If you are planning on listing your home for sale, you may want to skip having a home inspection performed until after the home has sold. However, it is recommended that you have a pre-listing inspection performed for numerous reasons. There are actually several benefits to this particular part of a real estate transaction. Here are three of them.

Benefit #1: Uncover Potential Issues with the Home

When you have a home inspection done prior to listing your home for sale, you will get a bigger picture of what is good (and no so great) with your home. Any potential issues that a buyer could find with your home will be uncovered now, which will allow you to repair the issues before listing the home. Alternatively, you could simply ensure that prospective buyers are fully aware of the issues prior to making an offer on the home. In either case, this point brings up the next benefit.

Benefit #2: Save Time and Money

A pre-listing home inspection saves you (the seller) time and money. While it is true that these home inspections will typically cost the same as a home inspection after an offer has come in, this type of inspection offers more value to you as a seller. For example, a standard inspection gives you mere days (maybe a week or two) to repair any issues with the home before a buyer's offer may be revoked. However, with the pre-listing inspection, you have as much time as necessary to repair the issues before you put the home on the market. There is no time constraint on your end. You will also be able to offer your buyers full disclosure on your home's condition, which will reduce the chance of buyers asking for a reduced sale price, and also leads to the third benefit.

Benefit #3: Enhanced Marketability

In today's day and age, transparency is very important in the real estate market. Buyers are looking for trusted sellers, and a pre-listing inspection can assist with this aspect of the process. With this information available, your home could appear more attractive to potential buyers. As a result, you could sell your house fast and possibly even get a better offer.

If you are interested in listing your home for sale, talk to a real estate agent in your area. He or she can provide you more guidance on pre-listing home inspections and how to prepare your home for the market.