the buyer is getting financing.
Murphy’s Law is alive and well in real estate, if the other shoe can drop, it will!. The best way to increase a seller’s chances of crossing the closing finish line is to have a pre-listing inspection done before ever coming on the market.
Here are seven reasons why:
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What you don’t know can hurt you
Knowledge is power, and surprise is never a good thing. It is easy for sellers to have a superficial and inflated view of their homes.
What could be wrong, they think? They’ve lived there for __ years and if there was something seriously wrong, they would know it.
Or, they just bought the home four years ago and had it inspected then — why would they need to do this now?
You see, it is those very thoughts that can come back to bite sellers. When was the last time your sellers went on their roof, looked in their chimney, crawled around in their attic or basement or under the foundation?
Do they know how old their water heater and HVAC are? If they live in an older home, what about the plumbing and electrical systems?
This is exactly why you should have a pre-listing inspection.
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You might not have to fix everything
Having a pre-listing inspection does not mean your sellers have to fix every item that comes up — but they do need to disclose everything.
This is the agent comes in to strategize with the seller for what makes the most sense given the market, your competition, time frame for moving, etc.
Some things might need to be fixed in order to give comfort to a buyer or to qualify for the kind of financing they might be doing.
For example, if there are buyers obtaining FHA or VA financing on homes in your area, any wood rot or termite damage will need to be fixed before the buyer can obtain the loan.
There might be items that are major vs. minor that you and your seller will need to take into account when pricing the home as they can definitely have an affect on what a buyer is willing to pay.
Homes with older roofs, HVAC’s and water heaters on top of other repairs, coupled with a home that needs cosmetic updates can be viewed as “a money pit” in the eyes of a buyer.
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Disclosure is not an unpleasant surprise
Many sellers fear that by having an inspection, they will then have to disclose everything to a buyer which may cause them to pay less for the house.
The truth is, a buyer is going to find out anyway, but it’ll be after they’ve already agreed upon a price & terms they might not want to pay after the outcome of that inspection.
Avoid buyer’s remorse by shifting the knowledge of the home’s condition to the front end of the transaction rather than after the negotiation.
Although a buyer will still have the property inspected by their own inspector, the information found will not be a surprise.
All houses have “things” that are found on an inspection. Even new homes under construction or nearly complete have items needing correction by the builder after they are inspected, despite having a project manager overseeing the projectors working on the house.
Keep the deal together
Back to the “surprise is never a good thing” concept, when you leave discovery of the home’s condition entirely to the buyer is when problems arise.
The seller has already agreed upon a price and terms and depending on your home and the time of year it is on the market, the actual time to go under a contract may have taken longer than what you thought.
You will have grown weary from numerous showings, second showings and “almost offers” that have never materialized.
Now, you finally have a buyer and the transaction may be in jeopardy because of the outcome of the inspection.
The buyer wants to renegotiate the purchase price and/or ask for all repairs to be made or a huge concession to account for what was found.
The sellers don’t feel like giving anymore, especially when they might be selling for less than what they thought (which is how most sellers often end up feeling).
They could be paying closing costs on behalf of the buyer in addition to agreeing to leave certain appliances, such as the refrigerator and/or washer and dryer.
Everyone goes into full-on crisis mode trying to obtain estimates for the repairs and it is a hurry-up-and-wait game trying to get contractors over to look at the findings and then, even more, waiting to get their written quotes.
Keep in mind that buyers and their agents don’t always have a realistic handle on the true cost of repairs found from inspection and might inflate or over-exaggerate the potential costs on purpose as a way to beat down the agreed-upon price or force the seller to make repairs.
Buyers might seek opinions from overpriced vendors trying to upsell, and sellers will find themselves running interference with this information trying to get their own quotes.
All of this chaos ensues while the clock keeps ticking on the inspection time frame as set forth in the purchase contract. Most contract time frames never take into account the real world of waiting for repair specialists. Although most transactions are this way, it doesn’t mean they should be.
By being proactive, you can help sellers avoid the stress of the unknown and level the playing field between them and the buyer by recommending a pre-listing inspection.
Wouldn’t it be better to have done your homework, know what you will or won’t fix (or in some cases have already tackled it) and obtained estimates on all else?
What is unknown is simply an excuse most times for not taking the time to find something out ahead of time rather than after the fact; is not going to help get the home sold.
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Incompetent inspectors
This one is starting to become a serious problem in our industry. Just as the swell of real estate agents has increased as the market has improved over the last few years, so have the number of home inspectors.
What is required to become a home inspector varies from state to state. Just because some states require licensure does not automatically grant with an inspector sound judgment and the ability to legitimately diagnose/interpret a home’s condition.
A license is never a substitute for competence — ask any seasoned agent who has listed properties the number of times they have had to run interference with an inspector’s report that was full of misdiagnoses.
The prospect of rookie inspectors who have only been functioning as an inspector barely a year or two — who are running their own shop with virtually no support system and a more experienced inspector to mentor them — is cause for concern.
They are crawling through someone’s largest investment and they don’t know what they don’t know and only know enough to be dangerous.
Newer inspectors often discount their fees as a way to build their business, and so what looks like a bargain compared to what more experienced and savvy inspectors charge is often at the expense of the transaction.
Buyers might shop by price alone or an agent gives them a “coupon” that the inspector sent out in an email blast to agents hoping it generates some referrals. The agent might be newer and might have not vetted the inspector and doesn’t realize all inspectors, like agents, are not the same.
Although buyers have the right to choose whatever inspector they want, having your own inspection done by a vetted, experienced, adequately insured and a credible inspector can be a huge asset when you run into situations like this.
That inspector will be available to consult with you during the home sale process & can assist with running interference if an incompetent inspector cross is involved!
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A Smoother transaction, faster closing
All parties want a purchase and sale process that is free of hitches and can close within a reasonable period of time. By getting a pre-listing inspection, the risk of the unknown is eliminated and the parties will enter a negotiation feeling confident and empowered.
If a seller is unable or does not wish to take on repairs, the property can be priced accordingly.
At the same time, if a seller has replaced a big-ticket item, like a roof or HVAC, it might help the home sell faster as the buyer may be willing to make an offer and pay a higher price because of it.
A significant portion of time that is normally eaten up by the inspection period and all of the back and forth trying to resolve repairs is reduced since everyone is aware of the issues and has a handle on what will or will not be done.
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Insurability