Why sellers need a building inspection in Brisbane

When selling your property in Brisbane, it is important that your property presents well to potential buyers and that you remove any barriers to a sale. If you can provide pre-sale building and pest reports to potential buyers, you can greatly assist the sale process.
The last thing you want is for the Contract of Sale of your property to fall through because the buyer obtains reports (from an inspector working for the buyer) revealing significant structural damage, safety issues or severe termite infestation that you were unaware of.
Advantages of pre-sale inspection reports include:
The seller knows of any major defects or significant timber pest issues in advance, giving them the opportunity to get these sorted out. I can think of many times when the seller has said “the agent recommended that we get you to do the inspection for us although I don’t know why as you won’t find anything wrong, but knock yourself out mate”. Many times I have found major structural damage or a termite infestation and the seller quickly changes their cavalier attitude and wants to know how they can quickly get the issues rectified.
I often need to give reassurance to a seller that disclosing defects and fixing problems is worth the effort and expense to help them sell their property. They are better off hearing it from me and having the opportunity to fix the problems than hearing about it from a buyer’s solicitor after the contract has been cancelled.
Buyers are more likely to make an unconditional offer as they can rely upon the report provided. This saves them the expense and gets the deal done with less delay.
If the property is going to auction, then buyers are more confident to make a bid. I often get people calling our office desperate for a building and pest inspection to be done on a property that is going to auction within a matter of days.
Sometimes we are fully booked and cannot get the report done before the auction. If the buyers cannot arrange for an inspection to be carried out in time, they may decide not to bid at the auction.
Buyers in Brisbane are less likely to renegotiate a reduced price after the contract has been signed because if there are any building or pest issues with the property, they already read about them in the pre-sale report when they entered into the contract. This doesn’t mean that some won’t try, but hey, they knew what they were getting themselves into so it severely limits their bargaining power.
The inspector can discuss the report findings with potential buyers and answer any questions they may have.