Is it always smart for a seller to conduct a pre-inspection on their home and make all the repairs before getting it on the market?  I’ll let you be the judge, but I’ll give you some things to think about and share a real life story with you.

Sellers sometimes order a pre-inspection and undertake the repairs because they want the buyer to feel confident they are buying a home without problems.   That shows the seller is being proactive, which I love to hear.  It’s very admirable, but it doesn’t mean the seller is  home free on any further repairs.  

The condition of a home can literally change at any moment.  If you are handing a buyer agent an inspection report from months ago, who’s to say something has happened to the home the seller doesn’t even know about?  In a way, an inspection is really only good for the day it took place. 

If I have a seller’s pre-inspection report, I will give it to the buyer agent, but I will make darn sure they understand we are not asking their client to rely on it.  Of course, I cannot force a buyer to conduct their own inspection, but buyer’s will typically do so at the urging of their agent.

How thorough and consistent are home inspections?  I’ve always said give me three good inspectors on the same home and I can guarantee you they will each find something the other inspectors missed and miss something the others caught.  There are pre-defined items which all licensed inspectors are required to inspect, but beyond that, the inspectors have a lot of leeway on their inspections. 

As with real estate agents, some inspectors are more thorough than others.  Some will crawl through tight attic spaces and even get beneath a home if they can.  Others won't.  They might not even fit in a crawl space  If so, the inspector will state that particular area of the home was not inspected because it was inaccessible, but that doesn’t mean some kind of problem wasn’t there. 

Some inspectors are more qualified and experienced than others.  I’ve found some to be very slow and methodical.  They take their time and you can tell they take pride in their work.  Others will blow through a home quickly and I wonder, how complete was that inspection?  So really, no two inspectors or inspections are exactly alike.

I once had a home listed that went under contract and fell out three different times over a several month period.  The buyers all backed out for reasons totally unrelated to the condition of the home.  That allowed me to see how similar three inspections by three different inspectors would be.

As it turned out, every inspection report was completely different from the others.  There were never any big items, just a lot of small issues.  But  those can add up when you have to hire a handyman.  It made me wonder why the first and second inspector hadn’t caught the things the third inspector found.  Those problems were obviously there during the other two inspections.

To add salt to the wound, the sellers, wanting to be proactive and do the right thing, repaired the items after every inspection.  Every time they thought they were through with repairs, but they weren’t. 

If the first buyer prospect had purchased the home, the seller would never have had to make the repairs the second and third inspectors found.  You can see why the seller became convinced they were  paying for unnecessary repairs. 

There’s another thing to consider before ordering a pre-inspection.  Many times, minor repairs called out are not considered minor by the seller.  For example, maybe there’s an area of the roof decking that’s impossible to reach and is missing some insulation.  The seller has lived with it like that for 10 years, never knew about it, and wouldn’t have done anything about it even if they had known.  But now it’s on the pre-inspection report. 

 When the buyer receives the pre-inspection report they see the missing insulation was called out.  One of two things will happen.  Either the buyer will agree it’s not a big deal and let it go, or, the buyer will decide it is a big deal and ask the seller to address it.  The seller is already negotiating on repairs before the buyer’s inspection has taken place.  

 If a seller wants to do a pre-inspection and make the repairs, I'm certainly not going to discourage them.  I just make sure they are prepared for the probablity of an entirely new set of repair items after the buyer does their inspections. 

Frankly, I would prefer the seller not do a pre-inspection, let the buyer do their own, and work off the buyer’s inspection report.  The seller  can use the money they saved from not doing a pre-inspection on repairs the buyer's inspector finds.   

Of course, there is one big exception to this rule.  If you believe you have structural or safety related issues in your home, you should always call an expert out to look at the problem and correct it before you place your home on the market!  Use a licensed contractor for the repair, document the work, and make sure you disclose the repair on the Sellers Disclosure Notice.   The key to staying out of trouble when selling a home is disclose, disclose, disclose.

Tom Grisak Estate Homes Realtors, Inc - Texas License # 0329533