2019 is set to be a massive year for home sales with approximately 5.6 million existing homes projected to change hands. That’s more than any other year in over a decade!
If you’re a seller looking to cash in on the increased demand in today’s market, you’re probably asking yourself a lot of questions.
How much can I get for my home? Which agent should I work with? Should I invest in home inspections?
Expanding on that last question of whether or not it’s worth your time to invest in a home inspection, in most real estate professional’s opinions, the answer is a resounding, yes!
Below, our team breaks down for you a few key reasons why sellers paying for home inspections are worth the investment.
1. Your Property Will Close Faster
One of the top reasons why people think that sellers should invest in having their home inspected prior to putting it on the market is because of the amount of time it saves.
Home quirks are often what holds up the sales process. When a buyer notices a problem or an issue comes up during the inspection that they commission, you’ll need to debate and negotiate findings into the home’s purchase price.
When you’ve already got out ahead of those issues via your own inspection, you’ll save a ton of time batting offers back and forth with buyers.
2. You’ll Have a Competitive Edge Over the Market
Like we said in the opening of this article, more existing homes are going to be sold in 2019 than during any other year in over a decade. That means buyers are going to have a lot of choices when it comes to inventory.
If you want to stand out from the crowd, investing in home inspections is a great way to do it.
When you put forth your own money to have your house inspected, you instill confidence in buyers that you care about the quality of the product you’re putting on the market. Also, you can confidently market your home’s condition in advertisements since you’ve had an expert validate your claims.
3. You May End Up Saving Money in the Long Run
We get it. That last thing that sellers want to do is pay for another thing that dilutes the profits they’ll enjoy when they sell their home.
A key distinction that we want to make for you when it comes to home inspections though is that inspections are an investment, not an expense.
When you have your home inspected as a seller, you’ll get an accurate depiction of anything you need to get fixed. When you are proactive and repair those things, they won’t get flagged by buyers.
Why is that a good thing?
For starters, when buyers find problems with your home, they’ll want to build the cost of fixing those things into their purchase price. The ensuing negotiation process could lead to you spending more money than you would have fixing problems beforehand.
Second, when a buyer sees that there are a lot of flaws with a house during an inspection, it could shake their confidence to the point that they’ll reduce their offer far in excess of repair costs.
Investing in home inspections as a seller can help you avoid both of those costly situations.
4. You’ll Have Time to Fix Deal Breakers
There are nice to have fixes that you can implement in your home and then there are deal breaker fixes that you absolutely have to fix.
If you neglect to, you’re going to find a lot of people pulling out of deals while your house is on the market.
Home inspections will inform you of what the most important fixes are that need to take place. You can then prioritize your time to get those problems fixed so you don’t end up wasting effort courting buyers who are going to pull out of deals later on.
5. You’ll Have the Opportunity to Spruce Up Low Priority Fixes
In a perfect world, you could get every nook and cranny of your home fully restored before it hits the market. Oftentimes doing that is cost prohibitive though.
Still, even if you don’t fully fix every quirk your house has, with a home inspection, you give yourself the opportunity to spruce them up.
Identifying your home’s small issues and implementing DIY clean-ups to reduce their visibility and their impact on buyers could do wonders in keeping prospects interested.
6. You’ll Run Into Fewer Surprises
Selling a house can be stressful. This is especially true if you’re on a timeline imposed by a job that’s pulling you from the area or you’re just wanting to start the next chapter of your life as soon as possible.
When you invest in home inspections, you invest in your peace of mind.
Getting out ahead of any home issues you have means that you won’t be surprised later by a buyer’s inspection. It means that you won’t have buyers pulling out last minute when they uncover something you weren’t aware of.
Bottom line, a home inspection allows you to set expectations and move forward accordingly. That insight is well worth your investment.
Should Sellers Invest in Home Inspections?
To reiterate, our team and millions of sellers through the years agree that investing in home inspections as a seller is money well spent.
If we’ve managed to convince you of that and you’re in the North East Ohio area, let our team help you put your home inspection into action.
At Class Home Inspection, we’ve been helping sellers for years get the most out of their home selling process. Let us provide you with the same value.
Contact us today to schedule your home inspection.