Albuquerque Real Estate - to pre-inspect or not

I was recently given advice to have listings pre-inspected before they hit the Albuquerque MLS which, at first, was a foreign idea. Several questions went through my mind like "But the buyer is suppose to pick the inspector. That would be a waste of my seller's money" or "Buyers will think that we are bullying them into using our inspector." All legit reasons, right?

Then it was explained to me that a seller, by knowing what is really going on with their home, can take alot of the post-inspection negotiations out of the buyers hand. In other words, a seller by knowing that the electrical panel needs to be replaced (for example), can prepare for that way ahead of time and not have to make a quick decision or come down on price. The buyer is less likely to back that seller in a corner and they can head the problem off at the pass.

Now, here is one catch that I found with that whole scenario. If the inspection is given to the to the buyers before an offer is made, a buyer can sit down, read the inspection, then say they want the electrical panel replaced and still allow a separate amount for a repair allowance. If the inspection was done after the offer was made, the the repairs could be negotiated out of the repair allowance, not as a separate cost to the seller.

Now, if its a big item like a faulty electrical panel or a bad sewer line, chances are the seller is going to have to replace that item any way. These are just a few thoughts on the whole "pre-inspection" concept for Albuquerque Real Estate.

by Tim Fish