| |
| |
|
Home Improvement Information |
|
|
|
The Best Time to Inspect Your Home!
Home inspections conducted prior to a home being placed on the market is one of the wisest moves a seller can make. The initial response from sellers when approached with the idea of an inspection done as the home is about to be put up for sale is most always the same - "What?!" Let's review a few of the most common concerns about Pre-Listing Home Inspections. 1. "The buyer will not accept an inspection done for the seller." That is correct! The inspection done for the seller is not intended to replace the inspection done for the buyer. The purpose of the pre-listing inspection is to put the seller in control! Given that no good surprise can come to the seller during the home inspection, regardless of when it is done or whom it is done for, it makes perfect sense to get every strand of information as soon as it can be gotten. Bad news doesn't get better with time. If there is some bad news, or more correctly, some items that needs attention or might have an impact on the home's value, who better to receive that information than the seller? And when is a better time to receive that information than before the home is placed on the market? The simple fact is this - a home inspection at the time of listing will put the seller in the best possible position. With the complete and clear view of the home's strengths and weaknesses, the home can be marketed to the best benefit of the seller. 2. "I don't want to pay for the inspection." This is certainly understandable. The seller generally perceives that the inspection is intended for the buyer, hence, should be a buyer's responsibility. But to have the benefit of the information it must be paid for. Never have we had a complaint from a seller about the value of the inspection! In every case at the conclusion of a pre-listing inspection, the seller felt they had made a good choice in spending the money to get the inspection done. In most cases, the seller's feel good getting the peace of mind of knowing that no major event or expense will be uncovered by the buyer's inspector. And on the rare occasion when it is discovered by the pre-listing inspector that the roof is completely shot or there is some other big expense or danger, the sellers, while not happy to have the problem, are glad to have discovered it on their own terms. The small expense of the inspection is always less then the cost and aggravation of a hurried hunt to get something repaired or replaced after the home is under contract. Save the pain, spend the money. Get every home inspected prior to putting it on the market! 3. "The home is selling 'as is'." This may be the best reason of all to inspect at listing! If the home is being sold "as is", reduce your risk and liability as the seller by getting a pre-listing inspection. In order for the home to sell quickly and at the highest price, disclose every condition of the home. The inspection gives both the buyer and the seller the comfort of knowing that the home "is as it is". With a pre-listing inspection, there is a high likelihood that the home is as represented. Even in an "as is" contract, the buyer may still have their own inspection performed. If these two inspections are similar in content, it is rare the buyer will walk or counter offer. That, in fact, is the goal of the "as is" sale. Another concern of sellers is that they will have to repair every item that is discovered to be discrepant on the inspection report. This is simply not true. It would be true that every discrepant item needs to be disclosed, and those disclosures may impact value and hence asking price, but nothing need necessarily be corrected. Amazing as it may seem, homes inspected prior to going on the market have two very significant attributes: 1. They sell faster than homes not inspected until the buyer has made an offer. 2. They sell closer to the asking price than homes not inspected until the buyer has made an offer. Why the heck does that happen? When the buyer makes an offer, there is an assumption made by the buyer, reasonable or not, that there is nothing wrong with the home! If there was something wrong with the home that the seller knew about, but did not disclose, shame on them, it is about to cost them money. Most often, though, the items that come up on the inspection by the buyer were unknown to the seller. Sur-prise, sur-prise, sur-prise! And we've already established that surprise is not good in real estate. So how is it that the inspection for the seller makes the buyer pay more for the home and do it in less time? Let us create an example of a 20-year-old home that has a fair market value of $100,000, just to make the math easy. That value assumes that nothing is wrong with the home. When the buyer has the home inspected it is with the assumption that anything discovered to be wrong will be corrected by the seller or a price concession will be made. Now, let's consider that the buyers inspection revealed the need for a new roof, several plumbing leaks, and the need for replacement of three exterior doors. When these discoveries are made by the buyer's inspection, the clock is running and running fast. These items need to be corrected before the sale can be completed. This time crunch puts the seller at a disadvantage when dealing with the contractors. When time is critical, you have fewer choices and the costs go up. Additionally, the buyer often wants to have input on who does what work. This situation is always tense and expensive. It can be avoided! Let us now assume that the inspection result occurs, but it is for the seller as the home goes onto the market. The seller is now in control. Armed with a clear picture of what is wrong, the seller can choose to shop calmly for the best value in repair contractors, offer a credit at closing or adjust the sales price to reflect the diminished value. They can even make the necessary repairs, then increase the price of the home to reflect the increased value! No matter the choices made, the seller, on the seller's time frame, makes them. This actually makes for a neater, simpler buying decision for the buyer. The buyer knows better what condition the home is in and knows what issues to base the initial offer on. The buyer will still in most cases get the home inspected, but this is a breeze. It is rare that any additional items of significance arise. The pre-listing inspection puts deal killing at the lowest risk. Most often, it makes for an awesome deal-closing tool! Copyright © Florida HomePro, Inc. and Wallace J. Conway. All rights in all media reserved. Wally Conway is President of Florida HomePro Inspections, and is featured regularly on HGTV's "House Detective". As a speaker, instructor, author, and host of The Happy Home Inspector radio show every Saturday at 3 PM on WOKV 690, Wally blends the right amount of up-to-date information with just the right amount of humor, insight, motivation, and real-world application. Visit http://www.wallyconway.com and http://www.gohomepro.com for more information on his new book, "Secrets of the Happy Home Inspector"!
MORE RESOURCES:
Google News |
|
|
|
RELATED ARTICLES
Vacation Break for Electrical Machines Are you overloaded? Have you become a part of the highly stressed modern working environment? You may need a break - a vacation, a change in environment, a change of pace.. Easy To Follow Tips For Keeping Energy Costs Down When it comes to cooling our homes and businesses, the cost of air conditioning just seems to keep going up and up. This year is no different. Single hung aluminum window glass repair Let's talk about repairing broken glass in an aluminum frame single hung window. If it's the lower sash pane that is broken, it must be removed from the inside. Improving Your Bottom Line Through Vastu The design of your office and home has a great influence on your financial success. If your work or living environments are in harmony with nature they have a positive affect on your prosperity. What To Look For In USPS Mailboxes High quality residential and commercial mailboxes areavailable in styles that meet the new standards set by theUnites States Postal Service. Postal certified mailboxesare becoming a necessary addition to your home or business. How To Care For Your Leather Furniture Leather is the most durable fabric used for furniture today. Although leather is so resistant to harm, it is always wise to take precautions when taking care of you're furniture in order to ensure it always looks great. What to Look For in a Drill Press A drill press, also known as a pillar drill, is the stationary form of a hand-held drill. The advantage of the drill-press over the hand drill is the tool's accuracy and power. How To Identify A Quality Interior Shutter 1. Shutters have proper louver tensionThe shutters louvers should be smooth and stay in the desired position throughout the lifetime of the shutter. Repairing a Hole in a Sheetrocked Wall It is quite simple to repair a hole in a Sheetrocked wall, however there are minor differences in methods of repair depending on how large the hole is.Small size holes (1/4" or smaller)With small holes, simply apply a little joint compound or wall putty with a small putty knife or trowel. Hot Tubs: Without A Shadow Of A Doubt Guarantee Relaxation When You Dip Your Feet Into The Water! A staple of healthy outdoor living, hot tubs equals to water therapy that pound our bodies with jaw dropping and heart stopping relaxation. Dating back to Roman times, baths served as a medical remedy in treating many maladies. Interior Design For New Homes When decorating or making decorating decisions for new homes, it is important to remember that your major decisions could affect decorating choices for quite a long period of time. Commitment to bold or unusual color treatments before you have actually had the opportunity to consider how such changes will coordinate with your furniture placement is not very advisable in this type of situation. Change The Style Of Your Interior With A Minimum Of Costs The style of your interior depends for a great part on the decoration on the walls. Using the right picture on the right place can make your room look bigger. Replacing Steel Casement Windows (Part 2) Last week, I explained how to remove your old steel casement windows as you prepare each opening for the new Vinyl windows. In most of the country, you are limited to a replacement style frame, which is a new construction frame with the nail fin removed. Three Types of Lighting for Room Remodeling When remodeling a room, choosing the correct lighting is one of the most important considerations. Proper lighting sets the atmosphere of the room, creates a particular mood, or provides accent to an architectural style. Enjoy The Beauty Of Hardwood With The Endurance Of Laminate Flooring Everyone likes the beautiful, timeless look of hardwood floors. Elegant, yet simple, hardwood is stunning. Simple Way to Get More Heat from Your Fireplace For some people, a fireplace might as well be a video of flaming logs. Their primary interest is the welcoming ambiance a fireplace's blaze presents. Rising Damp It doesn't sound like a particularly interesting topic, however a quick search on the worlds favourite internet search engine will show that in some circles rising damp is a very hot topic indeed. The trouble is that it appears that it could indeed be some type of religion or god; does it exist, or doesn't it? The truth of the matter is that rising damp does indeed exist in one form or another, but it is often misdiagnosed, or you can often pay for expensive treatment that really isn't necessary. Successful Motor Protection Formulae As we have discussed before, all overload relays have one major limitation - because they operate on line current, they do not directly sense the motor temperatures.However, with proper heater selection and careful attention to the factors that affect heater performance, the overload relay can work extremely well to protect the motors. Sofa slipcovers - Give your home an instant makeover! Sofa slipcovers are designed to be easy to fit over your existing upholstery, to give your furniture a fresh new look and protect the fabric underneath. If your favorite sofa is looking a bit tired or outdated, but is generally in good condition, you could give it a new lease of life simply by adding some stylish sofa covers. Buying The Right Comforter For Your Bed Putting the right comforter on your bed can make the whole bedroom look fabulous. Comforters are the most visible of all the bedding pieces, so when you change the comforter you make a large change in the decor of the bedroom itself.
|
| home | site map |
| © 2006 |
