What Is a Pre-Sale Home Inspection? Seller Tips to Boost Property Value & Avoid Surprises
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What is Pre-sale Home Inspection? Seller Tips to Boost Property Value & Avoid Surprises
[00:00:00] Hey, today we are gonna talk about home inspections. They are one of the most important parts of buying and selling homes, and it can make, they can make or break a deal. Actually, I'm always very picky about who I use for my home inspections because honestly, a home inspector can make or break a deal.
so today I'm gonna start by talking about. If you are selling your home, why you might wanna have a home inspection before you put your house on the market. Hi, I'm Judith Barnett with Judith Barnett Sells Homes and My Home Group Realty, where real estate is done with compassion and integrity.
Now, the cool part is that I get to record this while I am in Mexico on [00:01:00] vacation. I really don't stop working just 'cause I'm here. The only thing I can't do is boots on the ground. I tell people. So I hope that in the future I may actually be able to do some things like listing appointments and things via Zoom because I don't want somebody to miss out on the opportunity to work with me just because I'm in Mexico. it's a little more difficult with buyers because I have to actually show them the house. I have to unlock the door and go in with them. But I'm here in Mexico and I wanted to take this opportunity in my trip here to just talk about home inspections. when a person is thinking about putting their home on the market.
There are things that you do wanna talk to a realtor about [00:02:00] in preparing your home for market, and there are things that you may never think of. The other thing that a realtor helps you with is to keep you from spending money on repairs or remodeling. That really isn't what a buyer's gonna be looking for.
And the ROI on it is gonna be not worth the time or energy or money that you're gonna put into that project. Okay. So having a home inspection is a really great option to know I should maybe fix these things. And honestly, I'm gonna say we live with things all the time that we just put up with maybe like a leaky faucet, a loose tile.
Carpet that's maybe not stretched properly. I know people that are living in houses with broken windows. I mean, I have looked at a house. I went to a house with a client and we toured that house and I think we [00:03:00] counted five broken windows and they were living with that. So when you have a home inspection, the home inspector is going to
climb in the attic, they're gonna climb on the roof. They're gonna walk around the exterior. They're gonna be looking for cracks, breaks, flashing that's not secured properly. They're gonna be looking for, you know, spots where, termites might be getting in. We have issues with termites in Arizona, so we do have to keep an eye out for that.
they're gonna check every outlet in the house to make sure they work. They're gonna note if light bulbs aren't, you know, if lights aren't working, is it because there's a missing light bulb? Or is it literally because the fixture's not working? they're gonna comment on leaky faucets. They're gonna comment on the shower head that drips for five minutes after you turn off the [00:04:00] shower. even on new builds. I do encourage, not sellers, but buyers to do a home inspection and we'll talk about why. they're gonna notice all the little things that we ignore. they're gonna notice if the exchange between the difference between the heat and the exchange is significant or minimal, and they're gonna let you know, Hey, maybe your heat and HVAC system is not working great.
Air conditioning is a bigger issue in Arizona than heat. So the air conditioning unit, you get that checked out, maybe you should have some maintenance done on it. I was just talking with a client and it looked like she hadn't really noticed, but I did. When I drove up, it was like the first thing I saw.
I drove up and I went. It looks like your paint is splotchy. What is going on with your paint? And this house wasn't old, it was [00:05:00] built in 2017, but the paint was splotchy because the sun is brutal on paint in Arizona. And I actually just closed on a house just a few weeks ago, before I came on vacation that the house literally was only two years old.
But they hadn't really painted the fascia very well in the back. It hadn't been painted really well. It was painted. It was a new build, but it's the kind of wood just sucks up and absorbs all that paint. And so when we came through and did the home inspection, I looked at it and went that fascia is like, you know, needs to be painted.
Two years. Two years, that's it. And it needed to be painted. So those are things that a home inspector's gonna point out to you. If you are doing a VA or FHA loan, there are certain things that you have to be aware of, like peeling paint, unsafe railings. I'm trying to think. [00:06:00] Broken windows, obviously.
but they check everything. They check your oven, the dishwasher, the garbage disposal. They walk around everywhere and they note everything. They note, you know, where's the propane tank? How is that, is that connected properly? There isn't a thing they don't look at. so they do climb in the attic and the reason they climb up in the attic space, even though you can't stir anything there is, they're looking to see if there are ever any, there's evidence of leaks or rodents.
Big thing, we have rats that get into the attics a lot of times and create a lot of problems. They chew on wires, but the main thing they're looking for is have there been leaks even though the roof has been repaired, or you say it has been replaced. They're looking to see if there was any leaks.
You're, you are not gonna climb in there. You are not gonna climb on your roof to see if the flashings secure or not. You're just like, oh, it's good. You know? They're gonna tell you that, you know, you have a lot of hail [00:07:00] damage or wind damage on your roof unless you had a roofer up there recently. So those are things that they look for.
Plus they just walk around the exterior and they're looking for everything. They look at the electrical box, they look at water. connections to the house, if you have a well, that kind of things. So they are really detailed. I'm gonna sit down here 'cause my lady's gonna hi beard. And they look at everything and the reports are helpful for the seller to then go over and say, I wanna fix these things.
You're not gonna be blindsided by anything. And you can either decide to fix things, have a handyman come and do it, or you're like, you know, now I know it. I can disclose it on my seller disclosure and I can say, I'm not repairing that. I know it's not working, but I'm not gonna fix it because I don't want to, or I can't afford to.
Okay. And I mean, again, it [00:08:00] just helps you as the seller to feel confident. About your home when you put it on the market so that you are not nail biting, worrying, oh my God, what did they find? What should I worry about? I wish I would've thought about that before. You know, I wish I would've fixed that because some buyers are really, really picky and they're gonna want you to fix everything.
I mean, the home inspector even looks if there's a spa or a pool or a hot tub, they look at all that stuff. And if it's not working properly, according to their assessment, they're gonna note that. Now, keep in mind, the home inspector is not a specialist in everything. They've just been trained like what to look for could be issues.
Okay? And that. Can be very unnerving for you as the seller who thinks, oh, my house is great. It's wonderful. We take care of everything. I'm gonna tell you, [00:09:00] I'm gonna tell you, honey, sir. They'll find something. They will find something. That's their job. Their job is to find problems and to alert the buyer to them.
So if you wanna be confident going into that home inspection period, in that due diligence period where they're having the HVAC company out and checking out your HVAC and the roofers on the roof, checking out your roof and the home inspector and the termite inspector and everybody else under the sun, just have a home inspection.
And if you're not sure if you've got an aging HVAC system. You call the HVAC company and have it evaluated. I have an HVAC company. I have 'em go out and check my HVAC systems in all the houses we own every year in the fall and in the spring. Maintenance can make a older HVAC system last a number of years longer 'cause they'll maintain it, they'll fix any little issues, they'll put in new Freon, whatever to keep it going if you can't afford to [00:10:00] fix it. Have the roofers come out and look at the roof. It's not a big deal. Just call 'em. They do it for free. HVAC people don't, but the roofers will come out and look at your roof for free. if you're not sure about your, well, if you haven't had a looked at in a while the septic inspection the septic and pumping that certificate's only good for six months.
So typically in the current market during COVID, we had to get it done like before you even list your house, because they were going that fast and it was sometimes challenging to get the septic company out there in a timely manner. But the septic inspection and pumping is on the seller. And it's something that typically the certificate's only good for six months.
So sometimes, depending on the home, its location, dah, dah, dah, dah, dah. The house could be on the market longer than your certificate is good. So I usually encourage people to have that done once you're under contract. 'cause then it's [00:11:00] good for six months and you should be fine. I'm trying to think. so those are just preemptive things you wanna do so that when you do put your house on the market, you can feel confident, secure.
If there's any issues, you've disclosed them on the seller disclosure, you are CYA yourself covering your ass because if you don't disclose it and it shows up later, the buyer could sue you. We don't need that. We don't want that. And the other reason you wanna do it is because if you get your house under contract, we wanna keep it under contract.
We don't want somebody to be frightened or overwhelmed by a list of repairs. 'cause not everybody's handy. And if it's a first time home buyer, I'm telling you sometimes. They will run when they see a list of, even if it's little things, they're like, I'm spending a lot [00:12:00] of money. I'm not buying a house that needs all this stuff fixed right now.
You know, outlook covers that are broken, light switches that don't work. You know, it's like they just go, I don't wanna do it. I'm spending a lot of money. I don't wanna do it. You should take care of it as the home seller. And honestly, some of those little things like that, broken light switch covers, come on.
Just pay the 10 cents and go get a light cover, fix it yourself, because it makes you look better. Now, my client had the blotchy paint. She didn't notice it until I pointed out, and then she's like, now that she's looking at it, she's like, oh. That doesn't look very good. And she was having somebody come anyway because she was having her
it's a manufactured home, beautiful manufactured home, but a manufactured home having it releveled. And when they do that, sometimes it creates cracks. And so she wanted to make sure that any cracks were repaired and painted and fixed, so it [00:13:00] all looked beautiful again. So she's like, well, as long as he's there, I'll just get an estimate on repainting.
And the repainting, oh my God was so reasonable. And she's just an absolute sweetheart. She's like, she just wants it all to go smooth. She's like, I will pay to have that done. Now. I'm telling her the reason that I'm recommending it is because she's gonna sell it faster. And for more money because she put in the effort to get the house ready.
And yes, it's work. I understand, but it's easier for me to sell something that's wrapped up nice and pretty and something that looks a little patched together. I'm just saying, you know, if you love your house, which most people do, they think their house is wonderful, they love it, they live in it. The person coming to buy it is not in love with your house yet.
They aren't. They haven't lived in it, they don't have any history with it. They're [00:14:00] looking, they're looking at it and they are deciding based on just a few seconds in your house, number one, if they're even gonna continue to look at the house. And two, if they're gonna put an offer in on it. And third, after the home inspection.
Do they still want the house? Because if it's too much work, they will walk and then you gotta start all over again. So spending, it depends on the home inspector, but spending between, I would say, 400 to, depending on the size of the house, maybe up to $700 on a home inspection and giving you a list of things to take care of.
Could generate you in your offer and in the final net thousands of dollars. Thousands of dollars. And I'm not saying they're gonna call out that you gotta remodel the whole kitchen. We're not talking that we're talking the little things. All those little things that just add [00:15:00] up, like the paint, she's gonna paint the house.
It's gonna cost her less than $3,000, but she'll get that back in the sale of the house. She cared enough to make sure that that wasn't gonna be a reason somebody gave her a lower offer, because we're gonna have to have the house painted. Look at this all blotchy. It looks terrible. She was smart. And I'm standing in the shade because it's really hot in the, in the sun.
And I gotta keep walking though because the bugs are biting me. Those no seams are vicious out here today. so anyway, that's for you sellers. All right.
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