Outdated selling strategies can cost you serious equity!
If you’re planning to sell a $2M+ home in the coming months…
…you NEED to be aware of this seller misstep.
This is especially true if you haven’t sold a home in years.
Things have changed!
In the past, the market was more balanced.
Standard practice was for home inspections to occur AFTER a buyer opened escrow on your house.
Today, things are totally different.
Demand for houses is sky high and inventory is low.
This means the market is moving at record speed.
As a seller, it’s critical that you leverage your strong position in this seller’s market.
A key way to do this is by having your home pre-inspected by a professional home inspector.
This is something you should do BEFORE you list your house for sale.
Here’s why:
When your house is listed for sale, there’s likely to be a flurry of initial interest.
This is usually your best opportunity to capture the highest sales price.
When multiple buyers are vying to win your house…
…a bidding war will push the price up.
In many instances, there will be one particular buyer who swings for the fences.
This buyer might outbid everybody else by a large margin.
While that’s usually great news for the seller, things can go sideways.
If you haven’t done a pre-inspection, here’s a string of events you could face:
- You open escrow at a phenomenal price.
- The buyer performs their inspections.
- Issues with your home are discovered. (Most homes have issues that you can’t see from the outside).
- Based on the inspection findings, the buyer tries to renegotiate on their offer price. (At this point, their emotions have cooled and the sense of urgency they felt during the bidding war has waned).
- While all of this takes place, the other bidders find new properties that pique their interest. (AND now you’ll have to disclose the buyer’s inspection findings, which might temper their already diminished interest).
So, you’ve gone from a position of great strength, to…
…being on your heels.
This is the last thing you want!
Heres’ the good news:
You can prevent this debacle by hiring your own inspector upfront.
Then, you provide the inspector’s report to all prospective buyers.
Make sure they review the report before submitting an offer.
This is what I advise for my clients and it has paid off time and again.
My clients Chris and Rhea are a perfect example.
This lovely couple hired me to sell their home on Lockehaven Street in Pasadena.
Their house was a stunning Victorian Craftsman originally built in 1887.
It was even home to the Mayor of Pasadena back then!
Chris and Rhea took my advice and had their home pre-inspected.
I listed the house for $2.5M and…
…provided the inspection report to all prospective buyers BEFORE they submitted offers.
Sure enough, a great offer came in at $257K OVER the asking price.
We opened escrow and Chris and Rhea were thrilled, until…
…the buyers attempted to renegotiate on the price after performing their own inspections.
They wanted to lower their offer price by over $100K!
With confidence, we didn’t budge an inch.
We pointed out that virtually all the findings called out by the buyer’s inspector…
…were already called out in the inspection report we provided up front.
In short order, the buyers agreed to proceed at their original offer price.
I cringe to think of how that scenario would have unfolded had Chris and Rhea NOT…
…done a pre-inspection up front.
Certainly, they wouldn’t have been able to negotiate so powerfully.
So, if you’re thinking of selling your home in the coming months, be sure to have it pre-inspected!
Many agents are still doing things the old way, but knowledge is power.
And now you know one of the strategies that’s allowing some local sellers…
…to see far better results than others.
Thanks so much for watching!