How to find what’s wrong with your Carmel house before a buyer does

If you’re selling your house in Carmel, you need to know what’s wrong before a buyer finds it. If not, the inspection is where your sale lives or dies. But if you do, you fix it on your schedule, with your contractors.

1. Where sales live or die. 2026 is not 2021 or 2022, (when buyers commonly waived inspections). Inspections are where homes live or die everyday. The buyer is asking: is this house going to be the death of me? Am I buying the one lemon in ALL of Carmel Indiana? Will this house CRUSH me financially?

But hoping the buyer skip the inspection is like betting the IRS won’t check you this year. It might happen, but is that what you want to rely on?

2. The two-week premium. If you’re closing in two weeks and the contractor knows it, they could charge you whatever because you need it done. But fix issues ahead of time, on your schedule, with your contractors, and that worry is gone. You may still list lower for something you can’t fix, but you decide how.

3. The furnace math. Two houses match on square footage, year, beds, and baths. One sold with a new furnace, roof, and water heater. A $10,000 furnace halfway through its life is $5,000 off the price. That’s how I negotiate for buyers.

4. Read the serial number. On a furnace or water heater, the first four digits often show the week and year. 3624 is the 36th week of 2024. Some brands flip it to 2436, and some use letters.

5. Three things to do this week. Read the date on every major system and your roof. Get a pre-inspection. Ask your insurance company what it will and won’t cover.

An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.

You don’t need a house picked out or a plan. If you’re wondering what may or may not be possible for you, email me at nlamkin@c21scheetz.com and let’s talk it through.

What’s my home worth?