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3 Pre-Listing Ideas to Get the Best Price for Your Home

2024-07-17

Thinking of selling your home this year? Long before you start touching up paint or calling a real estate agent, there are a few things you’ll want to do to avoid surprises down the road.

1. Get a termite inspection

Just the word termites can make a homeowner’s skin crawl. Termites can be found in every state in the United States except Alaska. They prefer warmer and more humid climates, such as Florida, Georgia, South and North Carolina, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana and California, and they cause more than $5 billion worth of damage every year in the United States.

There are no federal laws that require termite inspection reports to be provided to buyers before a house is sold, and state requirements vary. In some states, such as California, sales contracts include a contingency requiring an inspection and stipulating that the seller will pay to repair any termite damage.

Termite inspections cost $75 - $120, and the report is good for four months. Ordering a termite inspection before you list your home lets you know what you are obligating yourself to ahead of time so you can plan accordingly. Let’s say, for example, you have an old wood patio cover with dry rot (or live termites) that will cost $2,500 to repair. If this is discovered in a pre-listing inspection, you have the option to just take the patio cover down. If the damage is discovered after you’ve accepted the buyer’s contract, though, you may be obligated to pay for the repair. Another option might be to disclose the damage to the buyer and lower the sales price by the estimated repair amount so they can have the work done at a later date.

Completing the termite inspection before you list your home for sale gives you time to shop around for a good price on repairs and tenting if necessary. As long as the work is done correctly, the termite mitigation company should be able to reinspect and issue a clear report.

Related: How to Negotiate a Home Sale

2. Get the roof inspected

If you’re not sure of your roof's age or condition, it’s a good idea to have a professional roofer inspect it to ensure it’s functioning properly and alert you to areas in need of repair or replacement.

Physical roofing inspections cost about $250, and drone or infrared inspections can cost slightly more. The roofing inspector will check every component of your roof, including its structural support and the stability of the roofing material, and look for signs of damage throughout the ceiling and walls.

The structural inspection checks for any signs of a sagging roof based on how the roof planes are laid out. While the inspector is on the roof, he or she will also look at the condition of your soffit (an exposed surface beneath the hanging section of a roof eave), fascia (a vertical finishing edge connected to the area where the gutter attaches to the roof), and gutters. They also check around skylights, chimneys, or vents for any signs of damage.

For the material inspection, the inspector will examine the roofing materials — including shingles, metal plates, clay, or even slate shingles — for damage, missing materials, or staining. They will also inspect the flashing underneath the roofing material for leaks, cracks or pests.

During the interior inspection, the inspector will look for signs of damage to the roof that isn’t visible from the outside, such as water stains on ceilings or walls or dry rot.

Once the roof inspection is complete, the inspector should present you with a full report of their findings. They can often share photos of what they’ve seen (which is far preferable to going up on the roof yourself).

3. Hire a home inspector

Most buyers will require a home inspection as part of their contract to alert them to potential problems. If a major repair is needed, it can delay your sale for weeks and cost you thousands. In fact, home inspection issues were responsible for 6% of delayed contracts in April 2024.

A pre-listing home inspection costs about $350 and can help keep your sale on track. These inspections are “slice in time” evaluations by a certified professional who looks for signs of past damage and will suggest systems or situations that can pose a problem in a year or two (if they aren’t apparent now). The inspector issues a written report with pictures of anything they noticed that would require a closer look.

As a seller, you may choose to make the repairs or lower your sales price to compensate the borrower for having to pay for the repair. For example, if the inspection reveals a major foundation crack that will cost $4,000 to repair, you could complete the repair or offer buyers a $4,000 repair credit at closing.

Plus, if you’ve conducted a pre-listing home inspection, you can market the home as “pre-inspected” and provide buyers with the inspection report along with any relevant repair invoices. This documentation should give them the confidence that there won’t be any surprise repair costs down the line.

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