pexels photo 1288482 1

Five Tips To Sell Your Home

/0 Comments/in /by

In Tampa, the real estate market claims it’s a “sellers market”. If that’s true, then now is the time to sell your home! Here are five tips to give you the edge and close the deal.

New paint goes a long way

Not everyone loves bright colors. In fact, if you’re selling your home, go ahead and paint the walls a neutral color. Whether you like it or not is not important. Buyer’s can envision themselves in your home more easily when the paint color is neutral. Neutral colors also make your home look bigger. So don’t worry about whether you like the colors or not, go ahead and throw on a fresh coat.

Create curb appeal

Stand out from the competition with great curb appeal. You don’t have to spend a lot of money in landscaping. Sometimes just getting a good lawn cut, weed the edges, and plating a few flowers is all you need. Don’t forget about your front door. Does that need a coat of paint too?

Be flexible about your timing

Buyers who purchase in the fall intend to spend the holidays in their new home. Don’t insist on staying for one last Christmas with the family. If you’re buyers want to move in, be as flexible as you can be, within reason. Expect the buyer to want you out sooner than later and plan for it.

Offer incentives to buyers

Getting a pre-listing home inspection can be a huge incentive for buyers. A pre-listing home inspection can save a buyer hundreds of dollars in out-of-pocket money. Buyers will also appreciate your transparency. Be sure you hire a credible home inspector who will create a thorough inspection report.

Don’t overprice your home

The second a seller hears it’s a “sellers market” they think it’s an opportunity to hike up the price of their home. The fall real estate season is only 10 to 12 weeks. If you hike up the price of your home and are unable to sell, you will have to wait until after the holidays before you see much traction again.

If you’re interested in getting a pre-listing inspection you can count on Divinity Inspection Service. We are a credible and reliable home inspection company. We create thorough home inspection reports that can be transferred to your buyer and we keep the report on record for a year. Schedule your home inspection now.

If A Seller Already Had A Home Inspection Completed, Do You Still Need One?

/0 Comments/in /by

As you shop for a home you may come across a seller who has already had a home inspection completed. This could be a big benefit for you as a possibility to save money by not needing to pay for a home inspection. However, before you get too excited, here’s what you will want to look for first before deciding you don’t need to get your own home inspection.

When was the home inspection completed?

For a house that has been sitting on the market for a while, a seller may use a completed home inspection as motivation for buyers. One less thing a buyer has to pay for! Which sounds great, but you want to make sure the home inspection was done recently. Any home inspection report older than 90 days would not be as reliable. In fact, the most ideal report would have completed within 30 days.

Who was the home inspection completed by?

If you are not familiar with a home inspection report then you may not know what to look for. There are two things you need to do if you would like to depend on the home inspection report offered by the seller. First, find out who the home inspector or company was and give them a call. Do your due diligence to make sure they are a credible resource and a dependable, insured company. Second, ask the home inspector if they would review the home inspection report with you. They should be able to talk you through their findings and educate you about the house, including any concerns.

What is the home inspector’s policy?

Some home inspectors are not willing to honor the report if you did not order and pay for it yourself. In this case, any findings or claims can be made by the homeowner only (the seller) and not the buyers. This does you absolutely no good if you run into an issue with the house, especially if it’s an issue with something expensive. Plumbing, electrical, or the roof is just examples of very important areas that need to be inspected thoroughly. If the report claims everything is find and you find out something is wrong you may have a hard time holding the inspector responsible.

Ask your agent for their opinion

Your agent is seasoned and familiar. Ask them for their opinion! They can advise you on whether they think it’s a good idea to use the inspection report provided or order your own. Your agent will consider factors such as the seller’s history, age of the house, and other things you may not know to consider. Always use the resources you have around you when you can.

Divinity Inspection Services offers pre-listing home inspections. These inspections are specifically for a seller that wants to know more about their home before they sell it and also want to use the report as an incentive for buyers. A pre-listing inspection can also give the seller a heads up on anything that needs to be fix that might hinder a sale before they put their house on the market. Learn more schedule your home inspection now!

pexels photo 846980 2

Get Your Home Hurricane Ready: Prepare Before You Have To

/0 Comments/in /by

We are in the peak of hurricane season again and it sure is an active one. Every year we write a blog about getting hurricane ready and yet last year our shelves ran out of stock when a hurricane came our way. Few people truly keep their household prepared for a hurricane, which means most of us end up with the rest – racing to the store desperately trying to get ready. We know most hurricanes don’t come our way but either way, don’t wait until you have to be prepared to get prepared.

Start with the un-perishables

Start your preparations by stocking up on items that won’t perish. Canned goods, water, batteries, flashlights, candles, and matches. You can also stock up on detergent you can use without a washing machine, bars of soap and medical supplies. You will need an emergency medical kit on hand with your basic medical materials.

Get your house ready

The next item on the list is your home. If you have hurricane shutters, make sure they function the way they are supposed to. clean out your gutters, patch any exterior flaws around the home and make sure the road drains are working. If you are in a flood zone you should have an evacuation plan in place, even if it is to get out of your neighborhood. While you can protect your home from flooding, you won’t want to be there and become an emergency situation.

Make a list of everything in your home

A picture is as good as a receipt for an insurance company. Make a list of all your belongings and take pictures of every room. Keep these pictures and your list with all your important documents. And speaking of documents, you will want to put anything important into a water-proof location. You can buy a small house safe which is easy to find and not too expensive.

If you are really worried about your home you can also have an appraisal done. A current appraisal will ensure you get the most out of your insurance if you need to call on them to make repairs or rebuild. A pre-listing inspection is another way to document issues in your home that can be identified before the storm and prove issues that happened as a result of the storm. You can easily schedule any property inspection directly online with Divinity Inspection Services.

pexels photo 872957 1

What To Expect When You’re Closing On A House

/0 Comments/in /by

Closing on a house is one of the more tedious steps in the home buying process, even more so for a first time homebuyer. However, if you know what to expect and manage your expectations you will have a better experience. I’m sure your mortgage loan office or your real estate agent has told you what to expect when you’re closing on your home. But I thought a view from a home inspector might shed a unique light that you could benefit from.

The Home Inspection Process

Your home inspection is one of the bigger obstacles you will overcome to get to your closing. While many argue that a home inspection can make or break a deal, I encourage not to look at it that way. As your home inspector, our goal is to educate you as much as we can about your home before you buy it. The last thing you want to do is find a major repair that you have to address soon after you’ve spent all that money buying the house. And that’s what we want to avoid too. So, we will point out a bunch of little things. In fact, we’ll point out as much little things as we can because we just want to cover everything. But more importantly, we’ll point out any major concerns or issues that we find. How you address them with the seller is completely up to you.

The Closing Documents

I won’t bore you by talking about or breaking down your closing documents. Instead, I will warn you of all the documents you should be prepared to gather. Closing is a term used for the day you sign on your house. Essentially, you “close” on the home and it’s yours. However, the process itself starts much earlier. You’ll be asked to pull many documents from all over the place. If you have a good mortgage loan officer, they will provide you with a list of documents the lender will need way ahead of time. Hopefully, you’ll have more than enough time to get everything together. Because the more prepared you are, the faster you can close.

All The Signing

The statement “You’ll sign your life away” comes from this specific day. Unlike borrowing money for just about any other loan, this one in particular requires many, many signatures. So, on your actual day of closing, you’ll sit down with the title officer. Sometimes your real estate agent or mortgage officer will join you to help walk you through all the paperwork and answer any questions you might have. And as they walk you through what you’re signing, you just keep signing. And signing. And signing. And finally, when they have all the signatures they need and verify your deposit, notarize the documents, file them, etc. then you’re finally done! And you should walk out of there with the keys.

If you’ve purchased a house before then this information may seem mundane. But think back to the very first home you purchased. Did you know to this level of detail what would be happening? Do you wish you did? Sometimes having more detail can help turn down the anxiety that naturally comes with buying a home. So can having a great home inspector!

pexels photo 323780 1

Who’s On Your Team When You’re Buying A House For The First Time?

/0 Comments/in /by

Buying a house for the first time can seem like a daunting process. And if you don’t think so, just wait for everyone to tell you so. However, the closing process always seems to be the most trivial part of the entire journey. Even after your real estate agent or mortgage officer warns you on what to expect, it still might seem confusing. Here are some tips and information to help clear up those muddy waters.

Choose Your Team Carefully

Before we even get into the details of what to expect when you’re closing, let’s first talk about your team. Your team will include your real estate agent, your mortgage office, your home inspector, and sometimes your title agent. I say sometimes because most times the seller chooses the title company and you have no say, but ideally they act like their on your team too.

Your Mortgage Officer

You may not realize how important these people are until you’re knee-deep in the process. If your mortgage officer does their job right, you’ll know ahead of time what documents and information you’ll need to have on hand. Not just when the lending company needs it, but much further in advance. You will have to search for, pull, print, save, etc. all the various documents, which takes time. And life goes on, which means you don’t always have a lot of time. A good mortgage office will give you all this information as soon as she can so you can have as much time as possible getting it all together.

Your Real Estate Agent

Your real estate agent isn’t just the person showing you the houses. This is the person walking you through every piece of document you sign from beginning to end. The real estate agent sets the expectations and highly impacts your experience. You need someone you know, like, and trust on your team so choose wisely.

Your Home Inspector

Lastly, your home inspector is also on your team. Some will definitely want to argue this point. Some will say the home inspector is on the seller’s team to get the house sold. Some will say their on your team to find issues with the house before you buy it. Some will say the home inspector is just there to kill the deal. The truth is, the home inspector really is on your team. At least a good one will be. The goal is to give you as much information as possible about your home before you buy it. This includes the good, the bad, and the ugly. But in the end, a good home inspector will leave you feeling confident about your knowledge in the home you want to purchase as they walk you through their findings.

You would be hard-pressed to find a home inspector whose work actually reflects these notions. However, here at Divinity Inspection Services, we believe our customer feedback speaks for itself. Our five-star reviews on Google say more than we ever could, so make sure you take a look!