When you plan to sell your home in San Francisco, a home inspection is going to be a part of the process. It’s actually a pretty good idea to have an inspection done before you list your home for sale. This will allow you to make repairs before a buyer orders their own home inspection.
Regardless, you want to know how to prepare for a home inspection in San Francisco. Here are a few tips to help you get ready.
Top 7 Tips for Sellers to Prepare for a Home Inspection
Be Forthright
It won’t do you any good to hide any known issues with your home. Since you will have to disclose any defects, anyway, it’s best to be forthright when getting a home inspection. If you do try to hide something, it can lead to serious legal issues.
A home inspector may take all the disclosures you provide into account when doing the full analysis of the home. Be honest and make sure you have provided all the necessary disclosures.
Leave the Home
Your home inspection will likely take about two to three hours to complete. It’s not uncommon for the potential buyer of your home to be present, which means it’s likely best for you to leave the home. You might have your real estate agent attend the inspection, however.
Remove Pets
You want to remove all pets from the home when an inspection is done. If this isn’t possible, make sure they are crated and secured so the inspector can work without worry.
Declutter and Clean
You will likely do some decluttering and cleaning before you list your home for sale, but make sure it’s done before a home inspection. Remove personal items, store extra furniture, and make sure access to the attic and sub-area crawlspaces aren’t blocked.
It’s also a good idea to remove anything that might block other areas the home inspector needs access to, like around the perimeter of the garage walls. Your real estate agent can help you figure out what to remove and how to declutter.
Replace Light Bulbs
An inspector needs to be able to see around your home. It can be helpful if you replace any dead light bulbs before an inspection. You might also want to remove low-wattage bulbs and replace them with brighter ones. Your real estate agent might advise you to do this, anyway, to make the home look and feel brighter.
Fix Known Issues
If you want to eliminate some of the negotiating cards a buyer gains from a home inspection, fix known issues before you have an inspection done. This might include loose fixtures, leaky plumbing, peeling paint, roof issues, HVAC issues, and other repairs.
Anything you can repair before you have a home inspection done will eliminate something that could show up on the report.
Make Sure Safety Hazards are Handled
Since you will have an inspector, likely the buyer of the home, and potentially a couple of real estate agents at your property during the inspection, you need to handle any safety hazards. One of the most common issues is a lack of proper GFCI protection. This is usually present in older homes and should be dealt with before an inspection, if possible.
It’s also a good idea to have new smoke and carbon monoxide detectors installed. You should remove any tripping hazards, as well. Anything that could pose a risk to the inspector or anybody else, should be handled before you have an inspection done.
There are many things to do before you get your home inspected as a seller. It’s best to have a pre-listing inspection done so that you are better prepared after accepting an offer on your home in San Francisco.
