Amazing as it may seem, homes inspected prior to going on
market have two very significant attributes:1. They sell faster than homes not inspected until
buyer has made an offer.
2. They sell closer to
asking price than homes not inspected until
buyer has made an offer.
Why
heck does that happen?
When
buyer makes an offer, there is an assumption made by
buyer, reasonable or not, that there is nothing wrong with
home! If there was something wrong with
home that
seller knew about, but did not disclose, shame on them, it is about to cost them money. Most often, though,
items that come up on
inspection by
buyer were unknown to
seller. Sur-prise, sur-prise, sur-prise! And we've already established that surprise is not good in real estate. So how is it that
inspection for
seller makes
buyer pay more for
home and do it in less time?
Let us create an example of a 20-year-old home that has a fair market value of $100,000, just to make
math easy. That value assumes that nothing is wrong with
home. When
buyer has
home inspected it is with
assumption that anything discovered to be wrong will be corrected by
seller or a price concession will be made.
Now, let's consider that
buyers inspection revealed
need for a new roof, several plumbing leaks, and
need for replacement of three exterior doors. When these discoveries are made by
buyer's inspection,
clock is running and running fast. These items need to be corrected before
sale can be completed. This time crunch puts
seller at a disadvantage when dealing with
contractors. When time is critical, you have fewer choices and
costs go up. Additionally,
buyer often wants to have input on who does what work.