Should Sellers Pay for a Pre-Listing Home Inspection?

Getting your house in the best shape possible should help speed up the sale process. If you proactively make the necessary repairs, there is less likelihood to be stuck in a long negotiation process.

A prelisting home inspection can signal to potential buyers that you’ve done the due diligence on their future home. It can give potential buyers confidence in you as an honest seller and in the quality of the home you are selling.

It can also be a useful tool in the negotiation process. A potential buyer will have less merit to claim a price reduction for repairs if you’ve made the necessary fixes ahead of time.

If you do have a prelisting home inspection, what issues should you seriously consider fixing? There are a few problems that may show up on your list that are deal breakers to most buyers, and they’re often time consuming, expensive, and can cause a buyer to pull out of their offer.

Although it can vary from market to market, these are some of the top deal breakers. Brace yourself:

• Foundation issues
• Mold
• Outdated electrical system
• Water damage
• Roof problems
• Rotted fascia or trim
• Leaky pipes/dated plumbing

Note: If you’ve made additions to your home, make sure you pull the permits to show they were completed legally.

If you can’t afford to make those major improvements, you can still spruce up the house before you list it. Here are some DIY ways to spruce up the home without breaking the bank:

• Install sconce lighting or a decorative arbor on street-facing garage doors.
• Power wash the driveway, vinyl siding, the front walkway, deck mildew, and patio furniture.
• Dust talcum powder between seams of creaky floorboards to quiet them.

*Do you have some money set aside for improvements before selling? See which improvements will give you the biggest return on your investment here. 

While there are many upsides to getting a prelisting home inspection, some experts don’t like the idea.

Some pros feel that instead of wasting time and money upfront, a seller should wait for the results of the home inspection and add repairs to the closing cost. While this is an option, you may be hit with a surprise that causes your sale to fall through.

However, if you’ve recently had a professional inspection and no major issues have arisen since, you could skip having another inspection done. Just be sure to include that inspection report into your home’s disclosure documents.

Waiting for the buyer to work through an independent home inspection could cause the deal to fall through. Even if you offer to fix a problem that arises on the buyer’s inspection report, skittish buyers may be hesitant to close the deal.

The prelisting home inspection can put a nervous seller at ease and give you a better chance for a fast and easy close. (And in case you were wondering, a home inspection is based on the square footage and can run upwards of $300.)