TINA HADDOCK

REALTOR®

Your Hometown Real Estate Agent

Looking to buy or sell? I have the information you need to have a great experience!

My goal is to guide you in the best direction but also educate you along the way!

Click the guide below to receive more information

Inspections

The Benefits of Pre-Listing Inspections

When and why should you consider having inspections done prior to listing your home on the market? In our area, it is customary for the buyer to pay for inspections. However, there are several advantages for a seller to conduct these inspections before going active. While it’s not always recommended, here are a few reasons why pre-listing inspections can be beneficial, potentially saving you time and money!

Awareness of Property Condition

As a seller, you want to be fully aware of the condition of your property to avoid any unexpected costs. For example, termite inspections can sometimes reveal damage exceeding $50,000. Imagine receiving a termite bill for $50,000, and the buyer will only purchase the home if it's fixed or paid for. This could be a major problem, especially if you’ve already bought another home and need that $50,000 to qualify for your next mortgage.

Avoiding Major Surprises

Consider another scenario where the home you're selling needs a new roof or air conditioning unit. With pre-listing inspections, you could choose to sell the home "as is" and disclose the issues, not sell at all, or address the repairs before listing. The main idea behind conducting inspections before listing is to prevent any unexpected surprises that could financially harm you later.

Recommended Inspections

The inspections we recommend are the standard, customary inspections that a buyer would typically perform. These include:

• Home Inspection
• Roof Inspection
• Termite Inspection
• Well and Septic Inspection (if applicable)

Financial Assurance

In most cases, you have the option to pay for these inspections upfront or at the close of escrow. This helps provide the seller with more assurance that they will net the expected amount from the sale of their home. By being proactive, you can address any necessary repairs or disclose issues upfront, making the transaction smoother and more transparent for both parties.

Conclusion

Conducting pre-listing inspections can provide peace of mind and financial assurance, helping to ensure a smoother transaction. If you’re considering selling your home and want to avoid any unexpected costs, pre-listing inspections can be a wise investment.

Timelines

Timelines Before Listing a home

So, a questions that I often get asked by people is "Where do I start when selling my home?"

Well, we need to get the home ready for sale. You really need to be careful not to just slap the home on the MLS prior to having it in show ready condition. So, after we meet and you decide to list with me, I will give you a contract to sign. Once we have an executed contract, let's get busy cleaning and packing all the things that are not necessary for everyday living.

Once your home is in show ready condition, then we will schedule our professional photographer and videographer to capitalize on all of the unique features of the home. Once we have the pictures and all the videos, we will then work on all of the back end digital marketing so we can expose your home to the max. This is one of the most important parts of getting you the most amount of money on your home. We don’t just put up a sign and put it on the MLS, it’s much more detailed than that. We have a very strategic, comprehensive, digital marketing strategy that we utilize that is like no other. This involves running highly targeted ad campaigns across multiple social media platforms. Please know, by just posting your home on a Facebook Page or on a Business Page, only about 3% of people are actually seeing it. So we properly expose your home across multiple social media platforms.

During this time we also talk about whether you should have any inspections done prior to going onto MLS. We also go over all the disclosures with you so we have these available for buyer to actually look at so they are fully aware of the condition of the home prior to making an offer. Don’t forget, we go onto all the major sites like Zillow, Realtor.com, you name it we’re there. And we’ve enhanced these sites to get optimum performance. Now that we’re live, you can actually expect agents to be calling you to take their clients through the home so they can see it. The buyers agent will accompany them so don’t worry about that. Depending on the time of year and the market conditions, that will determine how long it will take for your home to sell.

Curb Appeal

I know selling homes is second nature to me as I have been doing it for quite a while now. I get "nervous nelly" sellers all the time and of course they should be, as it is a really big deal when you sell. Well, let’s talk about curb appeal.

We all have heard about that first impression and we want to make it a good one! Let's make sure that your home is clean and sparkly by pressure washing the house, sidewalks, patio and driveway. Oh and No cobwebs around the front door! Now let's talk about inside...You will need to defunk the junk! and we all have it! Make 3 piles- Keep, Donate and Trash.

Go ahead and pack up as much as possible for the move. Only leave neccessities. Go into camping mode.

You will thank me if you get a buyer who wants to close in 2 weeks. Plus the less clutter the bigger your house will look. To help make things a little easier I will bring you a check off list to work with.

Oh, 1 more tip: Tackle 1 room at a time, it will help with the overwhelm and you will feel accomplished and it will encourage you to keep going. Also the marketing is essential. Professional photos and video are a must! According to the National Association of Realtors, 67% of buyers will walk through a home that they saw online. So professional photos and video is an absolute must when preparing to sell your home.

Lastly, now that your home is ready for buyers, you must have a showing plan. Buyers and their agents may request a showing of your home at any time without giving you much notice so you have to be prepared.

Until your home is under contract it’s important to be able to leave your home at a moments notice. A few things you can do is plan simpler meals for easy clean up and keep all your toiletries in a basket under the sink. It will make it easy to put away for showings. Also, find a place to put your pets during showings.

These tips will help to get your home sold faster and for the amount of money that you deserve.

For more information on the listing process, watch some of my videos here: 

https://www.youtube.com/@tinahaddockrealtor