How Do I Get Ready for a Home Inspection When I'm Selling?

Get ready for the inspection before your house ever goes on the market. Walk every room the way an inspector will, fix the small things now, and get written bids on anything big, so nothing on the buyer's report surprises you.

Somebody asked me this exact question this week. It is a good question, and most sellers ask it too late. By the time an offer is accepted, the clock is already running.

I am Delia Bayna, a REALTOR with eXp Realty in Salt Lake City, Utah. Here is how I walk my sellers through it.

Once you accept an offer, the buyer hires a home inspector. The inspector walks the whole house and writes a report. The buyer uses that report to ask you for repairs, or for a lower price.

You only get a few days to answer. That is the part that catches people. You are deciding about a furnace or a roof on a deadline, with a buyer waiting, and often while you are also packing.

So the real work happens earlier. If you already know what is in the house, the report is a list you have seen before. If you do not, it is a list of surprises, and surprises cost money in a negotiation.

If you are still deciding when to list, my page on selling a home in Salt Lake City covers the steps that come before this one.

People picture an inspection turning up a cracked foundation. That can happen. But most of what lands on a report is small.

• A dirty furnace filter
• A toilet that rocks
• A dead light bulb, which looks like a broken fixture
• A faucet that drips
• An outlet cover that is cracked or missing

None of those cost much to fix. Together, they tell a buyer the house has not been looked after, and that doubt spreads to everything they cannot see. Small things are cheap to fix now and expensive to argue about later.

I give my sellers a pre-inspection checklist that follows the same order most Utah inspectors use. Here is the short version.

Outside. Look at the roof from the ground or with binoculars. Please do not climb up there. Clean the gutters, and make sure each downspout carries water at least four to six feet from the house. Check that the dirt slopes away from the house on every side, and clean out your window wells.

Water heater. Look for two metal earthquake straps holding the tank to the wall, and a small expansion tank on the pipe above it. Utah inspectors check these every time. I cover the rest of that list in what Utah inspectors check that sellers miss.

Heating and cooling. Put in a new furnace filter and write the date on it. If you had a tune-up this year, set the receipt out.

Inside. Replace every dead bulb. Press test and reset on the outlets by the kitchen counters, in the bathrooms, the garage, and outside. Test the smoke alarms. Look under every sink for drips or stains. Make sure every door latches and every window opens, closes, and locks.

Garage. Lay a board under the garage door and close it. The door should back up when it touches the board.

You do not have to fix everything you find.

The small, cheap things are almost always worth doing. For anything that involves electrical, gas, or the roof, look, but let a licensed pro do the repair, and get a written estimate. A bid in hand lets us decide calmly whether to fix it, offer a credit, or price the house to match.

And anything you find, you may need to disclose. Utah sellers fill out a written disclosure about the property's condition. So before you decide what to do with a problem, talk to me about it. I wrote more about that in can I sell as-is, or do I have to fix it first.

Start about the time you start thinking about listing. That gives you room to schedule a plumber or a furnace tune-up without a buyer waiting on you.

I taught school for eighteen years before real estate, and I still think the best preparation is the kind you do before the test. The inspection is the test. The walk-through is the studying.

If you are downsizing from a house you have lived in for a long time, this step matters even more. Older homes have more small things, and you have stopped seeing them. My downsizing page covers the rest of that move.

When should I start getting ready for a home inspection?

Before your home goes on the market. Once you accept an offer, you have only a few days to respond to the buyer's inspection report, so the time to find and fix things is before listing.

What do home inspectors in Utah look at?

The whole house, usually in order: roof and gutters, outside and grading, electrical, plumbing, the water heater, heating and cooling, the attic, the inside rooms, bathrooms, kitchen appliances that stay, and the garage. Water heater earthquake straps and an expansion tank are checked every time in Utah.

Do I have to fix everything before the inspection?

No. Some repairs are worth doing before you list, some are better handled as a credit to the buyer, and some are fine to leave alone. Anything you know about may need to be disclosed, so talk it through with your agent first.

Is a seller's walk-through the same as a home inspection?

No. A walk-through with a checklist is a prep list. It does not replace a licensed inspector, electrician, plumber, or roofer.

This article is general information, not legal advice or a home inspection. Use licensed professionals for electrical, gas, plumbing, and roofing work.