If you’re selling St. Louis Real Estate. . .this is Great advice.

We are honored to have our first guest post from not only an experienced home inspection professional. . .but also the current president of the St. Louis ASHI Chapter and MAHI director, Harry Morrell.

Today’s buyers have a large amount of previously owned homes from which to choose. Standing out from the crowd is more important than ever for today’s sellers. One way to make a buyer more comfortable with the purchase decision and hopefully choosing your home rather than the neighbors, is to show the confidence in your home that a pre-sale inspection will offer. . .here’s Harry’s advice.

PRE-LISTING INSPECTIONS

All the players in a Real Estate transaction want the deal to go through smoothly without any surprises right before closing. A mechanical or structural defect that was not known or disclosed by the seller, and discovered by the buyer’s inspector, can sometimes result in a buyer walking away from the deal. This scenario can almost always be avoided by a pre-listing inspection.

Let me list the players of a typical American Real Estate transaction. Mr.& Mrs. Seller have an immaculate 3000+ square foot ranch, with loads of updates on a manicured 2 acre lot. The sellers are the original owners in the 20+ year old house and have their hearts and souls invested in their property. The listing agent was referred to the sellers from a previous client and comes highly recommended. Mr. & Mrs. Buyer immediately fell in love with the house and property after looking for a house for three months. The buyers’ agent has been with the buyers showing them homes from day one and has invested a lot of time and energy with these nervous and sometimes fickle buyers. Both parties desire a quick close.

The buyers obtained a home inspector and scheduled a home inspection right after signing the contract. Both listing agent and the buyer’s agent felt confident that this house would pass inspection with flying colors. The sellers felt sure the inspector’s report would be full of praise and accolades. The buyers were measuring for furniture and appliances and did not even pay any attention to the inspection, until the inspector gave them their summary at the end of the inspection.

The inspector said that everything looked fine, EXCEPT for the termite shelter tube he found in the basement and mold deposits that tainted the basement finished walls. The already nervous buyers ran when they heard the dreaded mold/termite words. The buyers did not want to hear if this was a minor or major concern, or if there was significant damage or deterioration resulting from the termites or mold. They just walked.

This scenario could have been completely eliminated with a pre-listing inspection. The best part of a pre-listing inspection is that the inspector is working directly for and with the seller who knows more about the house than any other person. If destructive testing needs to be performed to discover the extent of any mold or termite problem, it can be done right away with the owners’ permission. That would eliminate any speculation by a buyer’s inspector at the summary or end of the inspection, with statements like, “ There is termite damage and presence, and there could be more that is not visible”, or, “There is mold presence, and there could be more behind walls that is not visible”.

The pre-listing inspection report can be placed on the kitchen table ready for any buyer to look over and possibly compare with their own inspector’s report if they desire to even want another inspection. The pre-listing inspection also shows and reports on, before and after conditions. This leaves no doubt in the buyers mind that the conditions were discovered and repaired.

A pre-listing inspection should be considered for every listing and every seller who desires a smooth transaction with no surprises at the end.

Harry O. Morrell
Inspector
Allied Building Inspections, LLC
St. Louis ASHI Chapter President

This entry was posted on Tuesday, April 24th, 2007 at 5:04 pm and is filed under Building Inspection News, For Sellers, Real Estate News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.