Home Seller Tips: Selling Your Home? Be Prepare for the Home Inspection
Congratulations! You had accepted an offer on your home and agreed upon a sale price. The papers are signed, and the next step in the process is your home inspection. Home inspection is a contingency written into most offers. It means if the buyers are not happy with the result, they can cancel the sale without losing their earnest money deposit, or reopen negotiations and ask for a price reduction.
So it’s important to prepare yourself and your home for this important step of the process. Here are list of items (hopefully) helps you as seller to prepare based on my experience representing buyers.
Image by Michal Jarmoluk from Pixabay
Provide easy access
Ensure inspector able access to the important areas of your house. Think about your electrical box, furnace, hot water heater, and air conditioning units, attic and any other possible locked spaces. Also make it easier to access under sink, especially kitchen sink, plumbing work and back access. If the inspector cannot gain access, he or she will be unable to include them in the report, raising questions for your buyers and buyer may request re-inspection.
Get rid of clogs
Go through your entire house to all the sinks drains — one by one — and run the water. If you notice a slow drain, you can try using store-bought clog removers to unclog. If clog removers does not solve the issue, call a plumber. Same goes with any slow flow or blockage at the water source.
Replace bulbs
Examine all of your light fixtures. Make sure all the light bulbs are working. Inspectors only get an overhead view and cannot determine if the bulb itself is out or if there’s possibly an underlying electrical problem.
Change your filter
Replace your furnace return air filters. Not only do dirty filters impact the efficiency of your overall HVAC system, they also show neglection, which isn’t the type of impression you want to leave with your inspector.
Check your monitors
Be sure to have working smoke and carbon monoxide alarms in your home. Test before inspection day and look at the expiration dates. You should have a smoke alarm on every room of your home. As for carbon monoxide detectors, there should be at least one in your home, in the sleeping area.
Check grading
Check to see that the earth slopes away from your home versus toward it to avoid basement water issues. Even if there’s no evidence of water entering your home, it’s a good idea to slope dirt away in flowerbeds and other areas that come in contact with your foundation.
Check windows and screen
If your home has any cracked windows or broken screens, you may want to fix them before the inspector comes. Even if a crack isn’t a big issue on some basement window, it will still show up in your report.
Trim your trees
Or at least take a look at any overhanging vegetation at your property. Trees that are over roofs can prematurely shorten roof life. If there’s a low-hanging or unhealthy branch, it could always fall onto the roof.
Check windows and door
Open and close all your windows and doors to look for anything that’s creaking, loose or not functioning properly. Look at hinge pins, door knobs, and anything else that seems amiss.
Address the issues
If you bought your house only a few years ago, chances are you still have a copy of your old home inspection from purchase. Go through the report and look for any unaddressed issues you have come to live with over the years. It’s almost like having a cheat sheet. Or if you have delayed maintenance items, resolve them before the home inspector put into the report.
Conclusion
As a seller, you don’t want to see an inspection report that list down all the issues or problem of your house. This will give buyer a chance to renegotiate for a lower sale price or asking for more seller’s concession. Worst case, buyer to decide to cancel the purchase and getting all earnest money back as stated in inspection contingency.
Selling your home in Phoenix Arizona
Contact Us or call Swee Ng at 480.721.6253 today to discuss your potential Phoenix House Value and our comprehensive marketing plan. We will prepare complimentary competitive market analysis (CMA) to find out what your home is worth at today’s market.
Swee Ng, Realtor and Phoenix East Valley resident specializing in win-win real estate transaction through great communication and fighting for his clients’ best interest. After all, this is more than real estates, this is about your life and your dreams.
If you are looking to buy or sell your home in Phoenix AZ area, we hope you will consider us. Contact us today for complimentary consultation.
New Listing Homes for Sale Phoenix AZ
Search and view homes for sale in your area
Receive email alert as soon as a Phoenix property matching your criteria hits the market. Be one of the first to see new listings. Simply type in everything you want in a house and save your search here to be notified.
