You invest a great deal of time, money, and energy to market your listings, and of course you need to get a good return on that investment. Don’t be caught unaware of problems that could seriously undermine your dedicated efforts to sell a home, or that could keep a property from selling at its highest potential price. One of the best steps you can take to avoid this is to recommend a professional home inspection prior to listing.

A pre-listing inspection can uncover previously unknown problems – major and minor -- allowing sellers the opportunity to make repairs, updates, or replacements as needed or as they wish. By having the home inspected before it goes on the market, you can market the home with greater knowledge of its condition. The inspection report will also give you important information you can use to price the property correctly and maximize its value. A seller that understands any significant shortcomings the home has will likely be more amenable to your advice on which issues to address and how the results of the inspection may affect – positively or negatively – the home’s price and marketability. Being aware of issues in advance will also allow for disclosure of problems when selling, which can result in cleaner offers and a smoother transaction for both parties.

Make sure that the home inspection offered is comprehensive and that the report will be delivered immediately upon completion of the inspection. This allows your sellers to get the information they need right away so they can decide on their next steps prior to having you list the home. Photos should always be part of a professional report so that full documentation of conditions is available to both the sellers and potential buyers, should the seller opt to share this information with them. This can be especially important when it comes to identifying issues that will not be addressed or repaired prior to sale. It’s especially beneficial if your sellers attend the inspection, so they can get first-hand feedback and ask any questions of the inspector during the process. If the sellers choose to repair or otherwise address any issues noted in the report, they should keep receipts and any other relevant records to prove that the work was done. Buyers are more likely to feel confident about making a strong offer on a home that has had already-known problems addressed.

Additional testing outside the scope of a standard home inspection can also be performed, including radon, mold, WDO and other specialized inspection services, giving your sellers and potential buyers even more information. It will also lessen the chance of more surprises popping up later in the home-buying process and possibly slowing a transaction already in progress.

With a professional, comprehensive pre-listing inspection in hand, you can market your sellers’ homes with increased confidence and a better outcome for everyone.