
Selling a home is an exciting time for everyone involved. While the buyers anxiously await their closing date and packing up their belongings for the big move, the sellers are doing everything they can to make their home as appealing as possible to ensure that the home passes inspection and the deal goes through. Once you’ve got an interested buyer, they will certainly want to have a hired home inspector take a look at your property. So what should you do as the seller of the home to make sure that the process goes smoothly? The Home Inspection Professionals at H.I.P. Services know the importance of performing your own seller pre-listing inspection, and highly recommend these before listing the home for sale. With that being said, we have put together a few tips for sellers to make the home inspection process a lot easier for everyone involved.
- Consider your home’s curb appeal. Any part the inspector cannot get to or see due to obstruction could be viewed negatively by a potential buyer. Therefore, Having the exterior of your home exposed and ready to be inspected makes things go much more efficiently.
- Check your roof and gutters. Making sure that your roof and gutters are in good working order is a huge priority for buyers. Remove any debris from the roof and clean the gutters thoroughly.
- Get your interior ready. Having the interior of the home ready to go minimizes the list of pesky defects the inspector might note. While a light that’s out, or a crack in the drywall doesn’t seem too big, these small repairs add up and can scare a potential buyer.
- Tidy up as much as you can. You want to make sure the inspector has a clear pathway to each of your major home systems like furnaces, HVAC units, utility closets, and other such areas that must be examined closely.
- Be on ready time. Make sure you are showered, dressed, ready, and fully prepared to greet them earlier than their expected arrival time. If they are anything like the Home Inspection Professionals at H.I.P. Services, they will be on time if not early for your seller pre-listing inspection!
- Provide access to all areas of the property. Home inspectors will typically examine all buildings on your property, including garages, other such outbuildings, workshops, guest house or suite, or any other detached units, so you’ll need to provide them with keys, garage door openers, or door codes for these units. In addition, if you have a sprinkler system or other systems that have electrical panel boxes or other utility boxes, leave keys and instructions for unlocking them, to ensure that the inspector has access and can inspect them.
- Supply any relevant documents. It’s a good idea to make paperwork regarding remodeling projects available to inspectors, in addition to documentation about major repairs and upgrades. This will give the inspector a more clear idea of when each major component of the home was last inspected, repaired, or replaced.
H.I.P. Services
As a seller, it is important to have your own seller pre-listing inspection performed by the Home Inspection Professionals at H.I.P. Services so that you are aware of any potential issues before your home is listed and buyers raise concerns about them. With the inspection report in hand, you can correct and address those issues as necessary and determine allowances for remaining items used in buyer negotiations. The inspection report can be given to potential buyers to give them confidence and peace of mind that you performed due diligence in finding and correcting known issues in the home. To book a seller pre-listing inspection, contact H.I.P. Services today!