Selling Your Home Fast in a Slow Market
by R. L. Fielding A nationwide housing slump has left home sellers faced with a tough real estate market. Sellers must anticipate the concerns of potential home buyers in order to ensure their homes sell at acceptable prices. To do so, many sellers are turning to pre-listing inspections as a tool for enhancing the salability of their homes in a slow market. While home inspections are traditionally thought of as a buyer?s resource, a pre-listing inspection offers clear benefits for home sellers. The ideal use of a pre-inspection by a home seller is to assess the true physical condition of the home?s components. This way, sellers can plan a course of action addressing conditions found to ensure a quicker, more hassle-free sale. Kathleen Kuhn, president and CEO of HouseMaster®, the oldest and most experienced name in home inspections, advises that sellers get an objective professional home inspection prior to listing their home in order to determine underlying conditions that may need repair or replacement in order to sell the home fast and get the best price. "The real estate market is slowing down," says Kuhn. "Buyers will likely be more concerned with the home's condition and be in a better position to negotiate now that there are more homes on the market." Kuhn estimates that for every $100 of repairs a home needs, a buyer will likely try to negotiate $200 off the asking price, and high-ticket items "like a new roof, moisture problems, or electrical repairs" can potentially cost the seller thousands of dollars. Having the home inspected before listing is a way to ultimately avoid any unexpected negotiations. Here are some other important tips for selling your home: * An inspection helps set a realistic selling price. The market analysis prepared by the real estate agent will help in determining a fair selling price for the home based on the prices that other homes have sold for in the area. However, such comparison doesn't usually reflect the true physical condition of the home and its systems, which may not be readily apparent to the untrained eye. A home inspection for the seller can give an accurate, overall picture of a home's condition. * The listing price should reflect deficiencies. If a house has deficiencies, the price should reflect them for a faster sale. The combination of a professional inspection report and a listing price that reflects the true condition of the house can help minimize any re-negotiation of the sales price late in the deal and, possibly, even speed up the selling process. No one wants a house that sits on the market for months at an unrealistic selling price. * Disclosure is key. It has become a legal necessity to disclose, up front, any problems that buyers will most likely find out on their own or through their own inspection. Failure to disclose these items/defects can mean problems for the seller later on. By having their own inspection done, sellers will be aware of any issues which the buyer's home inspector will likely find anyway or that will become apparent once the buyer moves in. * Make repairs before you sell. Sellers can turn lemons into lemonade with their own home inspection. For instance, if the roof needs major repairs or if the bathroom has an ongoing leak, any potential buyer is likely to negotiate the cost of these repairs off the listing price up front. The sellers may save half the profit by fixing the roof and any other items on their own. Then they can position re-caulked bathroom tiles and new roof shingles as new upgrades or improvements instead of as a needed repair. "By having a home inspected in advance, the seller can justify a higher listing price by documenting that the home is in good condition, or it can serve to minimize re-negotiations by disclosing defects at the time of listing. It really works either way, and goes a long way towards reducing exposure for non-disclosure with the agent and seller," suggests Kuhn. The information provided in a pre-listing inspection report enables the seller to set his or her home apart from other houses available for sale in the area and provides a strong bargaining tool during original listing negotiations with the buyer, thus clearing the way for a faster sale and a smoother closing. About HouseMaster This article was provided by HouseMaster, the oldest and most respected home inspection franchise system in North America. HouseMaster, founded in the late-1970s, has grown to over 350 local offices whose inspectors have collectively performed nearly 2-million home inspections. Home buyers, home sellers and real estate professionals rely on HouseMaster?s NIBI #61650; trained inspectors for truly objective insight into the condition of any property. For more information, visit http://www.housemaster.com. This article is copyrighted for and by HouseMaster. About the Author R.L. Fielding has been a freelance writer for 10 years, offering her expertise and skills to a variety of major organizations in the education, pharmaceuticals and healthcare, financial services, and manufacturing industries. She lives in New Jersey with her dog and two cats and enjoys rock climbing and ornamental gardening. Company Name: HouseMaster
Website: http://www.housemaster.com
Author: R. L. Fielding
E-Mail: rtrautner@digitalbrandexpressions.com
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