How can you prepare for a home inspection?
In today’s video Murray Klingbeil – Home Inspector from Amerispec – explains to us what we can do to prepare for a crucial part of the home selling process – the home inspection. How can we make it easier on the inspector? How can we avoid any nasty surprises in the last hours of a deal? Watch this short video to find out!
Here is the Transcription:
BRENDAN – Hey there, it’s Brendan Stoneman at RE/MAX Kelowna, and I’m talking to Home Inspector Murry Klingbeil with AmeriSpec. So one thing I find as my seller clients are going through the sales process, they know most likely at some point the buyer’s going to be doing a home inspection on their property. That can make them a little bit nervous because even though they may have been in the home for awhile they don’t necessarily know everything. What’s going on behind the walls for example, so any tips that you could recommend to a seller on how to get ready for a home inspection to come up?
MURRAY – Sure, there’s a number of things that I would recommend which would make our jobs a whole lot easier. First of all is if they can give us clear access to your attic access. Nothing worse than when we have to spend 20 minutes to take all your clothes, and your top drawer out of your closet in your master bedroom so we can access the access. Same with crawlspace accesses that are always, usually in the storage under the stairs, buried in all your stuff.
BRENDAN – Full of boxes, yeah.
MURRAY – So if we have clear access to that and the electrical panel, and you’re main water shutoff. All of those things are typically buried. Costs us a lotta time. Maintenance items on the house – make sure your gutters are clean. You wanna make sure that you got a nice shiny new filter in your furnace to make it look like it’s been well maintained. Nothing that a buyer hates to see worse than you pull out the filter and it’s so dirty you could plant potatoes in it. Make sure the house is clean. Flush your toilets please. Get rid of the dirty dishes. Some houses, you think, “Is this tenant occupied or is this an owner?” This is the last opportunity for your potential buyer to walk through your house, and make their decision. It’s gotta show well.
BRENDAN – Yeah, for sure, and buyers go through that home inspection process and sometimes, maybe, to an experienced person in the industry or a contractor a list of minor details might not phase them, but to other buyers, if they’re a first time buyer they can get the jitters and walk away, so you want to make sure you’ve done as much as you can to insure that that inspection goes well. So do you have any tips maybe for sellers before they put the property on the market to have someone come through and take a look?
MURRAY – That’s a very good point. Many, many times in my experience, a deal will fall to pieces at the twelfth hour over the least little thing. You’ll get a poor single mother that’s very stretched on her money, she’s got not a dime left after she gets her down payment together. So a lousy thousand dollar fix can tube a deal. Currently we’re in a wonderful market so it’s much less, but when we’re back to normal, there’s numerous things that you can fix as a homeowner, and some of it you’re not even aware of. I’ve had people that have lived in a house for 20 years, never stuck their head in the attic. I do, all of a sudden you got a serious mold problem up there because your dryer’s been venting in the attic for 20 years. Best advice, if you wanna sell your house with no hiccups, no rewriting the contract, for as close to your listing price as you possibly can, get a pre-listing inspection done. You’ll have a detailed list on everything that that house will need, so they’ll be no surprises at the twelfth hour. And it’s up to you to either fix those items, or adjust your price accordingly. It makes the transaction so much smoother, everybody wins.
BRENDAN – Yeah, you take all the surprises out of the mix, and just makes for a smoother sale all the way along.
MURRAY – Exactly, and less liability for you as a homeowner. You won’t get that call six months down the road, by your buyers’ lawyer, that you failed to disclose this to them. When we can usually find most of that.
BRENDAN – Perfect, good advice.
For any Home Inspection needs contact Murray at:
Murray Klingbeil
250-763-0822
murray.klingbeil@amerispec.ca
www.amerispec.ca