When you are selling a home, if a potential buyer requests a pest and building inspection and the result of that inspection is poor, it can derail the sales campaign. The same applies for vendor’s selling an apartment or townhouse that receive an unexpected yet negative strata report.
Genuine issues that arise mid sales campaign which neither the seller, buyer or agent expected can be damaging. The buyer can think crucial information has been withheld and the seller can feel as though the buyer is using a tactic to lower the price. Before selling your home, it’s best to get due diligence reports done prior to listing on the open market.
This will ensure that buyers cannot bluff you with a bogus issue mid-campaign. Conversely, if there is an issue that requires attention, you can rectify it prior to going on the market. Buyers are understandably hyper-cautious prior to making a purchase. They are committing a large percentage of their wealth to one transaction. Plus they have no doubt heard one too many real estate horror stories. Unconsciously, some buyers will often double the bad news and halve the good news.
A poor pest and building inspection can cause the buyer to reduce their offer or even crash the sale entirely.
Depending on what the exact issues are will depend on whether it’s commercially best to address the issue or simply disclose them to buyers. This point is one of the major benefits in the property seller doing due diligence in advance of the campaign.
Even if you choose not to rectify the issues, at least you are aware of them. The best way to handle defects is full disclosure to the buyer. If you allow buyers to discover negatives of their own accord, caution and distrust in the buyer can build.
The law may state ‘Caveat emptor, buyer beware’ but decency suggests ‘ these are the issues you should consider…’ it’s a savvier approach.
Full disclosure builds trust between the seller, buyer and agent. It also avoids messy re-negotiations as the buyer will ultimately discover the negatives if you attempt to hide them.
Most buyers can accept negative issues about a property and factor it into their offer accordingly. If there is the slightest suggestion that issues have been withheld or smothered, most buyers will simply (rightly) withdraw from negotiations or over play the extent of the issues.