In this competitive seller’s market, buyers are trying all sorts of tactics to win the bidding war over other buyers. Many buyers are conducting pre-inspections on properties before the seller even accepts their offer. Is this a tactic you should employ?
What is a Pre-Inspection for Buyers?
A pre-inspection for a buyer is essentially a walk-and-talk with a licensed home inspector who may only have one hour or less to inspect a property for a potential buyer. The inspector will only have time to look at the major components of the property like the roof, attic and crawlspace.
Why I’m on the Fence about Pre-Inspections
I’m all in favor of home inspections and gathering information about a property but here’s why I’m undecided about recommending pre-inspections on a routine basis to my buyers.
The Intention of a Home Inspection
The intention of doing a pre-inspection is so that the buyer will waive their home inspection contingency. This is where doing a pre-inspection can be an advantage over other buyers. Most sellers love offers without a home inspection contingency. It’s just one less hurdle in the transaction.
But even if a buyer does a preinspection, they can still attempt to negotiate repairs with a seller, and this negotiation would be upfront when the offer is submitted. It’s hard to say if a buyer would be successful in the negotiation and the win in this market with this upfront inspection negotiation. It would just depend upon the repair, the property and of course, the buyers and sellers involved.
In our market, all properties are sold as-is. Sellers have no legal obligation to correct or remedy any issue. Any and all repairs are purely a negotiation in the contract. A seller does not NEED to fix anything. Some buyers have a hard time with this idea especially if it’s a big issue. A buyer will say, the seller has to replace that leaking roof. Well, no they don’t. And this is true in any market. It’s just now in this strong seller’s market, sellers are confident they can find another buyer who will buy their home with that leaky roof.
Cost of the Pre-Inspection
Before buyers are under contract with a seller, buyers would be paying for a pre-inspection, which is about $200. The risk is that the buyer’s offer will not be accepted by the seller and the buyer is out this money. Would a buyer be willing to conduct pre-inspections on multiple properties?
Mini-Inspection versus Full Inspection
A pre-inspection is a quick overview of a home. Granted the larger ticket items and areas that are not easily seen by buyers during a typical showing (roof, attic and crawl space) are inspected, this still isn’t a full inspection. This quick look may give a false sense of security to a buyer, especially if they don’t follow up at a later time with a full home inspection.
Options for Buyers
When I work with buyers or sellers, I think it is very important to discuss available options so that each client can make the best decisions for them. For some buyers and some properties, a pre-inspection is the way to go. Each property is unique as the people involved.
If you’d like to discuss your options, reach out to me and let’s chat about which path would be best for you.