Arranging A Home Inspection

While decluttering your house in the previous step, you might have noticed a few items that needed fixing or replacing. This is a good start but it doesn’t go far enough. You should consider investing in a home inspection.

You may be thinking, Why should I hire a home inspector? It’s going to cost me money and he’s going to find more problems with my house.

That’s short-term thinking! By uncovering the defects at this stage you will have the opportunity to fix them before your buyer or the buyer’s inspector finds them. You get to control which problems you want to address, who you hire, and what materials to use. Compare this with the buyer discovering them. An allowance that usually exceeds the cost of the repair will be asked for. Correct the problems now and you could save thousands of dollars later.

Other Reasons to Inspect Your Own House:

Peace of mind plays a key role when people are looking to buy a house. By showing the buyers that you’ve taken the steps to ensure that your house is solid you’ve removed a huge barrier. Your buyers will be able to concentrate on imagining themselves living there rather than on what could go wrong with it. This will set yours apart from other houses up for sale in your area.
Inspectors will gladly give you tips on how to fix certain things or how to hire a professional. His advice could save you a ton of time and money.
Full disclosure is required by law. By having your house inspected you alleviate the fear of getting sued down the road. Full disclosure will also project you as a trustworthy seller and that’s always a good thing.

The cost of an inspection starts at several hundred dollars but will vary depending on the age of your house, its size and location. You would be wise to work this cost into the selling price.

It’s a gamble to rely exclusively on the buyer to arrange a home inspection. Significant defects can derail the sale of your house. Even small ones are ground for re-negotiation.

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Decluttering Tips

Do your rooms have identity crises? In making your house a home, you may have overloaded a room to suit a purpose it wasn’t intended for; for example, your family room also serves as a music room; the living room is doubling up as an exercise room; perhaps your dining room has been transformed into an office. Instead of shuffling furniture from one area of the house to another, you should consider putting these items away until your house is sold. When this isn’t realistic, perhaps your basement can be partitioned to host some of the secondary functions such as sewing, exercising, playing music, etc.