Every home seller needs to make sure their house is ready for a home inspection. Below are 5 simple things you can do to help the inspection flow smoothly.
Leave post-it notes:
Often times sellers will do goofy things to cover up broken items in the house. A good home inspector is going to see a cover-up job from a mile away, and it’s going to get called out in the inspection report. Often times the buyer is walking through with us at that time. If a seller covers up something that is broken, it starts to raise the question of "what else are they hiding in this house?".
Make sure that important areas and systems in the home are accessible:
Often times as a home inspector we find attic doors screw shut and electrical panels that have piles of junk sitting in front of them. A home inspector is not required or responsible for scaling piles of garbage, or dismantling an attic hatch in order to gain access. The buyer wants every square inch of the house looked at . Make sure that important areas are readily accessible.
Clean the house prior to inspection:
An unclean house sends a message to the inspector and the buyer that the seller of the home doesn’t really care how the house is presented. Although the home inspector is not there to judge how clean or dirty your houses is, A clean house will feel more inviting for everyone to be in.
Make sure that family members and house-guests are not there and during the inspection: Sometimes the seller will choose to be present throughout the inspection, and that is fine. What is not fine is, the inspector waiting for somebody to get out of the shower, or not feeling comfortable walking into a den because someone is sitting in there playing video games. Scenarios like this make everyone feel rushed and uncomfortable.
Make sure the water, gas, and electricity are turned on:
it’s important that furnaces, water heaters, major electrical appliances, and the plumbing system can be thoroughly inspected. If the utilities are shut off, the systems cannot be evaluated. And chances are the buyer is going to come back and request that you have utilities turned on so everything can be observed.
The moral of the story is: Be proactive. Be open and honest about your home. The buyers will feel significantly more comfortable.