Selling a house is not like selling a car. It involves many complicated processes, some are unexpected. According to experienced inspectors, there are 8 unexpected factors that can threaten your home sale, clicking on the link to find out.
Pre-Listing inspections are performed prior to listing to discover the existing condition of the home so a seller can:
- focus on what to repair, replace or leave as-is in the sale.
- find out if their suspected material defects are better or worse than anticipated.
- adjust the listing price to reflect the findings of the inspections and true “as is ” condition of the listing
- assist in providing full disclosures of material defects to prospective buyers, ahead of an accepted offer, to mitigate negotiations and avoid the risk of the buyer walking away during their inspection contingency period.
- If a buyer walks away, the listing will have lost its initial desirability to other buyers. The seller is then obligated to disclose the previous buyer’s findings to the next buyer
- The major source of real estate litigation involves failure by the seller to disclose some property defect in California.
Home inspection is a vital part of the selling process. Having a licensed inspector go through your home helps the buyer understand what they’re getting into.
While historically the buyer would hire their own inspector to vet the house of interest, recently more and more sellers have decided to hire their own inspector. This isn’t to deceive the buyer as to the house’s true condition, but to make it a much easier process for the buyer.
Of course, this means that the work is on the seller’s side, which means that they need to be informed on what an inspector is looking for.
An inspector is looking to assess the structural integrity and lifespan of various objects in your house. To accomplish this, they’ll need access to all the nooks and crannies of the house: in the attic, by the fuse box, and at the foundation.
They’ll even inspect the plumbing if possible. Make sure that every area of your house is safe and easily accessible before an inspector comes by.
Some cities require a City Pre-sale Inspection. Check on your city in the early stage of selling to arrange the work to be done timely. City ordinance takes time to clear, do not delay!
Following is a list of cities with a city ordinance in California:
Azusa, Bell, Belvedere, Beverly Hills, Burbank, Canyon Lake, Carpinteria, Carson, Cathedral City, Chico, Compton, Corte Madera, Cudahy, Culver City, Daly City, Del Rey Oaks, , El Monte, El Segundo, Gardena, Hawaiian Garden, Hermosa Beach， Huntington Park, Inglewood, Laguna Beach, Lawndale, Livermore, Lomita, Long Beach, Los Angles City, Lynwood, Manhattan Beach, Marina, Maywood, Monterey, Newport Beach, Orange, Oxnard, Palm Springs, Palos Verdes Estates, Pasadena, Piedmont, Port Hueneme, Rancho Palos Verdes, Redondo Beach, Rolling Hills Estates, Ross, Salinas, San Diego, San Fernando, San Francisco, San Marino, Santa Monica, San Pablo, Sand City, Sausalito, Seaside, Signal Hill, South Gate, Thousand Oaks, Torrance, Ventura.
If your property happened to located within their boundaries in one of these cities, contact the city’s Building & Safety Department for specific requirements and fee, check with the local agency to get detail information and follow the steps required for the sale or transfer of property.
If your city is not one of them, it’s recommended to inquire an updated information from your city for the current status of the ordinance. Things change from time to time.