Rebecca Austin I was recently asked to appear on a Real Estate radio show hosted by Rebecca Austin, an award winning Broker and President of New Team Realty in Carlsbad, CA and host of “Home Help Radio” KPRZ 1210 AM. Rebecca had a great topic for the show geared towards home sellers. Over the past 10 years my team and I have performed thousands of home inspections. I can tell you that an inspection report filled with items can be very intimidating to the potential buyer. So much so that they often walk away from a house even if the repairs aren’t that expensive. Numerous defects can convey that a house was not well maintained even if they are minor. It is often the quantity of repairs, and not the significance of repairs that cause buyers to “walk”. All home owners would like to think their house is nice. Even perfect. And therefore don’t see the value in a pre-sale inspection. But once you decide that it is time to sell, you have to detach your feelings for the house. You may love the floral wall paper in a guest bathroom, but it is likely that a buyer won’t. Don’t let your feelings get hurt! Having a pre-sale inspection serves a couple of really important purposes. First, it gives you a snapshot of your house as a buyer (or buyer’s home inspector) will see it. This will give you the opportunity to fix many of the small items ahead of time, or disclose some of the items that you aren’t willing to fix. Secondly, it gives the buyers the sense that YOU CARE enough to get the house into good shape before they move in. And perhaps the best reason to get a pre-sale inspection is to give you the opportunity to fix or disclose defects. By doing so you can avoid re-negotiating the price you originally accepted. To help you with some of these repairs we are compiling short videos on our “Maintenance Minute” YouTube Channel. By doing many of these simple repairs yourself, you can save a lot of money. Be sure to check out some of the videos and SUBSCRIBE so you’ll be notified of videos released in the future. Finally, click here to listen to a podcast of the radio show and be sure to tune in to Rebecca’s show regularly. About the author: Philippe Heller is president of The Real Estate Inspection Company which is the largest home inspection company in San Diego County. Their inspectors use state of the art testing equipment like Thermal Imaging cameras at every inspection. Learn more about the company by visiting www.SDinspect.com or calling (760) 203-9682