Preparing Your Property for Sale: Begin with a home inspection engineer

If you've been thinking about putting your house on the market but were waiting for the tide to turn from Buyers' Market to Sellers' Market, start getting ready now.

Begin by taking an inventory of your property’s infrastructure, from the basement up to the roof.  If you have lived in your house for several years, or if you are selling your childhood home because mom and/or dad have moved on to something smaller or, sadly, more permanent, one of the best investments you might make as a seller is to retain the services of a licensed, diverse and non-alarmist home inspection engineer knowledgeable about electrical, plumbing and building codes. Hiring a licensed, home inspection engineer will help you address problems with your property that you might not even know exist.                                                                        

Ask your Realtor for some home inspector recommendations and first interview prospects over the phone to establish a comfort level that this is someone who will give you an unvarnished assessment about the current condition of the house you have to sell.  It will cost you about $400 - $700 (depending upon the size of the house).  The return on your investment could be in the thousands of dollars.  Hopefully, it won't cost you thousands of dollars to correct problems that will help you command the highest selling price.  But even if you discover that you should make improvements to upgrade or correct some core problems with the infrastructure, the investment you make in hiring a home inspection engineer and correcting some key problems before listing the property for sale should make future seller/buyer negotiations less stressful and emotional and result in a higher selling price.        

Focusing just on the basement and attic, here are just a few common issues, particularly in older buildings, that I have seen during property inspections:

Basement dampness and mold: A good dehumidifier may be all that you need to get rid of perennial dampness. Any evidence of mold should be handled by a licensed professional who won't just mask the problem but who can provide long-lasting deterrents from the mold returning.  Mold can severely compromise the health of a building's inhabitants so even if you're not thinking of selling, if you suspect or know you have mold, eliminate it for the "health of it"!

Electrical panels: I always hold my breath when a home inspection engineer removes the cover panel from the electric panel housing the circuit breakers or, where they still exist, the fuses.  One manufacturer's product that home inspectors, seemingly universally, always say to replace was manufactured by Federal Pacific. The company went out of business due to lawsuits resulting from fires that were traced back to the company’s faulty products.  Many (not all) of Federal Pacific circuit breakers don't automatically trip (flip to the "off" position) when they become over-heated.  This faulty lack of performance has been attributed to over 2,000 fires.  Many, not all, of the products were wrongfully given Underwriters Laboratory approval.  If your house was built before 1990, it may still have a Federal Pacific brand electrical panel.                                                                                                 

Now, after reading this, you rush to your electrical panel and discover that Federal Pacific was the manufacturer, don't panic.  Call a couple of licensed electricians for to get quotes for replacing these panels if only for your own safety, not just for the next person who owns the property.      

Other electrical issues - While the electrician is there, have him or her check your electrical wiring in general, as well as outlets and switches.  Make sure that the electrician is licensed to do business in the county in which your property is located so that you have someone who knows not just Federal and state codes but also what is required by the local jurisdiction.   One simple fix, for example, is the replacement of outdated two-prong electrical outlets with three-prong grounded electrical outlets.  Also, anywhere there is proximity to water or dampness -- the kitchen, bathroom, laundry rooms, basement, and outdoors to name the obvious locations -- electrical outlets should be Ground-fault Circuit Interrupter (GFCI) outlets. New house or old house, these are required by Federal law because they help prevent accidental electrocution.  A GFCI outlet has a built-in circuit breaker that interrupts the flow of electricity the instant it senses a ground fault or current leak.                                                                                                

There are many other faulty electrical set-ups, such as the use of extension cords that have been over-extended and which can create a variety of hazardous situations.

Asbestos - Asbestos insulation that is intact and not flaking does not pose a health problem, in general.  If there are tears or cracks in the surface these sometimes can be mitigated by coating it with a specially-formulated encapsulation product. Don't do what I did before I knew better: Wrap the pipes in duct tape. This can make a not-so-bad situation worse.  More serious-appearing issues may require having the asbestos removed by a licensed, certified technician.  Asbestos posed not only a threat to your health but to the environment.  Unfortunately, depending upon the extent of the presence of asbestos having it removed could cost thousands of dollars.  Start by having a small sample tested because what may appear to be asbestos may not be asbestos, at all.    

Asbestos is not just found as an insulation wrapping pipes.  If a furnace or boiler is old enough, manufactured before 1980, it may also contain asbestos.  Replacing a boiler just before putting a house on the market may be appreciated by the buyer but your investment may not appreciate. Better to have it inspected and cleaned (on a regular basis) and display this current information by the unit for prospective buyers and their inspectors to see.

Insulation - If you installed rolls of Fiberglas batting insulation in your attic or basement and the metallic foil or Kraft paper covering the fluffy pink or yellow material is exposed to the inside of your house, you may have installed it backwards.  This can be a matter of opinion and, like most everything else online, there are conflicting points of view.  Check to see what the manufacturer advises.  Also, depending upon where the insulation is being installed sometimes the paper or foil backing should be reversed.

Termites and Carpenter Ants - Right up there with asbestos in terms of the fear factor, the presence of termites and carpenter ants is not necessarily an unsolvable problem.  If your basement and attic beams are exposed, you can start by doing a close visual inspection on your own. If you see any moisture or what appears to be rotting wood, probe the wood gently with a pointed tool, such as an awl or screwdriver. If the tool can easily penetrate well beyond the surface without a problem, then you may have a problem. 

Call a licensed pest inspection company to take samples for further testing. You may also need or want to install baited traps around the outside perimeter of your property which will serve as future deterrents.  These traps are not dangerous to humans (including inquisitive small children) or to pets and should be viewed by potential buyers as a preventative measure and not as a property fault.

I have just scratched the surface here. And the scratching may open some building “wounds” that need expert attention.  I know that when I look around the home owned and occupied by my nonagenarian parents, I see or anticipate a range of problems that will be inherited along with the house.  That’s why when the time comes to sell this house I will be recommending to my siblings that we first hire a licensed home inspector engineer to tour the property as part of the preparation process before listing it for sale.  I believe it will be smart investment that will help maximize the selling price on a house that will still likely “need” major updating in the eyes of a new and younger generation of home buyers. 

(Rob Seitz is a New York State licensed Realtor with Stetson Real Estate, Mamaroneck, NY.  He can be reached at rseitz@stetsonrealestate.com; 914-393-6144)