Selling a house on Geist Reservoir? See the cards before they’re dealt

Issues in a house tend to get found. What you control is who finds them first.

1. Who finds it first.

• You find it: your contractor, your quote, before you list. You fix it or price it in. Low stress.
• The buyer finds it: their contractor, their quote, inside their inspection period. Repair request, credit, or a lower price. High stress.

“What if the buyer doesn’t get an inspection?” A fine plan, if you also like hoping the IRS skips you this year.

2. The water inspection. At Geist, the specialty is the water. A leaning seawall, a void behind it, or rusting steel can mean full replacement. A dock can sit in silt. Some older sections could still be on septic, and wells are not allowed on lots touching the water. Is that on a traditional home inspection?

3. The $50,000 cut that loses money. Say a buyer gets $50K off. After closing, they find the seawall needs replacing: $35,000 to $80,000 for 100 feet of vinyl, plus more paperwork. A buyer who fears that math writes it into the offer. Show them first.

4. The extra vote. Every dock, seawall, or boathouse at Geist needs HOA, city or county, and Citizens Energy approval. Docks must float and can’t extend more than 35 feet. Boathouses max out at 30 feet wide or half the shoreline, whichever is less. No irrigation from the reservoir.

5. Pull the paperwork. Permits, bills, approvals. Get them now, so “unknown” never shows up on a buyer’s mental list.

Fix your roof, your trim, your gremlins on your own time, with your own people, without an offer waiting. A pre-listing inspection won’t catch everything. But you see more of the cards.

Want to talk about your house together? nlamkin@c21scheetz.com

What’s my home worth?