Getting your Home ready for a Home Inspection
Selling your home can be stressful, likely you’re looking for a new home at the same time, so now you have two real estate transactions going on at the same time. Now imagine, finally, you have someone interested in your home, they have come by with their agent and they have put in an offer! But they want a home inspection, your heart sinks… What can you do to “pass”?
A well-maintained home will show and perform better on a home inspection. Now is the time to get to all the little things you may have been putting off. Start with some light bulbs and a screwdriver, make sure every switch that has a bulb, will light up. The inspector will not know or care if the bulb is burned out or if there is something wrong with the wiring in your home. Now go around and make sure every hand railing is tight and all doors open and close.
Sort out any leaky faucets or toilets that aren’t up to snuff, these are inexpensive fixes any handyman/handywoman can deal with.
Check to make sure they can access any crawl space or attic access point. If they can’t gain access, it goes in the report and looks like you’re hiding something. Likewise, be sure that there isn’t so much clutter to make it impossible to inspect areas near heating, cooling, and electrical equipment.
Cut back any plants growing next to the outside walls of your home, the inspector will be looking for any moisture penetrations into the home, look at the grade around the home, does water flow towards the house? This will be a red flag. Better fix it now.
That Was Easy! Now What?
Now the big stuff, if your home has expensive problems, a leak in the roof, cracks in the foundation. It may be cheaper to shop around now and get this fixed yourself instead of having it comes up during negotiations over the sale price. The buyer will always overprice the issues to be sure they do not get stuck footing the bill.
The best defense is a good offense!
Call your agent and ask them about a Pre-listing Home Inspection. This puts you the seller in the driver’s seat. Get a full report done before anyone even looks at your home. It can set you apart from your neighbours and encourages offers.
Dunn Right Inspections provides quality home inspections all across Prince Edward Island. Contact us today and see how we can help you!
