How to Prepare for a Home Inspection
When you’ve finally found a buyer for your home who is interested enough that they have decided to get a home inspection, this is one of the final steps before the sale of your home is complete.
Therefore, many sellers want to make sure that the buyer’s home inspection goes as smoothly as possible, but aren’t sure what they need to do to make this happen.
Luckily, we have some tips that – as home inspectors – are very helpful to make inspections go smoothly. Here is everything you need to know to be prepared for a buyer’s inspection on your home!
Provide Keys and Make Things Accessible
One of the biggest obstacles that home inspectors face when inspecting homes is that they can’t get to the components of a home that they need to.
This is usually because homeowners either forget to provide keys and passcodes, or they have clutter and furniture blocking appliances and system access points.
Making sure that things like the electrical box, sprinkler panel, furnace, water heater, and sheds are easily accessible is important!
If the buyer’s inspector can’t get to these things, they won’t be able to assess their condition and will either need to come back for a second inspection, or will mark them as not able to inspect, which can be detrimental to the buyer’s decision to buy your home or not.
Replace Old with New
If your home has light bulbs that are flickering or out, you’ll want to replace these with fresh bulbs before the inspection. This is because when bulbs aren’t working right, the inspector doesn’t know if this is because the electrical wiring has a problem, or if the bulb is simply old.
Test smoke and CO detectors to see if they are working correctly, and replace old batteries with new ones. This will also help the inspector determine if your home is in good condition and well-taken care of.
Finish Small Repairs
Almost everyone that owns a home has a list of things they’ve noticed and want/need to fix. It’s a good idea to complete these tasks before an inspection, because inspectors will likely notice these things too, and mark them down as defects.
Examples of These Tasks Include:
- Fixing a toilet that keeps running
- Resealing windows and doors with new caulk or weatherstripping
- Touch up cracked paint
- Repair cracked cement
- Repair broken appliances
Overall Cleanup
In general, home inspectors notice if a home is clean and well-maintained or not. The best way to help your inspection go well is to simply clean up your home.
Although inspections aren’t based on how clean your home is, inspectors are humans and a dirty and cluttered home signals to them that you might not take very good care of your home and it’s systems.
Follow these tips – and your home inspection will go well and you’ll be ready to close a sale in no time!
