Preparing for a Honolulu Home Inspection

When it comes time to accept an offer on your Honolulu house, home sellers rightfully find themselves excited. While accepting an offer is a big milestone in keeping the closing process moving forward, home sellers need to keep in mind that the house is not ‘sold’ until all the papers are signed at closing, payment has been received and the keys have been handed over.

Even though you have reached this point, there are still several factors that could impact the success of your sale. Included among these is the Honolulu home inspection contingency.

Most Honolulu home buyers will need a mortgage when buying a house. As a result, the lender is going to require that they have a home inspection performed. But even if a buyer is paying cash, they might choose to have a home inspection contingency anyway.

If the inspection turns up anything that the buyer wasn’t aware of, it gives the buyer the option to back out of the deal without losing their earnest money deposit. This means that as home sellers, it’s your job to prepare for the Honolulu home inspection. And this is where you want to start:

Put Your House in Order

While Honolulu home inspectors are not passing judgement on how clean a house is, an orderly house always looks better than a dirty one. By preparing your house prior to the inspection, cleaning from top to bottom, home sellers put their house in a position where it looks newer and in better condition.

Keep in mind that decluttering the spaces in your house also makes it easier for the inspector to check the areas that they need access to. Having to navigate through a maze in your basement just to check out the water heater is not ideal. Make it as easy as possible.

Get Your Paperwork in Order

To help streamline and simplify the Honolulu home inspection process, it is helpful to have all the documentation for when things were completed in your house accounted for. Inspectors are going to look at the condition of the home and the HVAC system, and the age of both of these are going to make a difference.

Fix What You Can Fix

If Honolulu home sellers know that there is a problem area that can be fixed, it can be worthwhile to do so before the inspection. The reasoning is simple: once the inspector reports on these areas, there is a good chance that the buyer is going to either ask you to repair it or drop the price they are willing to pay on the house. Fixing the issue beforehand can prevent headaches down the road.

Create Access

A Honolulu home inspection is a thorough process. Home sellers want to ensure that the inspector is able to do a thorough inspection so the buyer feels comfortable that everything was looked at.

For example, if you have a crawl space that is accessed via a small opening in the wall, home sellers will want to have this area open prior to the inspector coming to your Honolulu house. Also, since the home sellers will most likely not be at the inspection, make sure any gates and doors that the inspector will need to open are unlocked.

Home sellers need to keep in mind that the Honolulu home inspection is a report about the condition of your house, not you.  By being proactive in your repairs, along with being willing to work with the buyer afterwards, home sellers will be signing that paperwork in no time.