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Maybe this has been addressed before but I have not come across it. Is it wise for a seller to have an inspection before the house is listed so as to clear up any potential problems before a serious buyer would? Are inspections that subjective that a buyer's inspection would uncover different problems than a seller's inspector? Wouldn't a pre listing inspection help you to get corrections on your own time table and cost rather than be under a time table and pressure of closing? Thanks for reponses. :-)
Yes, it's a good idea to obtain a home inspection prior to a listing so you can do repairs to your own schedule and not feel rushed or pushed. I usually only recommend this on homes older than 10 years old. Yes, homes less than 10 years old have issues, but not usually "major" issues, and it's more important, in my opinion, on older homes.
When I was selling my 70 year old home, my Realtor advised against it. I had already fixed some major/minor things by that time (roof, furnace, window sashes, and Bilco door repairs).
If you know you need repairs, you can fix them or disclose them before listing, but I wouldn't go looking for trouble!
If you discover something major, you'll have to disclose it. IMO buyer beware. If you know something needs to be done, and would be a deterrent to a buyer, then I'd take care of that but I wouldn't go as far as getting an inspection done
Maybe this has been addressed before but I have not come across it. Is it wise for a seller to have an inspection before the house is listed so as to clear up any potential problems before a serious buyer would? Are inspections that subjective that a buyer's inspection would uncover different problems than a seller's inspector? Wouldn't a pre listing inspection help you to get corrections on your own time table and cost rather than be under a time table and pressure of closing? Thanks for reponses. :-)
Inspections can be EXTREMELY subjective. We had an inspection done prior to putting our house on the market because we wanted to make sure any contract wouldn't fall through based on issues. We corrected the minor issues the inspector found. When we went under contract, the buyers had another inspection done. Their list of "repairs" was really a list of upgrades and improvements they wanted in the house. We were baffled as to why they even went under contract to buy the house given all the supposed issues it had. We politely declined to do any of the "repairs" on their list other then one real issue that our inspector missed. They complained a bunch and made our lives hell prior to the closing, but still bought the house. I hope they've since "repaired" things to their liking.
Some people really don't know if they have bad breath... let alone why.
Getting objective information is never a bad idea.
Inspectors are an indepent source of information but it's hard to call their reports a source of objective information because it's highly influenced by the inspector's opinion of what's a problem and what's not a problem.
If you called in 10 different home inspectors to inspect the same house, I guarantee that you would get 10 wildly different reports. Not only would the list of "issues/repairs" but even where there is overlap the magnitude of the issue would be described differently among them. If I had a penny for every time I've been at an inspection where the inspector pointed out a problem that turned out to be absolutely nothing, I could retire quite comfortably. These guys don't have the depth of knowledge to without doubt identify problems. They can only identify possible issues. As such, their reports vary wildly.
I always advise my clients to not have a pre-listing inspection (most agents in this area take the same tact on the issue). If you discover a problem then you either have to disclose it (bad) or fix it (costly). It's better to leave the discovery to the buyer. You don't know what their inspector will find (that maybe your inspector did not) and you don't know what will be an issue for a buyer and what will not. With a pre-listing inspection, you might end up repairing an issue that your future buyer doesn't even care about.
I think too many folks above are over thinking this!
The OP seems to be aware of the fact that many buyers do expect the results of the inspection to be an occaisional to "re-open the negoitiation process" or worse to "walk away" from any house that is not perfect.
Given those sorts of realities it is my recommendation to ABSOLUTELY hire a qualified home inspector, get their most detailed report and use it as a CHECKLIST to address the vast number of minor issues that pretty much EVERY home can be expected to have. Should any "major" issues be uncovered the odds of this NOT BEING A DEAL KILLER are remote! Major issues that the seller can afford to remediate before the home is listed for sale are far better than getting blindsided at a failed effort to get the potential buyer to accept last minute repairs. Major issues are also quite rare and to not use the knowledge of a qualified home inspector to help get the home into tip top ready-to-move-in condition is just foolish...
The best inspectors will produce a report that is comprehensive and understandable. The level of detail that explains why an issue should be brought to attention of buyers is key -- assumes that the seller addresses all of these issues any subsequent inspection should come back with "a clean bill of health" and the sale will proceed smoothly.
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Over the years I have bought and sold a few older rental houses. I would never try to hide any thing ..BUT don't look for trouble.
