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I am an advocate of prelisting home inspections and often times pay for it out of pocket. The price point in my area allows me to do so.
My predisposition for prelisting inspections has all to do with giving the seller the opportunity to address potential material issues without a gun to their head. The seller can correct the situation or disclose it.
The MLS carries the DNA of every listing. If a property comes back onto the market within 1-2 weeks of going under contract it is usually because of unresolved inspection issues, not appraisal/financing issues. The seller is required to disclose and yet it's a rare listing that carries an amended disclosure.
And so the fun begins....
Hey everyone...Having just joined city-data, I am still going through threads and posts. What an informative site!! very impressive.
Being a home inspector in the St. Petersburg, Fl. area I can see where a forum like this would help my business. Looking forward to reciprocating and to be able to offer sound advice based on my experience and education.
One of my recent experiences has a Realtor friend who uses my services quite frequently. I have been trying to get her, as part of her listing service...to pay for the pre-inspection. Of course I was willing to work with her on all fronts including waiting for payment till after the home closed. I was hoping to show how a pre-listing would expedite the process while alleviating last minute negotiations with the buyers, possible saving the sellers hundreds if not thousands of dollars. Well you would have thought I just hit her in the head with a club. Lots of excuses but primarily the main reason was sellers disclosure, seller doesn't want to repair, yada yada yada. Well my recent conversation with her was asking why her buyer didn't need or want a home inspection. Her response was the home had a previous inspection and my buyer used that report to base his decision on whether to purchase it or not. Guess what...he purchased the home based on what basically was a pre-listing inspection.
It definitely opened her eyes but isn't quite willing to pay for the inspection but she will try harder when going after listings to get the home pre-inspected.
As most Realtor's on this forum have recommended the seller get the home pre-inspected why hasn't the Realtor offered to pay for it ?
Maybe home inspectors should lobby their legislature to include a home inspection report as part of the sellers disclosure...
Looking forward to hearing all the pro's and con's to this.
I cannot understand how someone could live in a house and need an inspection report. I have lived in my home since October 2007 and I know every square inch of it. I can tell you where even the most minute defect lies. Perhaps everyone does not have such an intimate connection with their home, but I cannot imagine why they would want or need a pre-listing inspection. Most home sellers feel like there are more than enough "fees" and "charges" associated with the process without paying for what would be perceived as an unnecessary service.
The only advantage I could imagine would be that it would save you from having to complete an onerous disclosure, however, in my state of Missouri, it is a requirement to provide a disclosure so a pre-listing inspection would not satisfy this requirement, besides a pre-listing inspection would not necessarily cover previous defects and problems which had been corrected as a disclosure would.
I cannot understand how someone could live in a house and need an inspection report. I have lived in my home since October 2007 and I know every square inch of it. I can tell you where even the most minute defect lies.
The prelisting inspection often serves to mitigate seller's amnesia.
I cannot understand how someone could live in a house and need an inspection report. I have lived in my home since October 2007 and I know every square inch of it. I can tell you where even the most minute defect lies. Perhaps everyone does not have such an intimate connection with their home, but I cannot imagine why they would want or need a pre-listing inspection. Most home sellers feel like there are more than enough "fees" and "charges" associated with the process without paying for what would be perceived as an unnecessary service.
The only advantage I could imagine would be that it would save you from having to complete an onerous disclosure, however, in my state of Missouri, it is a requirement to provide a disclosure so a pre-listing inspection would not satisfy this requirement, besides a pre-listing inspection would not necessarily cover previous defects and problems which had been corrected as a disclosure would.
20yrsiNBranson
Most people don't crawl under their homes, or in their attic spaces on a regular basis like you do.
This would open a can of worms,having just gone thru home inspection,how would she be able to handle this and make a sale?
Termites active in garage,new roof,no felt paper under lower section nor rubber shield around bottom,boots around vent pipes cracked and leaking,reused,bathroom fan vented to attic,woodburning stove vented in same flue as furnace and mold and fungus,which was treated, not reported on disclosure statement,also some water leakage in basement not checked off,I got refund from realtor on report.
See this is a perfect example of why a presale inspection should occur. You obviously walked away from this house. So imagine a seller having done a presale, already had the termites treated, called the roofing contractor that messed up and didn't do their job to come out and correct those items and replaced the boots around the vents like they should have when they redid the roof. The seller has the bathroom fan vented properly to the roof (which was likely the source of the moist air causing the mold and fungus) so they correct the problem and treat it. They would have a chance to correct the venting on the wood stove and fix the leak.
So, the question is...if you had received a presale report, along with a reinspect report, showing the defects and the repairs, would you have walked away from the house?
Inflated buyers estimates...The repair cost has been factored in to the listing price. Some Buyers are notorious for using the Home Inspection report to seek concessions. The seller is confident the buyer is getting the best price for their home. A confident seller means less haggling.
Inflated buyers estimates...The repair cost has been factored in to the listing price. Some Buyers are notorious for using the Home Inspection report to seek concessions. The seller is confident the buyer is getting the best price for their home. A confident seller means less haggling.
Possible. Personally I would get my own estimate if the numbers were significant and not just take the buyer's estimate.
The flip side is you may end up making repairs that either the buyer wouldn't care about or wouldn't catch.
What happens if you get a pre-inspection and don't agree with something on it? If you live in a state where you have to disclose known issues would you have to disclose that?
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