Thinking of Moving? Inspect first ! Then Sell Faster…by Steve Gladstone
It never fails to amaze me that so many sellers will throw their homes on the market without any real thought as to how they can get the most for it, especially in a poor sales climate.
In almost every real estate sale I’ve witnessed over my last 25 years as a home inspector, buyers have negotiated away at least $1000.00 of the price of a home, for diddly stuff that could have been prevented, and in some cases more than $15,000.00 for somewhat important stuff, that could have been fixed before putting the home up for sale.
A home inspection performed prior to placing the home on the market is a no brainer, yet most sellers think this is a waste of money. Let me show you how wrong they are.
Lets say a seller invests a few hundred dollars in a pre-listing home inspection (typically anywhere from $325 for a condo or small home, to around $700) The inspector will spend approximately 3 hours checking every significant component and system in the home that is visible and accessible. Upon completion of checking your roof, crawling through your attic spaces, your basements and crawls, running your heating and cooling and looking at the plumbing, electrics and the structural aspects, he or she will write a detailed report that details any deficiencies and highlights areas of concern.
Once this investigation and the documentation is done, the owner can make decisions that can ultimately develop a pricing strategy that will help to accelerate the sale of this home.
By disclosing the needs of the home to future buyers you have in many cases taken these items off the bargaining table for future negotiations. More importantly armed with the knowledge that there are some areas of need… if you choose to address them you can reduce the items of contention to increase the desirability of the home.
Many times it is not the cost of a repair that upsets a buyer. It is the fear of the unknown. The money pit factor…that scares them.
The average buyer is not particularly house savvy. I don’t mean this to be rude, but few buyers really know what things cost. So when they see a home that needs a roof, they must also compute in the hassle of finding a roofer, dealing with the mess and not knowing how soon the guy will show up, if the job will be done right, and if indeed it will ever get done.
So a $5,000 roof in negotiation becomes $8,000 figuring some buffer for grief. Multiply this attitude time 5 items of contention and we can quickly see the price of the home whittled away, realtor commissions reduced, and more typically buyers walking away from a good house because of the fear of the unknown.
Smart realtors are beginning to offer staging advice to sellers. Deoderize, paint and unclutter are the buzz words but when it comes to telling a seller they should invest in their home before marketing it…most realtors are skittish about raising the discussion. They fear losing the listing if they recommend spending money to make the home sell.
Anyone who has successfully sold a car, knows that a good detailing, tune-up, oil change and lubrication will impress a buyer into feeling the car has been well maintained. Many a clunker has been sold just because the owner had the smarts to give it a new set of tires and a good washing.
Houses that are pre-inspected are an even better investment and the residuals will follow with careful and planned improvements.
Significant dollars can be made in freshening up the paint and carpets, but upgrading a leaky water heater, fixing a bad roof and getting rid of the asbestos will really help to sell the home faster and for more money. Removing the fear factor does work.
And don’t forget that the longer a home sits on the market the more it costs to carry that sale (typically about one grand a month). For realtors that is your commission slipping through your fingers, but for the seller it is a grim reminder that bad decisions like selling a home “as is” will often get you less than what you wanted to make on the home.
In every instance, that is, 100% of the homes we have pre-inspected, not only has the seller made back the inspection fee, but they have sold their home quicker and for more money. And the inspection has helped to market the home as being “pre-inspected”. Maybe you should re-read this paragraph.
If you truly want to sell that home while others around you are worrying about the real estate downturn, you’d better start thinking outside the box. Get your home pre-inspected.
Stephen Gladstone is the President/Owner of Stonehollow,Inc. Fine Home Inspections in Lower Fairfield County and was the National President of the American Society of Home Inspectors in 2004. His radio show… “Around the House with Steve Gladstone” can be heard Saturday Mornings on WSTC 1400 am and WNLK 1350 am from 8 am til 9 each week. For a free newsletter with important home safety tips check out www.stonehollow.com
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