If you’re about to sell your home, getting a pre-listing inspection could do you wonders! Many people wrongly assume home inspections only benefit buyers, but they can also help sellers.
A pre-listing inspection can make a property more attractive to potential buyers and help you identify any major issues well before the negotiations begin.
Simply put, pre-listing inspections are a smart investment and could protect your bank account!
What Is a Pre-listing Inspection?
Much like a buyer’s inspection, a pre-listing inspection’s goal is to review the home and provide a written report about the state of the home. Having one can allow you to negotiate from a position of power and knowledge as you will truly know your home’s worth.
After a pre-listing inspection, you can address the problems found or let prospective buyers know about them upfront. Hence the goal is never to take the findings and hide them from prospects.
Now that you have a clear idea of what pre-listing inspections are, let’s talk about how you can ace yours and make your selling process that much easier!
Keys For A Successful Pre-listing Inspection
- Open everything: Well, not everything, but certainly make sure doors, windows, and gates are accessible. You don’t want to lock your inspector out!
- Turn on the lights: Replace any burnt out bulbs, and address light fixtures before we arrive; this will make the inspection run smoothly.
- De-clutter: If you were a little late on your spring cleaning, now is the time to catch up. Make sure all critical areas are accessible—this includes water heater, furnace, AC units, and attics.
- Check under the sink: We’ll have to get in there to look for leaks or moisture damage, so please clean up those areas before we arrive.
- Address landscape issues: Take a look at your yard and make sure it’s tidy, trees are trimmed, fallen branches are cleared, etc.
- Test monitors: Have a look at your smoke detectors and carbon monoxide monitors to ensure they’re in working order.
- Get documents ready: If you have regular maintenance done (like changing furnace filters), or have had a roof repair, have this info ready for us. Side note: this documentation will also be useful for potential buyers!
- Schedule a playdate: If you want to stick around for the inspection, no problem! But we recommend taking children and pets out of the home for the duration of the inspection.
- Leave utilities connected: Even if it’s a vacant home, we’ll be checking your stove, washing machine, AC, etc. If utilities are turned off we won’t be able to complete the inspection and will need to reschedule.
- Leave keys: We’ll need access to outbuildings and electrical boxes; so if you have keys for that please have them handy.
Before scheduling your inspection, take a day to get things in order. Not only will it make our job easier, but it will allow the entire inspection to run much more smoothly and give us the best look at your home.
If you’d like to go the extra mile, we recommend making a list of all known flaws before we arrive. For example, cracks in a window or a broken light fixture; no matter how big or small the issue, let us know at the beginning!
Ready for a professional pre-list inspection? Schedule yours here with our easy online tool!
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