When you decide to sell your home and move, it’s easy to get caught up in the “what comes next?” part of the process. You may already have a new home in mind, or you may get very excited about looking at properties for sale. However, before you can really start the next chapter, you have to successfully sell your home. In today’s competitive real estate market, that means making your home stand out so that it gets the attention it deserves. While a sign in the front yard may have been enough years ago, it’s certainly not any longer. Instead, you need to consider tools such as a professional pre-listing inspection and a top-to-bottom evaluation of what works and what doesn’t.

Here at the Sullivan Group, we believe that a good first impression is vital to attracting the biggest number of buyers. Selling a home quickly and for top dollar isn’t about hiding its flaws. Instead, it’s about presenting potential buyers with a home that feels well-maintained and ready for them to move in. According to data from the National Association of Realtors (NAR), real estate experts agree on what makes a home attractive to buyers: 91% of agents highly recommend decluttering the house, while 88% agree that a comprehensive deep cleaning before selling houses is a must. When you add in a pre-listing inspection to the list, you have three powerful tools that will help get your listing in front of buyers.

What to Expect from a Pre-Listing Inspection

Most homeowners are familiar with the traditional real estate process: a potential buyer makes an offer, the seller negotiates or accepts, and then the buyer hires an inspector to evaluate the property. But as the seller, this means you’re now on the buyer’s timeline. You have to wait for their inspector to find issues, and then the buyer is going to want you to fix those issues before closing.

By scheduling a pre-listing inspection, you’re taking charge of the process. You will have an independent, objective evaluation of your home’s condition before the property even hits the market, and you can use this report to make repairs and updates before buyers see the home.

What happens when you schedule an inspection? A licensed inspector will come to your property and do a full top-to-bottom inspection. They will get on the roof to look for damaged shingles, look for leaks in the basement and around plumbing, and check for outdated wiring and other materials. Everything from the toilets and the electrical panel to the crawlspace and the gutters will be checked over.

Uncovering these issues early gives you a significant advantage in the selling process. Often, when a buyer’s inspection returns issues, they immediately assume the worst about the property and may demand a huge price reduction, expensive repairs, or could call off the deal. By utilizing a home inspection checklist for sellers and the information from a pre-listing inspection, you’ll be able to address these issues ahead of time, meaning that potential buyers will have more confidence in putting in a bid for your home.

Preparing Your Home for the Inspector

To get the most accurate pre-listing inspection report possible, you need to be ready for the inspector. Just like with a potential buyer, an inspector needs clear access to your home. This includes being able to get to the electrical panel, the attic, the hot water tank, and more. If they can’t, they will have to note those areas as uninspectable, which means future inspections could uncover issues you weren’t prepared for.

Before an inspector arrives, you should work through this home inspection checklist for sellers to ensure they can access all parts of the home:

• Make sure there are clear paths to the water heater, furnace, electrical panel, and attic access points.
• Check all light fixtures and replace any burnt-out bulbs so the inspector doesn’t have to guess if the issue is the bulb or faulty wiring.
• Make minor functional and cosmetic repairs to the interior and exterior where possible.
• Tighten loose doorknobs, make sure all windows open smoothly and lock, replace torn window screens, and fix any leaky faucets.

These proactive steps will allow you to fix issues before selling the property. This will help you avoid the buyer getting a lost list of minor issues from their inspection, which can signal that your home hasn’t been cared for. A very short list will give them more confidence that they’re making a sound financial investment.

Deep Cleaning for a Polished Look

Once you have a list of the structural issues of your home, it’s time to shift your focus to the more cosmetic areas. Buyers don’t just want to buy a home that is structurally sound, they want a home that fits their lifestyle and their aesthetics. If they walk into a home and see stains on the carpet and dusty on the baseboards, they’re going to immediately start think about everything they will have to do to clean the home. You can avoid that by deep cleaning before selling your house.

Deep cleaning before selling a house is more than just vacuuming and dusting, though. It means looking at all of the little details that are often overlooked:

• Professional carpet cleaning can remove years of dirt and neutralize food and even some pet odors that you may have become nose-blind to.
• Washing both the inside and outside of your windows can help let in more natural light, making rooms feel brighter, larger, and more inviting.
• Scrub the inside of your oven, refrigerator, and microwave. It might sound like it’s too much, but potential buyers will absolutely open your appliances to check their condition.
• Don’t forget the exterior of your home, either. Power-wash the driveway, sweep the porch, put down some fresh mulch, and trim up any overgrown bushes.

When you’ve finished deep cleaning before selling a house, it will sparkle from the curb to the attic. This shows buyers that your property is truly move-in ready. Taking time to fix issues before selling, even small issues that don’t seem that important, allow potential buyers to focus on the beauty of your home without getting distracted by little chores.

When to Make Repairs vs. Disclose Issues

One of the biggest benefits of doing a pre-listing inspection is that you have time to fix issues before selling. You can step back, look at the report and the costs associated with repairs, and make an informed decision on how to handle each item on the list. You basically have two choices: you can choose to fix issues before selling or you can disclose these issues in your property report and adjust the price accordingly.

Fortunately, not every issue on an inspection report is likely to require a contractor to fix. For example, if the inspector noted that your water heater is reaching the expected end of its lifespan, you don’t have to replace it as long as it’s working. Instead, you simply disclose the age of the water heater in your seller documentation. Since you’ve been fully transparent, potential buyers won’t be able to use your old water heater as a reason to ask for a discount later.

On the other hand, if your pre-listing inspection identifies a major safety hazard such as a faulty electrical panel, you’ll be able to address it before your home hits the market. Buyers typically overestimate the cost of making major repairs, so they are likely to ask for fairly steep discounts when something serious turns up. For example, a buyer might ask for a $5,000 credit for a roof repair that only costs about $2,000. However, they want to include a cushion for additional unknown issues, so they ask for more. If you fix issues before selling, you have more control over the negotiations.

Schedule a Pre-Listing Inspection with Help from The Sullivan Group

Selling your home quickly and for the best price isn’t something you should leave up to luck. By investing in a pre-listing inspection and doing a deep cleaning before selling the house, you’ll remove a lot of the guesswork and protect yourself from unexpected issues later.

Working through a pre-listing inspection may seem a little overwhelming, especially if the inspector flagged a long list of items. That’s why The Sullivan Group is here. We will help you prioritize the list, determine what needs to be addressed and what can be disclosed, and help you get the best price for your property. Reach out today to get the process started.