Why Pre-Inspection?
” I thought the buyer paid for the home inspection…?” This is the most common response among sellers when we bring up the concept of a ‘pre-inspection,’ which is simply having the seller do the home inspection and repair any items found prior to the house hitting the market. Why would a seller want to do this? To keep in control of the negotiation and sales process. Here is a true story of a seller who did not have control:
A house in Princeton (not one of our listings!) has been on the market over 500 days (true). An Associate in my office brings an offer and after a long negotiation a price is agreed upon. After the attorney’s ratify the contract a home inspection is ordered. The buyer finds out the house needs in excess of $70,o00 in repairs. They cancel the contract. The seller is forced not only to put the house back on the market in a price point where prices are continuing to depreciate but also now to disclose the issues found in the home inspection. The next time the sellers get an offer, is it reasonable to think they will get a higher or lower offer the next time around, if at all?
All of that could have been avoided if the seller had done a pre-inspection and made necessary repairs to the property prior to the house hitting the market. Relocation companies have ling insisted that prior to them allowing a seller to market a property they would do a pre-inspection. They don’t want to deal with the unknown and lose deals. It is more expensive to lose a transaction than to do a pre-inpection.
If you want to save money in the long run, know what you are dealing with. Have a licensed inspector do an evaluation of your house so you do not lose control of the negotiations to the buyer. Realtor Magazine Online listed pre-inspection as the #1 thing a seller can do to get their house ready for the market.
