25
Jul
Summary:
Pre-listing inspections, conducted by sellers before listing their homes, offer valuable insights into the property’s condition, helping set a fair price and avoid surprises. Benefits include understanding home value, getting ahead of buyer inspections, recognizing possible concessions to buyers, and addressing issues beforehand.
Titan Inspection Services provides thorough pre-listing inspections in Seattle and western Washington.
If you’ve bought or sold a home before, you probably understand what a home inspection is and why it’s done.
If you’re not familiar with home inspections, here’s a (very brief) explanation. Home inspections help potential buyers understand the overall condition of a property and identify specific issues that may need to be fixed. They paint a more complete picture of a home, going beyond what a possible buyer or their agent might notice during an open house or other visit.
Pre-listing inspections are different in a few very important ways. For example, these inspections happen under the direction of the seller, not the buyer. Crucially, these inspections happen before a home is listed on the market.
Let’s take a closer look at pre-listing inspections, benefits, and frequently asked questions included, for the greater Seattle area and across western Washington State.
What is a Pre-Listing Inspection?
A pre-listing inspection is an opportunity for a seller to assess the current state of their home. By using a qualified home inspector to complete a pre-listing home inspection, the seller gains some valuable benefits. These include:
Better Understanding Their Home’s Value
A pre-listing inspection helps sellers gain a more accurate understanding of their home’s value.
There may be issues with certain major systems within a home, like with the roof, electrical, or plumbing, that aren’t yet noticeable. However, those issues could require repairs at some point in the future.
With a pre-listing inspection, sellers will know about these concerns and can choose how to address them.
Getting Ahead of the Buyer’s Own Inspection
Smart home buyers want to know about the overall condition of any property they might purchase. That’s a big reason why home inspections are so popular.
For sellers, a pre-listing inspection means avoiding unpleasant surprises and getting some valuable peace of mind. And that helps sellers set an effective sale price and negotiate from a more informed position.
Recognizing Possible Concessions to Buyers
If the inspection finds expensive or time-sensitive issues that need to be addressed, sellers can weigh their options and decide how they want to move forward.
While lowering the listing price or negotiating for a lower price isn’t ideal, it may be necessary. Knowing ahead of time that buyers will likely ask for a lower price because a roof repair is needed, for example, is helpful.
When the alternative is only learning about the issue after the buyer’s inspection or at the negotiating table, some advance warning is very valuable. As Bankrate explains, a pre-listing inspection helps you get ahead of issues with your home. It can give you more negotiating power through advanced warning or a clean bill of health for your home.
The Chance to Fix Certain Issues Before Listing the Home
In some cases, a repair completed before the home is listed can bring sellers better value than making a concession to a buyer. Adding a note in a listing explaining major fixes and improvements will only attract buyers, too.
Ultimately, a pre-listing inspection gives sellers the power of choice. When they know the issues their home faces, they can choose how they want to respond instead of being caught unaware after a buyer’s inspection is completed.
Are there Downsides to Pre-Listing Inspections?
As legal resource Nolo explains, certain information needs to be listed in the disclosure form for residential real estate sold in Washington State. Homeowners are required to disclose some issues.
If you don’t conduct a pre-listing inspection and can’t reasonably be expected to know about certain issues, it’s up to the buyer to find them.
However, the benefits of having a more complete picture of your property can often outweigh the downsides of a more thorough disclosure. It’s generally reasonable to expect that, if your pre-listing home inspection caught the issue, the buyer’s own inspection would find that problem as well.
Pre-Listing Home Inspection Cost
Pre-listing home inspections vary in cost based on the size of the home and the scope of service. Every home is different, so it’s impossible to provide a single expected pre-listing home inspection cost.
However, you can view our pricing, broken down by home size and specific services, to understand the likely cost of a pre-listing inspection for your home.
Pre-Listing Inspections Done Right
Titan Inspection Services is proud to offer clear and comprehensive inspections performed by highly qualified and experienced home inspectors. Learn more about pricing and services for a pre-listing inspection of your home.