Wednesday, April 25, 2007

Thinking of Selling Your Home? You May Need a Point of Sale Inspection


Maybe a new job or a need for a bigger (or smaller) home has you thinking about putting your home up for sale. For some of our communities, a Point of Sale inspection is required. This means, before the Title to your home can transfer to that new buyer, you will need a city inspector to okay the sale and sign off that no repairs are needed. Shaker Heights, Cleveland Heights and Euclid are all areas requiring a Point of Sale. (The Cleveland Heights link is for their general contact numbers; they did not have 'point of sale' info' readily available on the web. But the Euclid and Shaker links take you to some detailed info about point of sales in those communities).

Lakewood has a point of sale inspection on non-owner occupied (rental) properties. One reason to do a point of sale inspection before you list your home? Buyers can feel as comfortable as you can that there won't be any surprises in store for them, or additional expenses, if they exist, will all be described in the inspection report. You can't avoid it so instead of possible unpleasant surprises, an inspection can give you, as a seller, peace of mind. Lakewood also has a fantastic First Time Home Buyer program but the City inspection will be detailed so again, why not get it done ahead of time so you won't have surprises at contract time.

With a lot of homes on the market you can give yourself a competitive advantage by having the inspections completed before the first potential buyer walks in your door. Most of our communities have wonderful old housing stock and these inspections are ways to keep each home in tip top shape, adding value to living in these communities (although there are those who disagree...there was a very thoughtful post by my friend, a Realtor ® in Minneapolis). Regardless of how you feel about them, they exist so we may as well be prepared. What's that phrase: forewarned is forearmed? Hmm, I hope that is correct lol.

The other thing an inspection can do is help you decide when to put your home up for sale. You might decide to get a few things repaired this year and then sell next year, as long as you have the luxury to do so. Peace Out - 3C