Eldon Holliday

Okay, so maybe the pre-listing home inspection posts are starting to near the beating a dead horse stage, but here's one more. If anyone out there has a valid reason why a seller should not have their home inspected before putting it on the market please let me know. Here in the Memphis area the market is not as bad as many areas. However, homes are taking longer to sell and prices are being forced down. I want to cite an example of a home in Olive Branch, Mississippi that I inspected recently where I believe a home inspection done before listing would have more than paid for itself. The home sellers had already purchased another home and obviously were anxious to move. After almost five months on the market and a couple of price reductions they got an offer contengent on a home inspection. This is a very nice house but the inspection revealed a few torn shingles on the roof. Okay now it's five days before closing and they had to negotiate roof repairs on a house that had already been priced at the break even point. Now the buyers want a lower price, the sellers can't afford to give up anything else and the agents stand to lose a commission. Having an inspection done before listing and needed repairs corrected or at least disclosed beforehand could have avoided this situation. So now what was that one good reason.