Congratulations on potentially selecting us to perform your prelisting physical inspection. As your inspector, we will ensure that you are completely protected by locating and defining and documenting each deficiency properly.
Home inspections are traditionally part of the due diligence process when a home is under contract with a buyer.
When you hire one of our professional home inspectors for a listing inspection, we will visit the home and conduct a thorough review of the structure, documenting any deferred maintenance, hazards, and defects in the building with our state of the art software program.
Sometimes the results of the report can have a powerful impact on the sale of the house. The buyer can ask for repairs or updates to be made, try negotiating on the sale price or walk away from the deal.
The a way to avoid these unpleasant surprises is to get a prelisting inspection.
Homeowners looking to put their house on the market can opt for a prelisting home inspection, which provides sellers with a thorough report before the home goes on the market.
This also gives you the opportunity to make necessary repairs before potential buyers start touring your property and to avoid deals that could fall through due to structural or maintenance problems.
Even in the best real estate markets where buyers are buying up available homes quickly, a prelisting inspection can help reduce the chances a deal could fall through and get you closer to selling your home for the price you want in the time frame you need.
Here are five reasons you should consider getting a prelisting home inspection before putting your house on the market
Advance notice. Every house comes with its fair share of quirks and problems, and you may not be aware of a few of them – a malfunctioning furnace or a dead plug the garage, for example.
If you’re planning to put your property on the market, an inspection report ahead of time will help you see all the potential problems before you list it for sale.
The prelisting inspection gives you the knowledge ahead of time to do with as you will allowing you to hold all the cards by not being blindsided by a request for repairs from a buyers inspection.
You can make repairs or updates to reflect current standards or fix any deferred maintenance.
There is a caveat to a preinspection: Once you have the report in your hands, unfortunately, you can’t completely ignore the problems. For example, If your inspector finds electrical problems, or cracks in the foundation, you’ll be required to disclose that information to any potential buyer, or fix the problems before a buyer puts an offer in.
DIY option. For simpler repairs, the prelisting inspection gives you the added benefit of taking on the repairs yourself. When negotiating with a buyer, the repairs they ask for will typically require you to bring in licensed professionals for all work done, even when the fixes are simple.
There are a lot of do-it-yourself projects that you can do yourself that don’t always require a professional and If the buyer’s inspector finds it, its going to be more expensive for you. For example, let’s say there’s an electrical outlet that needs to be replaced or something simple with a drain piping under a sink – the buyer is typically going to request that a professional electrician or plumber do it.
An outlet replacement or tightening a washer on a faucet are both simple projects homeowners can do, however may cost a couple hundred dollars for a professional to complete.
Contractor of choice. For more complex projects that do require professionals, time is on your side when your home isn’t on the market yet.
Rather than trying to find a roofer in a specific time frame to appease a buyer, you can shop around for a price that suits you, schedule based on availability, and skill to ensure you’re satisfied with their work.
Reflected pricing. If there there are problems that you’re just not willing to take on or problems that you can’t afford to fix, such as a foundation issues or investing the money to replace cracked tiles in a bathroom when you know a buyer will probably renovate it anyway; you don’t necessarily have to take care of the repairs; instead, it can be reflected in the price.
Work with your real estate agent to establish the right sale price, taking into account whatever issues you can’t – or aren’t willing to – fix before putting your house on the market. Your final sale price may be lower, but it may be better than paying for the repairs that won’t be fully recouped by a buyer’s full price offer.
Buyer may accept. If your house has already had an inspection, that can have its own appeal for buyers and can serve as a marketing tool if included in the listing description of the house. Even if its a sellers market where buyers compete with each other, you are more likely to see buyers willing to accept the prelisting inspection report and forgo additional inspections during the due diligence period, which will move the process along much faster.
Our prelisting inspection reports are accepted roughly 80 percent of the time.
This does not mean you should expect a buyer to accept the prelisting report as the only inspection. Buyers today are educated and cautious, not to mention pretentious; so be prepared.
Additionally, if there has been any significant amount of time that has passed between the preinspection and the buyer’s offer, other problems may show up.
A. Yes, A prelisting inspection costs the same as one conducted while a property is under contract with a buyer.
Q. Is your company certified by any professional affiliations?
A. Yes, We are members or are alumni of the (ASHI) American Society of Home Inspectors, (CREIA) California Real Estate Inspectors Association, (NAHI) National Association of Home Inspectors, (NACHI) National Association of Certified Home Inspectors, and (ICC) International Code Council.
We are also certified by the (EPA) Environmental Protection Agency as Certified Mold Investigators, Asbestos Control Technicians, and Renovation, Restoration, and Painting Lead Dust Wipe Inspectors.
Q. How long have you been performing home and commercial property inspections?
A. We are proud to say that this is our 15th consecutive year, having performed over 8,000 Residential and Commercial inspections to date.
Q. How long will the inspection take?
A. The inspection should take approximately 1-2 hours per 1000 square feet inspected, depending on the condition.
Q. Who is responsible to arrange a home inspection? Is it the buyer, seller, or the buyers or sellers realtor?
A. The client is responsible for arranging the property inspection; even if your representing yourself.
With agents having more and more liability issues in transactions these days, it makes a lot of sense to let the client arrange the inspection.
Most agents will give their clients at least 3 reputable inspection firms and let them pick the one they want.
After you review the inspection report; you can move forward, request for repairs, concessions, or cancel the contract.
Q. Can a seller a arrange a home inspection?
A. Yes, although not required to. It is a fact, that often times it’s better to have the home inspection done by the seller prior to any offers to purchase.