Why Have a Pre-Listing Inspection?

At Manitou Springs Real Estate, we offer to pay for a pre-listing inspection by a professional home inspector for our listings. Here’s why:

Virtually every real estate sale deal involves an inspection. Although it is optional, most buyers choose to do one, and of those that choose to, the majority will hire a professional inspector. The reason buyers want to have an inspection is pretty obvious—to find out if there is anything going on with the property that they might want to fix later, ask the seller to fix now, or that would make them back out of the contract.

But why would the sellers want a pre-listing inspection? Sometimes there are things that come up in the inspection that the sellers weren’t aware of and then there is a scramble to get estimates, make insurance claims, and/or get repairs done before the closing. Knowing about any issues ahead of time gives the sellers more time to do the research and think about what they want to do. The sellers don’t have to agree to fix everything that comes up on the pre-listing inspection, but at least they are forewarned about any potential issues. There could be a downside though– if the property has too many issues, it might make the seller feel that it could scare off potential buyers. It’s important to think through this before going ahead with the pre-listing inspection, because of course any defects must be disclosed.

When Manitou Springs Real Estate pays for the pre-listing inspection, we are only using inspectors with good reputations—in fact, we use the same inspectors that we have on the list we give to our buyer clients. But, that doesn’t mean the buyers for our listings have to use our inspection–they can always choose to pay for their own inspection.

As you can see, having a property pre-inspected can pave the way for a much smoother deal. There is less chance of an inspection surprise for both the sellers and buyers, and the buyers might even have some of the issues addressed before they make an offer. It could be a win-win for all parties involved. Although it’s not a solution for everyone or every property, it is a free* and valuable part of the service we offer to our clients if they wish to take advantage of it.

*The inspection is offered free of charge to any of our current clients. If Manitou Springs Real Estate pays for a pre-inspection and the seller of that property opts to go with another real estate agency or to market the property as for sale by owner, the fee for the pre-inspection must be reimbursed to Manitou Springs Real Estate in full.

Manitou Springs Real Estate is a licensed real estate firm in the state of Colorado.