Pre-Listing Inspections
Eventually your buyers are going to conduct an inspection. You may as well know what they are going to find by getting there first. Having an inspection performed ahead of time helps in many other ways:  

 1.   It allows you to see your home through the eyes of a critical third-party. 
 2.  It helps you to price your home realistically.
 3.  It permits you to make repairs ahead of time so that ...
        a. Defects won't become negotiating stumbling blocks later.
         b.There is no delay in obtaining the Use and Occupancy  permit.
         c. You have the time to get reasonably priced contractors or  make the repairs yourself, if qualified. 

 4. It may encourage the buyer to waive the inspection contingency.
 5. It may alert you of items of immediate personal concern, such as radon gas or active termite infestation.
 6. It may relieve prospect's concerns and suspicions.
 7. It reduces your liability by adding professional supporting documentation to your disclosure statement.
 8. It may alert you to immediate safety issues before agents and visitors tour your home.

Copies of the inspection report along with receipts for any repairs should be made available to potential buyers.

Are seller's inspections just as thorough as a buyer´s inspection?
A home inspection is only as good as the home inspector. A thorough inspector who wants his business to grow will perform an unbiased inspection with integrity.

But my house is "clean" and has no problems so do I need a Seller's Inspection?
YES. It is great that your house has no problems so lets prove it! Include a link on your web site listing that says "See the Home Inspection" and use the report as a selling tool, and get your house sold fast!

Is the home inspection transferable from the Seller to the Buyer?
The home inspection should reveal the condition of the home at the time it was inspected. Components and materials age and can fail at anytime. The information is naturally transferable to anyone who reads it. There is no warranty or guarantee and components will fail regardless of whether or not a home inspection was performed with the Seller or the Buyer. If the listing ages before the buyer comes along, the buyer can elect to have a fresh inspection at the normal cost. A reinspect is only to inspect any items that were repaired.

The Report samples you have look great, but some areas in the examples show significant damage to certain areas of the home. How can this be a good thing to show on the web with my listing?
Your inspector will review with you the inspection results. If issues exists you can elect to repair or correct certain issues and have a re-inspect to clean up the report before it is included on your web site listing. Why wait until you spend countless hours to bring a buyer, who in turn brings a home inspector, only then to discover the damage and face all the negatives of inflated estimates, losing the sale, and your time spent. Have your home inspected now!

OR,

As soon as the Seller's Inspection is performed, it's then time to talk with your agent. Only now, you and your agent are at the best advantage point in the whole process. If significant damage or a major defect exists then you both know something has to be done. Either lower the price or make repairs. This will save you a big heartache of discovering there is a problem after you found your new dream home and have begun packing. Once you make the necessary repairs, the home inspector can return and send a new report with clean pictures and comments. Now, you are set to coast downhill to closing!

The above steps are for when there is significant damage or a major defect found. However, when the home is clean, showing only normal adjustments for a door or a window, or typical items found on most homes, the report will be a selling tool. When a Buyer is intrigued about a home they are looking to buy, a main reservation is wondering about the condition of the home. Seeing the report on your web site listing, may produce a phone call for more info instead of clicking to the next ad. It's a great sales tool if your home checks out! And if your home needs repairs, then why not fix them on your terms and not the Buyers. After all, it is still your home.

I see references to selling the home "AS IS." Why do I not want to sell it that way?
There's an old saying, "As is, never was a done deal." Some homes sell as is because there are many defects or a major defect. Sometimes it was just sold that way as the seller desired. The problem is that it creates suspicion of defects or problems and can reduce the "lookers" down to a crawl. Buyers often tell the home inspector when performing a home inspection on an "As is" property, that if a major defect turns up, they are terminating the contract because the seller said he wasn't fixing anything. A Buyers perception of what is a major defect, could be as little as a $1,000 if the Buyer does not have the resources or is afraid to purchase it thinking the problem might grow in cost to repair. An "As is" listing is not the best way to sell your property.

A link can be posted on the listing page. 

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