Preparing Your Home for the Home Inspector
In our last episode, The Deal Killer, we discussed the hurt feelings caused by the home inspection process. After 20 years in the home inspection industry I am always surprised by what homeowners don't know about their own homes. Listing your house for sale in ignorance of the condition of the house is a recipe for a train wreck.
In a recent email I received a link to a YouTube video featuring Sheri Nixon of Keller Williams Realty, a respected member of the island real estate community for a couple decades. In her regular appearance on Real Estate in the Lowcountry on WHHI TV, Sheri discussed the robust nature of the current real estate market. Early in the interview the host asked a specific question about issues that might disrupt the transaction. "Well, definitely inspections...", Sheri offers. She then discusses the complexity of today's inspection process and what home owners/sellers can do to prepare the property (and their own hearts) for the arrival of the home inspector.
The resulting dialogue is the best four minutes of conversation on this subject I have ever observed. Sheri has been involved in hundreds of transactions over the years and therefore hundreds of home inspections. She speaks clearly and concisely to the issues that will arise in an inspection and what the homeowner can do to eliminate, what many consider to be "nit-picky" issues, like dead bulbs, leaks in the crawlspace and other issues like HVAC and plumbing.
This video should be MANDATORY for every homeowner going under contract. Regardless of whether your house is on the market, your assignment is linked here.