Whether it’s your first or fifth time, buying a house can be an exciting, overwhelming, and nerve wracking experience. Here’s part of the reason why: just when you find the home of your dreams, all those dreams can go up in smoke with a failed home inspection.

That’s why – buyer or seller – we urge you to follow these simple tips to help bring the buying or selling process to a smooth and successful conclusion.

For Sellers

• Help ensure a smooth sale by having a home inspection before you list your home. This allows you not only to make repairs in a timely fashion and set a realistic listing price based on any repairs that you may choose to leave to the buyer’s discretion.

• Clean your home as you would before entertaining royalty. All too often, buyers show up at a listed property for a showing or inspection only to find the home a total mess which, in turn, can sour their experience and make them fall a little bit out of love.

• Make all areas of your home accessible to the prospective buyers. If you have a detached garage, leave the keys or garage door opener in a pre-determined and pre-communicated location. If the entrance to the attic is in a closet, move your belongings out of the way. And if you have cats or dogs, crate them – or better yet, remove them from your home during the inspection. That way there is no fear of them running out as the inspector goes in and out of the house.

For Buyers

• Take the time to be at your home inspection, but try to leave the kids with a sitter or family member. The fewer the distractions for the home inspector, the better.

• Understand that every home will have problems, even those newly constructed. Luckily, pretty much all such problems are fixable. The question is whether you want to be the one to fix it.

• You can always ask the seller to correct things that you deem to be problematic, but in most cases, they’re not obligated to do so. If they say “no” to any of your requests, then you need to decide how badly you want the home.

• Once you get the full report, read every bit of it, not just the summary.

Here’s a tip for you sellers. Never under-estimate the value of low energy bills for today’s home buyers. And since home heating and cooling costs typically account for about 60% of your electricity bill, to say nothing of related home energy costs, your home will definitely be more sale worthy if you have your heating and cooling systems professionally cleaned and inspected prior to the home inspection. For outstanding service with results you can depend on, contact Absolute Air today.