Segment 1
Beware of Home Inspection Pitfalls Before You Put Your Colorado Springs Area Home Up for Sale
Barb Schlinker Radio Show
719-888-3736 | 719-301-3900
Your Home Sold Guaranteed Realty Colorado
Home sellers planning to put their homes on the market often ask how to prepare. What are some Home Inspection Pitfalls Before You Put Your Colorado Springs Area Home Up for Sale?
There are some simple things you can do to get ready. Roof and hail damage are really prevalent this time of year, check with your Insurance Company about Deductibles and consider getting a pre-inspection it will pelps you identify unknown issues like:
- Plumbing
- Electrical
- HVAC / AC – most request them to be cleaned and serviced
- Sewer Scope – this is a big issue
If you do this, we can offer the home as a Pre-Inspected, Pre-Certified home about 75% of Buyers test for Radon. Radon is the natural radiation that emanates from Granite Decomposing. It’s in 50% of the homes in the area here is the tricky part it’s highest on warm days and cool nights & Fluctuates with atmospheric conditions. Consider investing in a Home Warranty. These are low cost insurance policies that cover: about $500 plumbing, electrical, heating/cooling, garage door openers, and appliances. For a $75 deductible, these companies will come out and repair or replace. Should you decide to let us handle the sale we offer these warranties as part of our VIP Seller Service.
So what are some other things can home sellers do to prepare their homes for the inspection?
Take care of obvious cosmetic issues:
○Buyer’s offers will be 4-6 times lower than the cost of replacing:
- Old, tired, stained carpet
- Ripped vinyl flooring
- Mismatched kitchen appliances
- Dated light fixtures
When the inspection happens, don’t let the buyer’s agent or inspector dictate the process. Recently had two inspections on my listings…same company. Inspector sent an email dictating the ‘rules of the inspection,
then when they got there, they asked the seller to leave their own home!!! Inspectors are on a part of the contract, Sellers do not have to comply with inspector demands if they do not wish to Buyers do not have any rights to “privacy” in someone else’s home! Not sure where this idea came from but my experiences have been, I have had inspectors do the following:
- Scratch hardwood floors with their sewer scope lines
- Remove toilets to sewer scope and NOT replace the seal
- Scratch the inside of a new toilet with their sewer scope lines
- Break apart pedestal sinks and cause a leak
- Jab screwdrivers into the caulking
- Leave circuit breakers popped
- Work inside my client’s homes unescorted.
- This last issue makes me put my Commander Barb hat one.
- I had asked the agent to make sure she attended the inspection because there was a teenager home alone. She told me she would.
- She got there, opened the digital lockbox, let two strange men in the house, and turned around and left. (we have her on the doorbell camera doing that.
Fortunately, I did not trust her so I sent my Office Manager to check on it and where she got there 5 minutes before the inspection was scheduled to start and two men in my client’s house and NO agent! The again claimed she “forgot, she had a closing”. I have a hard time trusting other agents and therefore have to staff their roles. It’s actually a license law violation for us to let un-licensed people in our client’s homes.
