Do You Get Your Own Inspection Before Listing a Flip?

Question

I never really thought about this until recently. You finish the rehab, the contractor says everything is good, you do the final walkthrough and put it on the market. Then the buyer’s inspector shows up and somehow finds 15 things nobody noticed. Now you’re negotiating credits on work you probably could’ve fixed for a fraction of the cost beforehand. For people doing flips regularly, do you actually pay for your own inspection before listing? Or do you trust your GC and punch list and just deal with whatever the buyer finds?

James J. Rezendes II · Answer

Your GC is focused on his scope, not what a buyer's inspector will find. When you skip it, the buyer's inspector becomes your project manager—and you're negotiating credits on work you could've fixed for a fraction of the cost beforehand. That is my 2 cents

Pay for the inspection every time. It costs $400–600 and saves you thousands in negotiation leverage later.

Your GC is focused on his scope, not what a buyer's inspector will find. When you skip it, the buyer's inspector becomes your project manager—and you're negotiating credits on work you could've fixed for a fraction of the cost beforehand.

Control the narrative, not the other way around.

Henry Lazerow · Answer

Buyers will always find 15 things to fix lol. Even if you fix 15 things, it will just be 15 new things as reasons to ask for a credit. Right or wrong any good realtor knows how to play this game for their clients best interest. We always ask credits off how much think can negotiate not how bad a house is or isn't.

Jules Aton · Answer

No. If the inspector finds legit things the contractor should have done I would get in touch and have the issues corrected.

Troy DeLong · Answer

@Ali KalaeiI would pay your contractor on-site an extra $100 to do a thorough "inspection" of the house when the scope of work is almost done.

1) They're more than likely just as competent (if not more) as an Inspector. 2) It'll be cheaper. 3) They'll be somewhat incentivized to add more work to their scope.

That being said, we have had some of our purchases (under contract FLIPS) inspected by an actual Inspector and that was super helpful because then we had "justification" (a physical report) to ask for concessions / lower price on a purchase.

Keep in mind. A Buyer's inspector is ALWAYS going to find things that you aren't aware of. Never in my life have I seen an inspector say, "Wow. This house is perfect. No issues. You're good to go Mr. & Mrs. Buyer". Never. That being said, you can get rid of 80% of the problems if you do your own inspection before listing.

- Troy

Alan F. · Answer

Nothing wrong with getting an inspection, another set of eyes, adds validity. I typically don't because we have very heavy permitting & AHJ inspections plus ab968 compliancy

Doug Smith · Answer

We do. It helps to find what items we need to correct to clear a 4-point and it also helps when a buyer's inspector comes back with something silly. We have something to fall back on. I don't even mind giving it to the buyer. I consider it part of doing business.

Garrett Brown · Answer

100% would get a 3rd-party inspection if it has been a major reno and rehab. This will allow the GC to fix any big things before it becomes a more costly negotiation. It also gives you some insight into how quality the GC actually is.

Do You Get Your Own Inspection Before Listing a Flip?

Do You Get Your Own Inspection Before Listing a Flip?

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