How to use it. Work through this four to six weeks before you intend to list, so there is time to get real contractor bids on anything material.
The five phases
- 1. Pre-list inspection — before the sign goes up
- You get inspected before you list, so the findings belong to you instead of to a buyer holding leverage in day nine of an inspection period. This single step changes the negotiating posture of the entire transaction.
- 2. Repairs triaged by return, not by anxiety
- Not everything found needs fixing. Some items are worth repairing, some are worth disclosing and pricing, and some are worth neither. The list gets sorted by what actually moves the number.
- 3. Price from screened comparables
- Same discipline as the buy side. Outliers excluded with stated reasons. You see the working, not just the recommendation.
- 4. Prepare, photograph, launch once
- A listing gets one strong first week of search placement. We do not launch until the house, the photography, and the copy are all ready to use it.
- 5. One variable at a time after launch
- Showing-to-offer conversion measured over a defined interval. One input changed per interval. The cause of any change stays knowable.
Triage: fix, disclose, or leave
A pre-list inspection produces a list. Fixing the entire list is expensive and usually pointless.
- Fix it
- When the repair costs meaningfully less than the discount a buyer will demand for it. Usually true of anything that sounds alarming and is actually cheap — sewer laterals, panels, roof penetrations.
- Disclose and price it
- When the repair is genuinely expensive and buyers will have their own preferences anyway. Kitchens, flooring, full HVAC replacement.
- Do neither
- Cosmetic, disclosed, and affecting nobody’s decision. A list of resolved trivia is not what sells a house.
One thing to raise with your attorney
- Disclosure obligations
- In Arizona you must disclose known material facts regardless, and the Residential Seller Disclosure Statement is not optional. A pre-list inspection changes what you know and when — it does not create an obligation that was not already there. Where exactly that line sits is a question for your attorney, not your agent.
Sharon Smith · REALTOR® · Keller Williams Realty Sonoran Living · AZ Lic. SA722108000 · (262) 903-0876 · sharonsmithaz.com
General information, not legal, tax, or engineering advice. Inspection costs are typical ranges, not quotes.
Thinking about listing?
I will walk your house before you spend anything, and tell you which of these are worth doing on your specific property. No listing presentation attached.