What if presale seller inspections are not required in other regions?

Question: Regarding “How buyers leaving the Bay Area can avoid a shocking delay” on The Mercury News and East Bay Times websites on April 1, 2023:

You professed that home sellers could maintain control of a home sale through presale seller inspections. It is not a realty policy in my area. In your answer, you mentioned that home sellers should obtain a “complete” set of inspections. What are the inspections, and isn’t it redundant if the eventual homebuyer hires their inspectors, too?

Answer: Here is the complete set of inspections for a home in the suburbs:

1.   Roof Inspection

2.   Chimneys Inspections

3.   Termite Inspections

4.   Home Inspection

5.   Foundation Inspection

6.   Sewer Lateral Line Inspections

7.  Utility company safety check for gas leaks

Additional inspections might be needed if the property has a swimming pool, solar panels, private road, sloping land, well water or septic tank.

The importance of presale seller inspections for property sellers is wide-ranging.

Buyer hesitancy: 

• Homebuyers can be unable or unwilling to draft and submit a firm purchase offer on a home. Presale seller inspections offset this housing trend.

• Homebuyers will or will not make an offer on the property after reading the seller’s presale seller inspections. Full stop. This way, only serious homebuyers will be involved in the offer process.

• After reading the presale seller inspections, homebuyers who make offers are less likely to cancel the sale or renegotiate.

Buyer regret:

• Without presale seller inspections, homebuyers surprised by unfavorable property conditions tend to renegotiate or cancel a home sale.

• Canceled home sales are called TFTs (transactions fell through).

• TFTs fairly or unfairly stigmatize the home when the property goes back on sale.

Buyer remorse:

• In California, most residential lawsuits are filed by homebuyers against home sellers, claiming a lack of disclosure on property conditions, aka “bad house cases.”

• It’s challenging to rescind a home sale by claiming a lack of disclosure with presale seller inspections should a recession hit, the housing market drops dramatically and the homebuyer loses a job.

• Presale seller inspections, home sellers and seller’s agents can control the home sale narrative. Don’t be the home seller and seller’s agent who loses control of the home sale narrative(s).

Thriftiness is helpful when purchasing groceries, plane tickets and electronics but frugality when selling a home is expensive. Home sellers who save money upfront on inspections or deferred maintenance items are saving hundreds of dollars at the expense of thousands in net proceeds at closing. Home sellers who manage the risk by paying for presale seller inspections reap the rewards.

For Housing Market Data in your area, visit Pat’s webpage for trends here. Do you have questions about home buying or selling? Full-service Realtor Pat Kapowich is a Certified Real Estate Brokerage Manager and career-long consumer protection advocate. He is based in his hometown of Sunnyvale, California. Office: 408-245-7700; Broker# 00979413 [email protected]