Article - Presale Home Inspections and Appraisals
Colonial Beach Realtor
a division of Treck Realty
Deciding whether to get a home inspection or appraisal before listing your home can be a strategic dilemma for sellers. Here are insights based on industry practices and personal experience in the real estate market:
Home Inspections
It's true that if you were to hire multiple home inspectors, you'd likely receive varying reports, as each inspector may focus on different aspects of the home or have differing levels of thoroughness. Moreover, buyers tend to be skeptical of inspections paid for by sellers, often preferring to commission their own to ensure an unbiased review. While having your home inspected before listing can help you identify and address major issues, thus potentially smoothing the sale process, it's unlikely that a buyer will forgo their own inspection based on yours. Therefore, investing in a pre-listing inspection primarily benefits you by highlighting what repairs might be necessary to make your home more marketable.
Home Appraisals
Getting your home appraised before listing is generally not recommended unless there's significant uncertainty about its value. This situation might arise if you receive widely varying price opinions from different real estate agents. However, it's important to understand that a pre-listing appraisal won't replace the need for a buyer's lender to conduct their own appraisal. Appraisals obtained during the refinancing process or by the seller are not transferrable to the buyer, as lenders require an independent appraisal to ensure the loan amount is justified by the home's value. Additionally, appraisals for refinancing purposes often come in higher due to different valuation criteria, which might not reflect the true market value a buyer's lender will approve.
In essence, unless a pre-listing home inspection is conducted for the purpose of making necessary repairs or if a pre-listing appraisal is sought to clarify pricing in a case of significant discrepancy, these steps can end up being more costly than beneficial. Your best course of action is to rely on the advice of a trusted real estate professional to guide your pricing strategy and decide which, if any, inspections or repairs should be made prior to listing. This approach not only saves money but also aligns expectations with the realities of the current market.
Article by Jamie Cook, Treck Realty