Pre Inspections in a Hot Market
“Offers, if any, will be reviewed Tuesday the 20th”, comments the listing agent.
Okay so you and 8 other people bid on this house just listed on amazing street in Green Lake. What do you do?
Well, offering more money doesn’t necessarily cut it anymore. With the dip in home values over the last roughly 4 years, the appraisers are out in force making sure homes don’t get inflated like before. Of course there are other tricks like a bigger down payment, shorter close, more earnest money. But did you know the most compeling offer is one that waives the inspection. The only thing that trumps this is an all cash offer. But for those you don’t have a lump sum of money hanging around, read on.
Does waiving the inspection mean I don’t get an inspection done? No way. It’s too large of an investment to not! But a pre inspection is the ticket these days.
If you know the seller isn’t looking at offers for a week, go ahead and get it pre inspected by a trusted inspector or contractor. When it’s time to write up an offer, you can waive the inspection since it was inspected before writing an offer instead of after mutual acceptance. This not only saves the seller a lot of potential inspection negotiations (repairs, credits, etc) but it means the seller gets his home sold quicker too. An offer pending an inspection can take up to 10 days or longer. Above all, waiving an inspection contingency makes it clear the buyer is serious about buying the home.
You can expect to pay anywhere betwen $400 to $1,000 (sewer scope, contractor bids if relevant) for a home inspection.
Happy House Hunting!
Besides listing and selling wonderful floating homes on the shores of Lake Union, I sell in my own neighbor - Green Lake, Tangletown, Wallingford. Feel free to contact me for any of your real estate questions!
