Should SELLERS Get Home Inspections?

To Get A Seller Home Inspection Or Not

Almost every time I sit down and strategize wtih potential home sellers the question allways comes up:  "should we get a home inspection first?".  My answer to this question used to be an absolute Yes, but of course very few sellers would actually make the investment to do so. 

Well, after experiencing a number of situations where the home seller actually made the investment to invest in a home inspection but decided to NOT actually address all the items that came up on the report, it has caused me to be very careful how I answer this in today's world.  

A few years ago I spent a lot of time working with some really nice folks interested in listing their home for sale and to position it fantastically in price, condition and marketing. 

Everything was going fine until we got the home inspection back that the seller had invested in.  The home inspection was nothing out of the ordinary, and let me use that term loosely, as an "ordinary" home inspection has become long books full of standardized and boiler-plate disclosures inspectors use to head-off potential liability for themselves. 

But the problem was "ordinary" to me was definately not ordinary to the sellers and they were appalled at all the things that were on the report, even simple things such as nail holes and nail pops plus the "this might break in the future even though its working now" verbage we are seeing more and more of.   

To make a long story short, I lost these folks as clients as I told them that if they did not repair some of the real structural oriented items such as moisture in the crawlspace, fogged windows and some other items that they had actually known about for a while but just did nothing about it we would have to disclosure them up front to any potential buyer(s). 

They decided to throw the home inspection away and hire another agent that knew nothing about the home inspection and proceed and hope the problems would not arise on a buyers new home inspection.  I always try to eo the right thing but as we all know we all do not share the same definition of the "right thing".  

So, now I answer the question with "it depends", which I go into much more detail in the video above.  But, I still feel that by being proactive the seller(s) put themselves in a stronger position as many buyers will walk away from buying a home over simple things that could have been easily addressed by the seller before the home was put under contract. 

Buyers can be very emotional as most of them do get "buyers remorse" and they are scared, we all are normally nervous when making such a large life altering investment.  And sometimes the very least little things can cause buyers to get spooked and walk away.  

My personal analogy is that when I get on an airplane I want someone who knows what they are doing to inspect it as best as possible BEFORE we get in the air, not wait for a problem to come up and try to fix it before we try to land

I hope this video and information was helpful and if you would ever like to discuss further please do not hesitate to call us at (910) 395-1000 or email me at buddy@buddyblake.com.

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Discussion

#1 By Buddy Blake at 12/6/2017 9:38 PM

I really would love to hear everyone's opinion on this as home inspections have become THE NUMBER ONE PROBLEM in many real estate transactions.

#2 By Aaron Curtis at 12/11/2017 6:43 AM

Hey, Thanks for the suggestions and awesome read. Most home sellers don’t think of themselves as fierce competitors in a market of high-priced products. But make no mistake, if your home is on the market, you are. Homes are a high-priced commodity and in any given city, there are hundreds from which buyers can choose. The best way to make certain your home attracts buyers and the highest possible sales price are to make sure it’s “dressed for success,” both inside and out. As a state certified home inspector, I try to stay totally logical and just look at the facts.



Regards,

Aaron Curtis, Home Inspector

http://www.empireinspectionsandappraisals.com/

#3 By Buddy Blake at 12/12/2017 8:51 PM

Aaron,
Thanks for the post. Being a home inspector is a tough and dirty job and I'm thinking someone is always not happy with the results.. either the seller, the buyer or the agents. I appreciate the ones that talk to buyers and agents and do not use excessive subjective statements and simply comment about the current functionality of systems etc. We are seeing more and more stand paragraphs about various things that apparently got shared in trade groups etc and it is tough to explain and even for me to understand. But, we roll on.. We used to earn a lot of our income with mostly marketing now, for us anyway, the most frustrating part of the entire home selling or buying process is dealing with the aftermath of home inspections. And it's partly because agents, buyers and sellers all have unrealistic expectations. I am finding my job is more and more to help set realistic expectations on all sides and to keep folks focussed on what the very goals they are wanting... it's a big picture and long term purchase when buying a house which evolves into you making it your home. We all do our job and if everyone will communicate and stop just emailing and texting that would make a HUGE difference.

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