Today’s real estate market in Knoxville is crazy. I was inspecting a house this week and the buyer told me there was an open house on Saturday, and the seller had 23 offers to consider on Sunday. I was talking with another client, and he told me that he offered $60,000 over asking price on one house and was beat by another offer.
Buyer Feel Like They Have To Make A No Contingency Offer
In this market, sellers can put their home on the market and say up front, “we are not fixing anything.” I will tell you, I have seen several sellers say, “we will not fix anything” and then fix stuff, but that is another story. I also watch the local realtor groups on Facebook and other social media groups. I have seen more than one agent saying, I need a plumber for a client who just bought a house, and it has water leaks. I need this or that to help my client that just bought a house. Every time I see that, I think to myself, if they had only talked to us, we could have helped them be more prepared. What you are saying in your mind is, “but we needed to put a no contingency offer on the house on the same day we only had 45 minutes to look at it”. Yes, we can still help you understand the house’s condition before you place that no contingency offer. Let me say that again. When you are looking to purchase a home in Knoxville or the surrounding areas, and you feel you need to put a ‘No Contingency’ offer down to have a chance at winning, Bent Nail General Contracting and Home Inspections can help you. We can help you understand the condition of the house before you make an offer.
How Bent Nail Can Still Help You
I hope you are now asking how we can help you. Let me tell you about a service we offer. We call it our Walk-Through Consulting Service. How does a Walk-Through Consulting Service help you? When you see that beautiful dream home posted as a coming soon, call your agent and schedule your showing time. Then give us a call. We will arrive at your showing time and dig into the house. We will check the age and functionality of the AC unit, the furnace, and the water heater. We will take a quick look at the roof for issues. We will check out the electrical system, the plumbing system, the kitchen appliances, and as much of the house as we have time to get to. The longer you show time, the more we can do. So, you know, we can do a pretty thorough run-through of a house in 45 minutes. Then, after your show, we will give you a verbal report on what we found and any issues you should be concerned over, like that 30-year-old furnace, the 27-year-old condensing unit, the stove where only one of the four eyes doesn’t work, the bathroom that has no GFCI outlets or there has been 12″ of water in the crawlspace. You laugh, but these are all things I have found during home inspections this year. When you need to make a no contingency offer, like right now, wouldn’t it be great to know these things before you offer $60,000 over asking price. Is this the same as a full home inspection, not even close. It takes us a good three hours to do a full home inspection and dig into the house, but with our Walk-Through Service, we hit the significant items and can give you a pretty good feel on the condition of the house before you place that offer.
How Much Does The Walk-Through Service Cost
Our Walk-Through Service costs about two thirds the price of a normal home inspection, and we base the price on the square footage and age of the home. Why square footage and age? The bigger the house, the more systems it will have, and the older the house, the more issues. A brand new house, I will guarantee it will have issues, just not as many as a house built in 1950. That is why square footage and age matter. One of the other big differences between a Walk-Through Service and a Home Inspection is you don’t get a written report.
When you are thinking of making that no contingency offer on your dream home, be sure and contact Bent Nail General Contracting and Home Inspection. We can help you be prepared for move-in or avoid buying a home that requires too much work.
As always if you have a question, whether you use Bent Nail Home Inspection Services or someone else, you are always welcome to call us. We will be happy to help you in any way we can. One of our goals is to be a resource to customers and realtors throughout Knoxville, Oak Ridge, and East Tennessee.
Have a great day,
Lee and Kadee