House Inspection: Should You Allow It When Selling A Home?

I hear this question pretty often when people come up and ask me for advice

. My answer always sounds something like this: if you are qualified to be a professional home inspector then you're ready to inspect your own home in a professional manner, but if you're not, better hire a professional. When I was a new real estate investor I learned the hard way how to buy and how to sell my home to come out with a profit. Hidden problems cost me a bundle before I figured out that a professional inspection didn't really cost money, it saved me money. So, I hire a home inspector on a regular basis and that way I know what to expect.

Of course when I sell a home I am not the one who is responsible for hiring a home inspector. Every buyer has to make a decision and choose to spend the money for a home inspection or not. Whenever I've known about problems with properties I've sold I marked them on the Seller's Disclosure Statement for everyone to see. If a buyer makes an offer on my home and does not choose to hire a property inspector to discover any possible problems, I am not responsible for his decision. My responsibility is to cooperate with inspectors and provide a complete Seller's Disclosure Statement, but that's the extent of it.

When choose to sell my homes "as is" then the buyer is on notice that there may be potential problems and he accepts the risk. People who make their living remodeling homes are actually looking to buy properties "as is" in order to make improvements and sell a house for more than they paid for it.

You have to make a decision about what type of buyer you prefer to attract. Selling your home "as is" to real estate investors or remodelers means you can potentially avoid a home inspection. Selling to homeowners who are getting a mortgage to buy the home means you will undoubtedly be asked to cooperate with an inspection on behalf of the buyer and his lender. Refusing to allow a home inspection is not wise, it is basically a "red flag" that you have something to hide and so you'll probably lose the buyer anyway.

One time I had a home in the country and a bedroom had been added on, built directly over the septic tank. This was certainly sloppy building in my opinion, but the home had been used this way for many years. So, when I sold it the buyers discovered the septic tank location during their property inspection and we renegotiated the purchase price to accommodate their lender's demand that the septic tank be moved. That property inspection cost me a part of my profit, but the home sold.

by: Leo Kingston

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