The Pros and Cons of a Pre-listing Home Inspection for Sellers

If you are going to sell your house, you can expect your buyers to do a home inspection. Nowadays, home inspections have become a part of the house-buying process. A home inspection uncovers underlying issues of a property, and that's why sellers do a pre-listing inspection and solve identified problems. In this article, we are going to explore the pros and cons of pre-listing home inspections.

What is a pre-listing home inspection?

A home inspection is a structured assessment of every part of a house. A pre-listing inspection occurs prior to the listing of a house. This type of inspection is done by a professional house inspector who checks every part of a home and scores the home using a checklist of 1,600 items.

Pros of a Pre-Listing Home Inspection

The pre-listing inspection uncovers the condition of your house, and you will have enough time to repair your house

Your house may look good, but you don't know what types of problems are hiding behind the house's floors, walls, and corners. You should do the inspection before your buyer makes the inspection. If the buyer pre-inspects your house and finds problems, your selling opportunity will most likely be in vain. So, pre-inspect your home before you list your house for sale. A professional pre-inspection by a professional home inspector will bring issues and problems to light, and you'll have the opportunity to repair them before listing your home. As a result, you won't have to go through the unnecessary stress of repairing while you are dealing with your buyer.

It will minimize your stress

Going to the real estate market without knowing the right or wrong condition of your house will give you stress when some undeniable issues pop up. You will end up wasting your selling opportunity. To avoid this stress, you can simply do your own inspection of your house before your buyer's inspection takes place. If anything is wrong, you can rectify the issues, and then you can go to the housing market to sell your house.

It will boost your confidence and help to build trust with prospective buyers

A thorough inspection of your house will help you build confidence in your home, and that will help you build trust with your potential buyers. Once your house is pre-inspected and you have fully repaired the issues, you can confidently move forward to sell your house. From the buyer's perspective, if the buyer's inspector found your house without any problems and issues, the possibility of buying your house will increase. Not only that, a pre-inspection will eliminate any kind of suspicions regarding your home conditions, and it will help you to sell your house faster.

It will give you more accurate pricing

If the price of your house isn’t aligned with the market, you will certainly face difficulty in selling your home. Because an overpriced house will not be sold easily in the market, and an underpriced house will be sold easily, but you will miss out on a good amount of money from the sale. A thorough pre-inspection will let you know the condition of your house and aid you in determining how much your house is worth.‍

You will be able to close faster

Your buyer is going to do a thorough home inspection by themselves even if you have already done it. But, you will have the assurance from your pre-inspection that your buyer isn’t going to stumble on major issues that can slow down the process. 

It will make the job of the real estate agent easier

Real estate agents are generally used to selling houses without pre-inspection, but, they prefer it because a pre-listing inspection will let the real estate agent know the house's current situation. A pre-listing home inspection will help the agent to price the house more accurately, and they will be able to do the negotiations more confidently with the buyers.

You will be able to avoid unnecessary negotiations

Most of the time, negotiations happen between sellers and buyers due to the repairs and defects of the house. If you have already done the pre-inspection of your house and taken care of the major issues, your buyers will have fewer points to negotiate over. Moreover, if you show the prospective home buyers the home's pre-inspection report, the buyers will not have anything to negotiate over.

Cons of Pre-Listing Home Inspections

You have to spend money on this

Sometimes the buyers may cover the pre-inspection, which is generally the seller's responsibility. Typically, you have to cost anywhere between $200 to $500 for a thorough pre-inspection without including the repair cost. In addition to that, you may have to spend more money on water testing, radon testing, mold checking, and lead paint checking if necessary.

You may have to repair major house problems

If the pre-listing inspections uncover major issues that can ruin your plan of selling your house, you have to repair those issues if you want to sell your house at a healthy rate. Problems can be anything like foundation cracks, faulty electrical wiring problems in the roof, or other major problems. If these types of problems are identified during your buyer's home inspection, your house price will drop significantly.

You will have to disclose what was found in the inspection

During the house selling process, home sellers are obliged to complete the SDN (Seller’s Disclosure Notice) document in order to disclose everything regarding the condition of your house. In this SDN document, you must mention your changes, repairs, and improvements. This may affect the selling process.

Your  home will go through another home inspection

Even if you have done the pre-listing inspection, your buyer may do another home inspection. When your buyer does a home inspection, there is always a possibility of revealing new issues. Later you have to deal with new and overlooked issues so that you can sell your house at a better price.