Due Diligence and Inspections

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Due Dilligence and Inspections

Alice Lema: [00:00:00] Well, hey, real estate fans. Alice Lima, here, broker John L Scott in beautiful Southern Oregon, another podcast. And today we're gonna talk about inspections, due diligence, what buyers and sellers need to know. And I think you're going to hear a couple of surprise tips. First of all, we wanna talk about why we do it because you wanna know what's going on with a building or a well, or a septic or a barn before you buy it.

And it's really important to have a fully trained, professional set of eyeballs doing those evaluations in my opinion. So I'm big, big fan of buyers doing these kinds of testing and getting the reports before they finalize their sale. Now, in a super hot market, people sometimes will wave these inspections.

And if you're in a multiple offer situation, even in a market like ours, which is a little more trying to normalize then maybe instead of waiving the inspection, [00:01:00] do the inspection, but waive your right to ask the seller for repairs. I think that's that's a better, that's more happy medium. And a lot of times you can still either win the bid or get the lower price or whatever you're trying to accomplish with that particular offer. And they're usually pretty happy with that, that compromise.

Now, KCM, just put out a chart, and these are national numbers, but 67% of buyers are asking for repairs now. And that wasn't the case a year or two ago because the market was so seller oriented, so accelerated. So this is one of the other points I wanted to make is that whether a buyer requests repairs, whether a seller does the repairs or sometimes a product of the market conditions at the time.

So if you're selling then just be aware of that. Not only are you more likely 67% more likely to get hit with repairs, you're also more likely to do them. Now [00:02:00] I am a big fan of sellers doing all their inspections and due diligence upfront when they list the property and giving that to the buyer and the buyer's agents.

But it's very uncommon in southern Oregon. I am, I think only one of four or five agents that do it on a regular basis, and that's out of 12 or 1300 agents in our area. But I'm telling you, it makes the transaction so much smoother. And even if there are problems, that having all that information up front is better for the health and safety of the occupants, the sellers, it's better for the health and maintenance of the property itself to do all these, what we call pre-listing inspections. And again, I say do the well, do the septic, do the buildings, do the outbuildings, and if you have big trucks or diesel or something on the land, you might even wanna spring for soil testing.

Okay. So all of that can [00:03:00] help really smooth out the transaction. It also creates transparency and trust with the marketplace if the seller does this pre-listing due diligence, pre-listing inspection and, and gives it to the buyers and the buyer's agents. But you know what else? It's great marketing cuz at least in our area, hardly anybody does it. It's also great for disclosure, which is for legal purposes. And then thirdly, we have so many out-of-towners that move here in, that was the case before Covid, but now it's even more pronounced. We have a much higher number of relocate and a lot of them are coming from big urban areas where they do this.

So that was one of the reasons I started recommending this to my sellers years ago that you get all your due diligence done ahead of time and give the reports to the buyer and the buyer's agents because where they come, that's what they're used to. And again, it helps smooth out the [00:04:00] transaction.

And in Oregon, the buyers have the right to get out of the deal in the middle of escrow because of their inspection timelines. And a lot of the inspection timelines are two, sometimes two and a half or three weeks. So you can save yourself a lot of heartache as a seller. You can also win points with the marketplace and the buyer pool.

And it just feels good to transfer the property in good shape, or at least having done all that disclosure up front. So I'm a big, big fan of that, but I, I hear that I am, I'm one of the unusual ones, but I think it's in the seller's best interest. And then, you know, you don't, you don't lose sleep in the middle of escrow, wondering if the buyer's gonna get out of the deal because there was a nail missing somewhere that really wasn't important.

Lastly, When you do the purchase and it's behind you. Do you think about having all of your properties fully [00:05:00] inspected every five to seven years? And again, I know a lot of people feel like this is overkill, but I'm telling you, stuff happens with real estate without your knowledge, and it really is better, again, for the health and safety of the occupants and the ongoing maintenance.

And health of the property in general. So that's our podcast for today. I'd love to hear from you. My number's 541-301-7980. We've got some great deals coming on the market. We're stabilizing. The interest rates are are coming down. We do need a lot more listings, even though we have more than we did.

We still have more buyers than sellers in all categories. So would really love to be your agent. I'm a great listing agent, great buyer's agent. Do a lot of rural property, waterfront investment property. Give me a call. We can put together a plan. I've got some great ideas and yeah, let's kick off the next level of your real estate life soon.

So gimme a jingle, [00:06:00] gimme a text, 541-301-7980. Enjoy the beautiful weekend. Hug those you love, and we'll see you next week. Bye.