A pre-sale home inspection will hasten your sale
Category Blog
A professional inspection report is vital before putting your home on the market. It is a voluntary act of integrity and transparency that provides buyers with an upfront and unbiased disclosure of material defects. Having a pre-inspection report available for buyers informs them that you have nothing to hide. This disclosure will lend itself to building trust between you and potential buyers, which will more than likely hasten the sale process to the benefit of both parties.
Taking the initiative to conduct a pre-sale home inspection by a certified home inspector will also pre-empt any intention the buyer may have had to make his or her offer conditional on a favourable home inspection report.
Formal inspection reports have yet to become common practice in the South African residential property market. However, pre-sale inspections and reports on homes, by licensed inspectors, are a steadily unfolding international trend - to the extent that they have become mandatory, and closely regulated.
Independent inspections and reports on homes for sale in South Africa are mostly generated at the request of the buyer - and can often be nit-picking in their nature. They are seldom an automatic prerequisite to a property changing hands.
Real estate agents often avoid recommending an inspection for fear of upsetting the seller. However, as a seller, you benefit tremendously as you get to differentiate your home by conducting and providing an all-encompassing inspection and report of the condition of the home. By doing your due diligence, you give potential buyers confidence in you as an honest seller and in the quality of the home you are selling.
Cost-saving
A full and upfront disclosure of material defects will prevent buyer comeback on some or other defect (real or perceived) after the sale has gone through. The roughly R2 000 – R4000 cost of a professional inspection of a medium-size home is an inexpensive way to discover the universal condition of a home.
Buyers get the peace of mind that they are getting the property they want before signing an offer to purchase, with disclosure of all aspects of the home. A seller’s home inspection report however, need only cover plumbing & electrical systems, foundations and roof, wall cracks and damp problems.
A defect list
This is the current practice of requiring sellers to sign a defect list prior to putting a home on the market. A defect list is an imperfect system of ascertaining known defects as it allows unscrupulous sellers to conceal defects whilst simultaneously fooling buyers into thinking they are experiencing true transparency. Furthermore, there may be issues that are not noticeable to the eye, that you may very well be unaware of.
The bottom line
Waiting for a buyer to conduct an independent home inspection could cause the deal to fall through. Even if you offer to fix all issues that may arise on the buyer’s inspection report, skittish buyers may be hesitant to close the deal. Usually the home inspection requirement is a suspensive condition.
Author: Ronald Ennik
