Proactive home selling
The 2008 edition of the National Association of Realtors “Profile of Home Buyers and Sellers” indicates that a home’s condition and environmental impact are important to many home buyers. In a market where home buyers are hard to come by, your home may stand out from the crowd if you can demonstrate that your home is solid and energy efficient.
Some believe home buying to be an emotional process that is rationalized by ma
king decisions on perceived value. Conducting pre-sale inspections, such as a home inspection and a home energy audit, can not only provide home buyers with the rationale for choosing your home, the physical data may provide home buyers an additional boost of confidence that can make their decision process easier.
NAR surveys indicated that home buyers are more apt to compromise on the price than the condition of a home (NAR Profile of Home Buyers and Sellers 2008). Be prepared by conducting a pre-sale home inspection. The inspection can provide information on the general condition of the home by examining the age and functionality of the home’s major systems including (but not limited to) roof and gutters, heating and cooling, plumbing, electric, and possibly point out any visible structural defects that may need attention. Some home sellers may also decide to conduct additional environmental tests (such as radon and lead) to possibly alleviate further concerns.
As energy prices continue to rise, home buyers are increasingly aware of home energy efficiency. NAR surveys indicated that 43% of home buyers consider a home’s heating and cooling costs important factors in their home search (NAR Profile of Home Buyers and Sellers 2008). You may allay home buyer fears of purchasing an inefficient home by conducting a home energy audit. Besides revealing the energy efficiency of your home’s furnace, A/C, and major appliances, conducting a home energy audit will also provide information on the home’s efficiency of maintaining temperature. Professional home energy auditors use state of the art equipment (such as infrared cameras and blower doors) to identify often hard to detect air loss or penetration from walls, windows, and doors.
Although some home sellers have the financial resources to make major renovations to their homes to attract home buyers, most do not. The pre-sale inspections can provide you with useful information that may assist you in preparing your home prior to listing by allowing you prioritize the items that need attention. The pre-sale inspections can identify the strong and weak points of your home; you can be prepared for making repairs and/or updates of any unsatisfactory conditions that are identified. However, if you are selling your home “as-is,” the inspections can help you price your home by accounting for any necessary repairs or updates.
By proactively attending to necessary repairs, you can limit the amount of negotiating a home buyer may initiate from their home inspections; or avoid having a home buyer walk away from the deal due to an unsatisfactory home inspection. However, you must remember that although you may be enticing a home buyer by providing pre-sale inspection results, you are still required to disclose any known latent defects in your home (defects that would not reasonably be expected to be observed by a careful visual inspection and pose a health or safety threat).
This column is not intended to provide nor should it be relied upon for legal and financial advice. This article was originally published in the Montgomery County Sentinel the week of October 26, 2009. Copyright © 2009 Dan Krell