Tips for Sellers – Inspection

Tips for Sellers – Inspection

You hired a listing agent to manage your house sale. Your home was cleaned, painted and staged. The listing went on the market, you had showings, accepted an offer, and now the buyer is conducting an inspection. Why would they even want an inspection? Your home is new, updated, in great shape, or perhaps it’s even an “as is” sale. What is this inspection really all about?

Reasons for an inspection

Almost all buyers will want an inspection. Typically there are two main reasons why a buyer might hire an inspector.

The first is to make sure they know what they are purchasing. Regardless of how wonderful the home is, buyers want to know if there are any major concerns they should be aware of, either now or in the future. What kind of maintenance budget will they need to set up? Are there items that should be fixed as soon as possible? What issues are observable by the inspector that perhaps the untrained buyers were not aware of? Something will need repair or attention at some point, and buyers want to know what those items are.

The second is to decide whether they want to still purchase the home. If their offer is contingent upon a home inspection, they may decide there are just too many things in the home that will need to be addressed. They might determine that because of that, they’d rather find a newer (or smaller, or different style) home. For buyers, especially first-time home buyers, the inspection process may even make them decide they are not ready for the responsibility of a home.

What happens at the home inspection?

Not all inspectors work exactly the same. That being said, an inspection will typically take between an hour and a half to two hours. During that time, inspectors will do a complete review of the home, from top to bottom, and inside and out. Their job is to observe and document whether the home is in satisfactory condition, or whether there are issues that will need to be addressed. The following is not fully-inclusive, but is provided to give a sense of the breadth and depth of an inspection. Inspectors often check out the following.

The roof. Are there any missing or damaged shingles? How old is the roof? How many years might be left? Is the flashing attached properly and in the right area? Are there any signs of leaks? Are there appropriate vents, rain caps, or anything else of interest?

The grounds. Is the land graded away from or towards the home? Are there plants that are too close to the siding? Are roots growing into the foundation? Are there water issues of any kind? What kind of condition is the driveway in? Are there patios or paths, and if so, are there cracks or structural issues? Are decks and fences sturdy and structurally strong?

The exterior: Does the home have appropriate gutters or downspouts? What is siding made of, and what condition is it in? The same question for windows, caulking, fascia, foundation as well as exterior equipment such as the heating/air conditioning unit. Is there a chimney, and if so, is it in need of any servicing?

Heating/Air Conditioning. What kind of units are in the home, and how old are they? Do units that can be tested work correctly? As an aside, if it’s the middle of winter, the air conditioning cannot be tested and if in the middle of the summer, the same is true of the heat. Are the filters, piping, controls, venting, valves and other parts of the system all working properly?

Plumbing. The inspector may run water in faucets for a significant amount of time to ensure there are no leaks. They’ll check the parts of the plumbing system (water tank, pump, etc) to ensure they appear to be working properly. In addition, they will check to confirm that water pressure, flow and drainage are all appropriate.

Electrical Service. Inspectors will check outlets to ensure they are grounded properly. They will make sure GFCI outlets work as intended. They’ll check the electric box, remove the panel, and make sure there are no double taps, old wiring, spaces with no covers, or other issues.

Everything else: Inspectors may confirm that appliances that are staying with the home operate satisfactorily. They will check out the attic and basement for cracks, leaks, water damage, insulation, wiring, venting, and anything else that may be in evidence. They will test windows to ensure they open and seals are not broken. Inspectors will look at flooring, door frames, doors, ceilings, and anything else in the home to see if there are any items of concern.

In addition, buyers might wish to get well water, septic, pest and radon inspections. The above is not an all-inclusive list but does provide some insight into what an inspector looks at when in your home. It also helps explain why an inspection takes so long to complete!

With a day or two, the buyers will receive a copy of the inspection report. They may just move forward with the deal with no repair requests at all. Conversely, their agent may contact your agent to share their requests for repairs.

What kinds of repair requests might be made?

Every single home sale is different, not only because every home is different, but because the same is true of all the people involved. There are some buyers who are so excited about the home, they are just going to move forward “as is”. There are others that will attempt to ask for everything under the sun to be repaired. And some others will only ask for things they feel are really critical in order to be able to live in a safe and comfortable environment.

To get an idea of what types of requests a buyer might make, here is a list of some real-life requests that buyers have made in the past. These are in no particular order.

• Repair, replace, or install GFCI outlets in the kitchen, bath, garage or laundry room.
• Add a handrail to stairs leading to an upper level.
• Hire a mold inspector to determine whether the growth in the attic is mold, and remediate if it is.
• Install a bumper guard in the garage in front of the boiler so the buyers won’t smash their car into the boiler if they drive into the garage while speaking on their phones.
• Repair the bathroom fan which is venting directly into the attic; ensure it is vented outside the house.
• Replace the rusty and leaking water tank that is in the basement.
• Repair the firedoor that goes into the garage; it needs to close automatically.
• Install a carbon monoxide detector.
• Replace the window that has a large hole in it.
• Treat and retest the well water; water test showed coliform and ecoli.
• Repair the outlets which had no ground or had open ground wires.
• Install a radon mitigation system; the radon results were over 4 pCi/L.

How should you respond to repair requests?

You have several options in terms of responding to a list of repair requests.

• You can agree to repair all requests, or specific requests only.
• You can offer to reduce the price or make another financial concession to the buyer, in lieu of making the repairs.
• You can reject any requests, or specific requests only.

To provide a little more insight, here is how the above requests were responded to (again, these were real life requests).

• Repair, replace, or install GFCI outlets in the kitchen, bath, garage or laundry room. In almost every instance of this request, sellers have agreed to have the issues repaired. Some mortgage products will not allow the process to proceed without these repairs, and they could be safety issues for the new owners if not repaired.The cost is usually low to repair.
• Add a handrail to stairs leading to an upper level. In this case, the stairs were dangerous without the handrail and the buyer had small children. The seller agreed to make the repair.
• Hire a mold inspector to determine whether the growth in the attic was mold, and remediate if it is. In this case, the seller did not agree to a mold inspection. Because of that, the buyer decided not to purchase this home, and the deal died.
• Install a bumper guard in the garage in front of the boiler so the buyers wouldn’t smash their car into the boiler if they drove into the garage on their phones. The seller said no. Vehemently. The deal went forward anyway and closed successfully.
• Repair the bathroom fan which is venting directly into the attic; ensure it is vented outside the house. In one case, the seller agreed to make the repair. In the other, the seller said no but deal went forward anyway.
• Replace the rusty and leaking water tank that is in the basement. The seller said no. The deal moved forward successfully.
• Repair the firedoor that goes into the garage; it needs to close automatically. The seller said yes. This also is a safety issue; all doors between the garage and home should close automatically.
• Install carbon monoxide detector. The seller said yes.
• Replace window that has a large hole in it. The seller said no but offered a small price reduction to enable the buyer to repair when they moved in. The buyer purchased the home.
• Treat and retest the well water; water test showed coliform and e-coli. This has happened multiple times, and the sellers have always agreed to take care of the treating and retesting. Many mortgages will not close if there is no clean bill-of-health for the water. It is also a safety issue for the new (and current) owners.
• Repair the outlets which have no ground or have open ground wires. Electrical issues can be safety problems, and in most instances, sellers will ensure the issues are corrected. This is a common request.
• Install a radon mitigation system; the radon results were over 4 pCi/L. This is also an issue that can happen frequently. Sellers have agreed to this request, since any buyer who purchases the home will want this to be remedied.

Summary

Having an inspection can be a time of some concern, for both sellers and buyers. For you, the seller, you don’t want a huge list of requests that need to be repaired. Although every transaction is different, at a high level, items that could be safety or structural in nature do deserve your attention. If you decide not to fix something important and you want the deal to proceed, you could also offer a credit to the buyer or help pay closing costs instead of making the repair. Buyers do sometimes think things will cost more to repair than they actually do, so having an estimate from a licensed contractor or other appropriate professional, will help determine the correct amount to offer.

The goal of the inspection results for the seller, is to make sure the buyer is comfortable and ready to move forward to the closing table. Your listing agent can help you work through whether there are repair items that are truly critical to repair, so you can get to the next stage of your life!

And those are my tips for sellers – inspection. If you have questions or need any assistance selling your home in the Kalispell MT (and Bigfork and Lakeside) area, feel free to call me at 406-270-3667 or email me at kat@thehousekat.com. My goal is to make selling your home as simple as possible.

For more seller tips, see here.

See these links for more information on Kalispell, Bigfork or Lakeside.