Frequently Asked Questions

No - we are completely independent.

Independent of the building inspector industry, the real estate industry and any other industry associated with real estate.

CheckedOut was designed to provide an online platform and independence inspection process (MSIP) so home buyers could find trustworthy, reliable building reports they knew they could trust without doubt were independent, impartial and without any bias attached to them.

CheckedOut is a type of independent regulatory service. We check the inspectors are experienced and suitably qualified and ensure they ALL have Professional indemnity insurance.

We established a 'framework' ALL inspectors agree to and sign before completing any MSIP inspections.

This framework established requirements and set standards inspectors must adhere to during each MSIP building inspection, resulting in truly independent, impartial unbiased information buyers can use to make informed decisions.

Most people would like to know the condition of a property before they make an offer if they could, but at the same time they don't want to spend and then lose $600-$1000 if they don't end up not purchasing the property.

An MSIP report copy can provide buyers with the condition of a property early in the buying journey, before they make an offer, from an affordable $86 +gst.

Ordering an MSIP building inspection provides buyers with an assurance they can resell their MSIP inspection report via CheckedOut and have options for money back or if they miss out on the property for any reason.

It costs you nothing to have your building inspection completed in accordance with MSIP, but it can save you hundreds of dollars if your sale does collapse.

Think of it as a type of 'insurance policy' of sorts, in case your sale falls over and you have to walk away. We don't guarantee you'll get your money back BUT we'll certainly give you the best chance. Unlike most insurance policies, it costs you nothing! We don't charge you any 'premiums'. If your sale goes through and you purchase your new home 'Brilliant' congratulations it cost you absolutely nothing.

We only charge buyers a small fee of $49 +gst if you want to try and sell your MSIP report on CheckedOut. Because you ordered a CheckedOut MSIP inspection you can now sell your report on CheckedOut and have your money refunded. This means perfectly good Due Diligence can be shared and reused saving home buyers' money and time getting their own.

MSIP report copies are just that, 'copies' of the original MSIP report.

We can offer MSIP report 'copies' for such an affordable price thanks to our inspectors. They agreed to reduce their report copy cost, so we could provide you with this affordable service.

These inspectors also complete our MSIP inspections which allows us to maintain a closed loop for the sharing of MSIP reports ensuring the integrity of MSIP reports is maintained.

The short answer is NO.

Inspectors won't allow their reports to be resold by anyone other than themselves and they certainly don't share the money with anyone. These inspection companies keep ALL of the report copy revenue for themselves as it is a very lucrative part of their business. The person who actually paid for the original building inspection on the property receives $0.00 money back for any copies sold, the inspector pockets the entire amount!

Building inspection companies also charge a lot more for report copies, often between 80%-90% of the original building inspection price. Most report owners are generally unaware the inspector is even selling copies of their building report in the first place!

CheckedOut's inspectors only charge for the report copy fee, meaning ALL of the money refunded from the new home owner for the MSIP report transfer goes back to the report owner NOT the inspector!

MSIP is FREE.

The MSIP service CheckedOut contracts Inspectors to complete inspections in accordance with is FREE. If you book a building inspection through CheckedOut the building inspection will be completed in accordance with the relevant MSIP stages for FREE.

You will still have to pay for the building inspection itself, just like you would if you ordered the inspection directly with the inspector.

No hidden extras - you will see when you pay for the building inspection, CheckedOut do not charge any margin or surcharges on any inspection prices the inspectors already charge.

Extra Service - when you book through CheckedOut you are essentially getting an additional service on top of the standard building inspection for free. This MSIP service now ensures you will have the opportunity to sell your MSIP report on CheckedOut and potentially get your money back if you miss out on the property for any reason.

If you go ahead and purchase the property, and don't need to sell your MSIP report, the free service you received doesn't cost you a cent. ONLY if you want to sell your MSIP report on CheckedOut's sharing portal will you pay a one off fee of $49.00 +gst. This one-off fee pays for the administration, sale of report copies and transfer of report ownership to the successful buyer. This is the only time you will be charged during the sale process.

Essentially, you could pay an inspector $500 to complete a standard building inspection for you OR you could pay the same $500 and have the inspection completed in accordance with MSIP and have the chance to sell your report on CheckedOut.

There are many reasons why the Report owner would want to sell their MSIP report...

They may have decided they preferred another property, or missed out on their finance, found an issue from the MSIP report findings they just didn't want to fix.

Or they were going to auction so they sold their MSIP report copies to other auction goers, hedging their bets that if they didn't win the auction, one of the other report purchases will and they would get their money back.

These are just a few of the possible scenarios report owners may want to sell their MSIP report through CheckedOut.

A MSIP report owner cannot sell their MSIP report through CheckedOut:

• when the property is under contract
• when the property is taken off the market
• when the property has been sold

No one else can offer the same benefits CheckedOut can.

We vet the inspectors, contract them to complete inspections under MSIP, organise everything for you and can resell your report. The MSIP report owner receives money back for their MSIP inspection if someone else relies on their MSIP report to purchase the property.

No other inspection companies offer this unique service where the report owners receive the financial rewards from selling their building report.

We check out each inspector before they can complete an inspection for CheckedOut.

We ensure they are high quality, experienced, suitably qualified, and insured. We also have a 'review' process that allows buyers to rate the inspector's performance. This way we keep inspectors accountable, If an Inspector receives unfavourable reviews, we simply won't use them anymore.

Home Buyers are our primary customer, but Yes, some MSIP inspections may be initiated by the seller.

However, ALL building inspections ordered through CheckedOut are carried out under the same MSIP inspection process, therefore whoever orders the inspection has absolutely no influence on the outcome of an MSIP report.

We believe by providing MSIP reports for buyers and sellers they can both benefit from being able to rely on the same MSIP report during the sales process.

Vendor's reports are paid for by a vendor and can be prepared by absolutely anyone!

Often reports are prepared by the vendor's builder mate or a friend of a friend, a relative who is a handy man, the list goes on and can literally include anyone. This is the problem with the building inspection industry; it's 'unregulated', meaning if a Vendor wants to use his friend or a builder mate or anyone for that matter to prepare a report on their home they can.

Even when an actual building inspector is retained to do the inspection for a vendor, there is still a bias attached to the inspection because the inspector knows the inspection is being paid for by the vendor, so the report will be prepared with the vendor in mind and is exactly why this vendor report process is flawed! A Vendor report is also in the name of the vendor, so the buyer is therefore not in a 'contract' with the inspector and has no recourse to claim damages should there be a problem found later down the track with the property.

There is nothing worse than being given a free vendor's building report only to be told by an agent "it's a good starting point BUT you should get your own report"!

MSIP report copies eliminate these problems you get with a Vendor report, through the MSIP process.

When The buyer purchases a CheckedOut MSIP report copy they can be assured they have purchased an impartial, unbiased building report completed by independent inspectors who were engaged by CheckedOut. or a potential buyer and not the seller or the seller's agent. The inspector 'declared' they had no 'relationship' with the seller, and ensured they had minimal contact with the seller and the seller's agent throughout the entire inspection process. (refer to MSIP process)

MSIP report copies are always transferred into the name of the new homeowner, so they are in 'Privity of contract' with the respective inspector and may claim for damages should there be a problem found later down the track.

Before completing a Building inspection, All inspectors must first sign a contract agreeing they will complete ALL building inspections ordered via CheckedOut in accordance with CheckedOut's (MSIP) Multi-Stage Independence Process.

Inspectors are immediately removed from CheckedOut's platform if they are found to have not completed an inspection in accordance with MSIP. There are NO exceptions.

Yes, If you order your MSIP inspection on a property going for auction or deadline sale, we can sell your MSIP report copy 'before' auction day (or deadline sale date) to other auction goers.

If one of those buyers purchases the property at auction and you missed out, they'll refund you and our inspector will transfer the report into their name.

Note - you can NO longer sell your MSIP report through CheckedOut if the property sells at Auction OR sells on the deadline sale date. Once a property is sold OR taken OFF the market MSIP reports can no longer be available for purchase on CheckedOut.

The successful purchaser of the house is almost always the bidder with the biggest wallet, not the bidder with the best building report.

So sharing your MSIP building report with other bidders isn't giving them an advantage, because most would have had their own building inspection completed anyway.

It's simply a waste of time and money having everyone pay full price to have a building Inspection completed, when everyone misses out, (except the one with the highest bid).

CheckedOut's MSIP report sharing portal is a closed market. ONLY CheckedOut's inspectors inspect the property, create and prepare the MSIP report in accordance with MSIP and ONLY MSIP reports can be sold on CheckedOut's sharing portal.

Our exclusive closed loop market for just MSIP reports means we can maintain the independence and integrity of MSIP reports, providing an assurance for home buyers that MSIP sourced information is completely impartial and independent.

We have no way of knowing or verifying the report was completed by a credible inspector OR they had insurance, if the inspector was an acquaintance or friend of the seller.

These are problems we can't verify without MSIP incorporated into the inspection process. Other inspectors won't allow anyone other than themselves to sell copies of their reports.

• MSIP building reports provide you with peace of mind about your home's actual true conditions.
• MSIP reports are without bias, meaning you will have no surprises found later by the buyers building report because buyers will now rely on yours.
• This ensures you receive the best value for your dollar by allowing buyers to check out your home quickly and seriously, saving you time and money.
• Buyers know they can trust your MSIP report - the benefits you are providing to the Buyer are real and transparent and this builds trust in the relationship.

• You can take the time to fix any identified problems before you list or you can align the property sale price with the problem in mind. Either way you are now prepared for the uncomfortable questions from buyers relating to this issue.
• Getting information about your home through an MSIP report will prepare you for discussions when choosing your Agent and discussing the Listing price.
• To obtain a true and real market valuation and decide on a listing price, you need the combination of an MSIP report's findings and a basic market valuation.

• You know your homes true condition - you also have the advantage of acknowledging and fixing any issues prior to listing that may affect your price.
• You and the buyer will be negotiating from the same MSIP report, so NO surprises because the buyer doesn't need to get/order their own inspection report.
• You have peace of mind knowing you won't have to drop your asking price when the buyers report comes back with some unexpected issue.
• Allows buyers to check out your home quickly and seriously, compared to a seller who does not provide an MSIP report.
• Buyers can verify the MSIP report is trustworthy and rely on the reports contents to make an offer or bid and don't need to order their own report.
• MSIP inspection model shares the cost of the MSIP inspection with potential buyers, so you only pay a small portion of the MSIP report cost.
• Buyers appreciate you making the commitment to an MSIP inspection, and its transparency encourages buyers to share the cost of your inspection.
• Fast sale of your home at the priced you hoped for - and no surprises, no re-negotiation, and no chance of the sale falling over due to building issues.
• An immediate advantage over any seller who provides just a vendor's building report without the MSIP independence verification.

In today's world people expect to be able to research everything online at the touch of a button and property information is no different. By helping a buyer checkout your home in a fast, cost-effective way with a trusted MSIP building report, you are helping your chances of getting a fast, carefree sale of your home at the price you wanted.

This gives you a big advantage over a seller who only has a basic vendors building report available that buyers can't rely on or trust. (and who are left having to get their own building inspection)

Not true! And not the point of getting an Independent MSIP report before you list. It's also just lazy advice and missing the #1 reason for getting this trustworthy information - and that reason is so you can PREPARE.

• Any property can have a building issue needing attention, examples include electrical, plumbing, structural, ventilation, hail damage, earthquake damage, land issues, and any of these can happen in a 12-month-old house as easily as in a 100-year-old one.
• You need the information an MSIP report provides to know the condition of your home, so you can discuss with you Agent about an accurate listing price.
• You need the information an MSIP report provides to 'front-foot' any issue, meaning knowing it first gives you the advantage to fix before listing (or at least be able to tell potential buyers it will be fixed before sale, or the listing price reflects the issues identified- so there's no need for costly re-negotiations on the price later.

*Buildings that have a high risk of leaking were mostly built between the late 1980s and the mid-2000s, using plaster-style monolithic cladding systems.

Of course, that is entirely up to you, however:

• You won't maximise your price - yes, in a hot market it will sell but if you can attract even more buyers to increase the competition and maximise your price, wouldn't you want to do that? The reality is you only have to spend a small amount on an MSIP Building Inspection before you list so your potential buyers can use and trust the information. Plus, the inspection will probably end up costing you nothing anyway as buyers will be sharing the cost of the report with you.
• Loss of control - by going down this route you do open yourself up to being at the mercy of the buyer, whereas an MSIP report that is trusted and relied on by a buyer provides you the home seller, peace of mind and control over the sale process. You will know that because you and the buyer are using the same report with the same information, you will have no surprises and therefore you remain in control of the sale process and any negotiations.
• High Risk -The obvious problem with a plan not to get an inspection report, is that you do run the risk of the buyer finding multiple problems with your home in their building report (these problems may be small, but they also may be large) but do require attention or money off your sale price. Don't put yourself in that high-risk situation that will reduce your sale price.

• They want information they can trust and use
• They want the information fast so they can save time and make decisions faster
• They want and are happy to share the costs of this information, but they must be able to rely on it.
• They want the new MSIP option they can trust - they have only ever had the un-reliable vendor reports option.

You want a Sale at the highest price, and you want it quickly. MSIP reports speed up the process in a transparent and measured way.

When you purchase your MSIP report before you go on the market, you are doing everything in a logical order:

1. You find out before you list if there are any building issues
2. You then have the 1 report everyone uses and trusts - no surprises
3. You then share the costs of that information with your potential buyers.
4. Your potential buyers are loving the cost-effective, trustworthy information.
5. More potential buyers will get on board, appreciate your transparency, and will make more offers.