Overview

If you have any doubt about the condition of your house, pay for a professional home inspection.  If you expect someone to make what could be the biggest purchase of a lifetime, you want to ensure you’re selling a good product and not have any surprises come up that could derail the sale of your home.

Below are some reasons to get a home inspection before listing your home for sale.

A home inspection could save you money

If you don’t fix problems in your house and they show up on the buyer’s inspection report, you can reduce your asking price. But that’s not always the best financial solution. More often than not, you will pay less for repairs in advance of a buyer finding out and trying to negotiate down the price.

It could speed up the sales process

Getting your house in the best shape possible should speed up the sales procedure. If issues come up during the home inspection and repairs need to be made, this can prolong the closing of the sale versus fixing them in advance.  Negotiations alone could take time on top of the actual repairs.

You will feel empowered

In a buyer’s market, the seller with a home inspection completed will have one leg up on the competition. If you’ve done everything possible to prepare your home for sale, it only helps in the negotiation process. On the other hand, if you haven’t fixed a known fault and are just hoping to avoid it, chances are it will be brought up by the buyer during escrow and could derail the entire deal.

Home Inspection deal breakers

It’s all well and good to guess what a prelisting inspection might show, but the real issue is finding out what the typical deal breakers are for most buyers so you’ll know what you should seriously consider fixing. Most deal breakers are costly to repair:

• Foundation issues
• Mold
• Gas leaks
• Outdated electrical system
• Water damage
• Roof problems
• Termite damage
• Leaky pipes

If you’ve made additions to your home, make sure you pull the permits to show they were legal.

The cost of a home inspection is based on the square footage of the house and you should expect to pay $300-$500.