Real estate pros say having an inspection before listing the house can help calm nerves and save deals by providing the chance to address repairs long before a sale.
CHICAGO – Real estate professionals are reporting a rise in home buyers getting cold feet before closing. A common culprit? A negative home inspection report.
Melissa Bailey, a real estate pro with the Jason Mitchell Group in Scottsdale, Ariz., recently had a listing fall out of contract four separate times. “The first buyer had a home inspection and did not even provide us an opportunity to repair anything but just canceled right away,” Bailey says. She’s finding that “if there’s any inkling that a house needs repairs — even if they’re not major — a buyer will back out.”
The number of canceled contracts has been ticking up in recent months. It’s currently at 6% nationwide, according to the latest Realtor® Confidence Index. Some brokerage reports suggest even higher rates, with recent data from Redfin showing nearly 15% of homes under contract falling through in May, the highest cancellation rate ever recorded by Redfin for the month of May.