Wanda Ott
From Your President of The Lynchburg REALTORS ® Association
PRE-LISTING HOME INSPECTION
Buyers are almost always encouraged to have a home inspection of the property they are purchasing prior to completing the transaction . The home inspection process can be very stressful to negotiate and sometimes kill the sale if the Seller and Buyer cannot agree on remediation of issues found in a home inspection report .
One suggestion to reduce the stress of the home inspection repair negotiations is to have the Seller consider having a pre-listing home inspection performed by a licensed home inspector . This not only helps prepare the home for selling , but also gives the future owners confidence that the home is well kept .
There are several good reasons to have a pre-listing home inspection :
• If the pre-listing inspection reveals issues , the Seller can disclose or remedy the issues to avoid the risk of not disclosing known defects , which protects the real estate agent and the Seller . The Seller can either remedy the issues or provide a credit towards remediation of the known issues .
• Using the pre-listing report can help set a reasonable listing price for the home . If there are no issues , the listing price could be higher , and if there are several issues , the listing price could be discounted accordingly .
• Having the pre-listing inspection report available to potential buyers will help give the buyers confidence about the home when they make their offer and can help speed up the overall process .
• By having the pre-listing inspection performed , the Seller can avoid many common negotiations that may come up while fixing the repairs . The Seller will also know their costs upfront and avoid being delayed with lining up contractors and waiting for their bids .
• Having all the home inspection information upfront gives peace of mind in listing the home and avoids surprises during the transaction process .
• A pre-listing report is great to draw attention to the positive features that are found during the inspection . Sharing the report is a great way to build trust with the potential buyers .