Real estate marketing advice: Reason number 5 why sellers need to perform property inspections before marketing.

 

Before a seller places a property on the market they need to have all property inspections performed before they self market or list for sale thru a Realtor.

 

The reasons that performing these inspections before you seek a buyer are so important include:

1. Establishment of price
2. Learning the exact nature of the property
3. Misrepresentations
4. Avoiding price renegotiations
5. Error and omissions insurance coverage
6. Maintain arms length negotiations

 

Reason #5 is entirely for the Sellers self-protection.

 

The inspection companies (and every professional) that the seller hires, must possess and show proof of proper error and omissions insurance or general liability insurance coverage. These insurance certificates are to be requested and obtained by the seller before any work is paid for.

The property inspection company is providing the seller with a fairly in-depth report concerning the exact nature about the property condition. This report will become the basis by which several different groups will form some very important decisions upon. The sellers shall base the worth of the property on the condition of how the property does or does not compared to other properties. Buyers will use to it formulate what they believe the property will need for repairs or improvements in the immediate future.

If the analysis of the inspection company should contain any incorrect information the sellers must have the security in knowing that they reiterated information that came from a reliable and fortified entity and that they are protected not just by the inspection company themselves but also by the insurance company that insures the inspection work.

Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage, part of the largest real estate sales companies in the country has customers sign a “Disclaimer regarding service providers” which states the following “Coldwell Banker has not conducted an investigation into the qualifications or financial status of these service providers. So if the largest sales company feels the need to use this disclaimer the seller should demand that the service provider has adequate insurance coverage.

”It is nice to believe that the firm that is hired will stand up and cover their work by making good on any errors or oversights. However a seller needs to be guaranteed that this is actually the case? Sellers do not know the financial shape or ability of the inspection company as to whether they are able or not to make the seller whole after an unexpected issue arises. The seller is on a completely different footing if they know, in advance, who the actual insurance provider of the inspection company is.

 

 

 

 

At some point in the sales process it will become inevitable these reports are performed.

It is entirely in the SELLER’S BEST INTEREST to maintain this control and have these inspections performed at their own expense. In the long run it will always save the seller time, aggravation and money.

 

By demanding that the home inspection company a seller chooses to use has proper insurance coverage, a seller is in the position where the work will be guaranteed by two companies, the inspection company and their insurance company. Sellers cannot afford to risk their home sale to inadequate risks and hoping an inspector has insurance is just not good enough, they need proof.

 

 

 

Real estate marketing advice: Reason number 4 why sellers need to perform property inspections before marketing.

Real estate marketing advice: Reason number 4 why sellers need to perform property inspections before marketing.

 

Before a seller places a property on the market they need to have all property inspections performed before they self market or list for sale thru a Realtor.

 

The reasons that performing these inspections before you seek a buyer are so important include:

1. Establishment of price
2. Learning the exact nature of the property
3. Misrepresentations
4. Avoiding price renegotiations
5. Error and omissions insurance coverage
6. Maintain arms length negotiations

 

Reason #4 is perhaps the most important reason of them all.

 

Typical Realtor involved real estate transactions are handled in just the complete opposite way of what I am instructing the seller to now do. The way Realtors usually handle the inspection issue is to negotiate the terms of the transaction first and included the home inspection as a contingency that is performed by the buyers after the sales agreements are signed. This is a worry about the offer first and the inspections second mentality.

What is so wrong and dangerous with this format is that the seller’s realtor has now given the buyer the perfect opportunity to have a second bite at the price apple. The seller has been mislead into a comfort zone by believing that the transaction was completely negotiated when in fact it remains only partially negotiated. After the buyers have performed the inspections it now becomes a perfect time for the buyer to renegotiate the price based on this new information generated by the inspection. This leaves the door wide open for a second round of negotiations. The price a buyer is willing to pay will never go up after inspections.

Why Realtors choose to place their sellers in this no win predicament is completely unfathomable.

The best and only way inspections should be performed is well before the property is placed on the market. The few hundred dollars it will cost the seller is money well spent in order to insulate the seller from further price reductions.

 

At some point in the sales process it will become inevitable these reports are performed.

It is entirely in the SELLER’S BEST INTEREST to maintain this control and have these inspections performed at their own expense. In the long run it will always save the seller time, aggravation and money.

 

By performing home inspection before a property in placed up for sale, sellers avoid falling into the price renegotiation trap. Informing a buyer as to the exact condition of a property before they make an offer remove one of the two most frequent sales contingencies and can save a seller quite a substantial amount of money.

 

 

 

Real estate marketing advice: 6 reasons sellers need to perform property inspections before marketing.

 

 

Before a seller places their property on the market they need to have all property inspections performed before they self market or list for sale thru a Realtor.

 

Why Realtors do not suggest this is beyond all logic because in the long run it will always save the seller money. This short term, up front, small expense has the potential to save huge money before the transaction is complete.

Types of inspection that may be needed (NOT ALWAYS!) include general property inspection, septic inspection, well inspection, pest (bugs) inspection, radon inspection and lead paint inspection. A good general inspection company will perform most of these types of inspection under one visit and the charge is usually several hundred dollars.

 

The reason that performing these inspections before you seek a buyer are so important include:

1. Establishment of price
2. Learning the exact nature of the property
3. Misrepresentations
4. Avoiding price renegotiations
5. Error and omissions insurance coverage
6. Maintain arms length negotiations

 

This is not to suggest that the seller needs to repair and remedy anything that the inspection highlights as needed. The seller can make as many or as few repairs as they see fit or simply price the property accordingly. I shall explain the individual reasons in more detail in subsequent articles.

 

At some point in the sales process it will become inevitable these reports are performed.

It is entirely in the SELLER’S BEST INTEREST to maintain this control and have these inspections performed at their own expense. It will always save the seller money.

 

Most listing Realtors allow their Sellers to fall prey to the renegotiations the take place after home inspections are performed. Seller need to take away this advantage and perform all property inspection themselves before they go to market with their property. This is in the SELLER’S BEST INTEREST and will always save the seller time and aggravation.

 

Real Estate Marketing Advise: Be careful of who you talk too! The Sellers R/E Maven

 

 

 

 

 

As a seller, when you enter into the real estate office that has your property listed for sale, how many people in that office are working for you?

 

Lets say it’s a big office and there are a total of 25 Realtors that work at this office. How many do you think work in your best interest?

 

Back in the 90’s the correct answer would have been at least 26 people. My math is not goofy because the total consists of 25 agents plus the office manager and you could even add in the entire staff to this number as well. Everyone one in the entire office was working for you, the Seller, and in your best interest.

Now it is just the opposite. There is only one real estate agent working in your best interest. The other 24 agents are working against you. That’s right against you! They all work in the Buyer’s best interest. Make no mistake about this, these two interests are entirely different and should be treated so.

The entire system has been altered and most sellers do not realize this vital change. The teams have changed in their entirety. Before it was representation of all the sellers, now it is representation of all the buyers.

 

The office manager is not even working in your best interest. They are working in the capacity of a deal facilitator. This topic of office management is very fuzzy and I will explore it in a later article.

When you now hold any conversation in what you consider to be your real estate sales office (after all you did hire this company) if it is of any consequence whatsoever, you need to make sure it takes place behind closed doors and only in the presence of one single person. The agent that actually has your listing.

Limit any public conversation at the Realtor’s office to just small talk. In common areas with other ears nearby do not discuss thing such as how you are pressured to sell or what your burning needs are for the proceeds money or how your personal life is deeply effected by the need to sell. Unless your intentions are to inform 24 other agents of the exact why, where, how and why you are motivated to sell and that you will most certainly accept less money because of the reasons you have just stated.

If any information that is shared by you in passing that can help out the negotiating position of one of the other 24 agents buyers, the other agents in this office are all duty bound to inform their buyer of this information that you have just innocently given away to them for them to use against you with their buyers. The buyer is entitled to any and all legal information that the Buyer’s agent is in possession of that will help the buyer.

 

Do you know that if your agent is scheduled to hold an open house at your property and he or she has a conflict and has another Realtor cover the open house, this fill in agent is not working in your best interest but rather as a facilitator? If an unescorted buyer should come to the open house, fall in love and make an offer through this fill in agent the agent would not be working in your best interest but rather in the buyers best interest. Did you just stand around with this fill in agent for the last two hours and tell them your life’s story and why you need sell? The other agent can and will now use you own words against you and it will most probably cost you money.