Should I Pre-Inspect My House Before Selling?

By Jamie Reece

20+ years as Principle & Managing Broker, proud UW Business grad, loves competition & negotiating hard, achieving client’s goals thru statistical & opportunity analysis. Can be found sailing, biking, volunteering, or hanging with family when not actively engaged in creating a spreadsheet.

When you want a smooth, drama free sale of your home for the best price & terms, a pre-inspection can be a great tool to make it happen as there are benefits and risks that may not work for all sellers

Disclosure of Defects
Washington State requires all Sellers, except for estates, to disclose known material defects during the sale process. Getting a professional home inspection will make you aware of defects, which will then need to be disclosed even if you’d prefer not to share them. Failure to disclose clearly known defects can be a large and costly legal headache, so it is always much better to manage these disclosure issues thoughtfully**.

Increased Preparation Costs
High home prices & higher interest rates are leaving buyers cash strapped at closing and in their first years of ownership, making ‘turn key’ homes a higher priority. These homes don’t include a long list of repairs & immediate improvements. Many of these buyers will actually use pre-inspection reports to reject homes they would otherwise be interested in. Ironically, this quick rejection often happens over relatively minor repairs which they would have accepted if they had already invested $400-800 in the property through inspections.

While not all buyers require this, the largest market and the best potential price for your home requires correcting most or all of the major & moderate defects found in the inspection & providing proof of these fixes with receipts or other documentation.

However, depending on the condition of the home and circumstances of the sale, it may also take time and money which may be in short supply as a seller***.

Avoiding Costly Drama

One of the most frustrating and costly experiences for a home seller can be failing inspection and returning to market. At times, when buyers find issues during an inspection contingency, they simply get spooked and no reasonable negotiation will keep them moving forward.

When the home arrives back on the market, there will be questions and concerns from other potential buyers. While most of these can be addressed through strategic marketing and professional communication, the ‘new listing’ magic often isn’t there the second time around and multiple offers, escalated prices and exceptional offers can be harder to find.

A thorough pre-inspection of a home combined with well documented repairs addressing the major and moderate issues greatly increases the opportunity for buyers to waive their inspection and remove this potential risk and drama from your transaction.

To Pre-inspect or Not?

For well maintained & updated homes, or sellers with the time & resources to make necessary repairs, pre-inspection are an effective & profitable marketing tool for an optimal sale.

However for some homes & sellers, pre-inspecting may result in higher risks, greater costs and longer timelines. These can be impossible to manage or worse than simply selling the home “as is” with a strategic & compelling price to buyers who are willing to make a personal investment in doing their own inspection.

The right decision is individual to the seller, the home and the current market… always & never simply don’t apply here (nor in 99.99% anything in real estate). To know what’s right for you, give us a call so we can learn about you, your home and your goals for the future, and how we may use (or not use) tools like a pre-inspection to get you there.