“I think I want to sell my house, but I don’t feel like doing anything to it. Can I just put a sign in the yard, get it on the market, and be done with this whole thing?” Sometimes when you’re a seller, those are the things that come to mind. That’s what you really would like to do, right? It’s kind of a pain to get your home ready for market. And we’re in a seller’s market, right? This ought to be easy, your house is pretty nice, just throw a sign in the yard, and let’s just get it gone. Before you do that, let’s think about the ramifications of putting your home on as is and why you may or may not want to do that.
First off, think about the reasons why you might want to put your home on as is. So yeah, that’s kind of a pain. But often, people think “I want to go as is”, and really, their home doesn’t need anything except maybe some paint, some caulk, a little touch-up here and there, it’s not that big of a deal. If you don’t have time to do some of those things that in a lot of cases can be done by the homeowner, I have a great bunch of resources, handy people and contractors, painters, etc., that can come in and knock those things out in just a couple of days.
But let’s say it’s a financial thing and everything is just a little bit of a bigger deal than the paint, the caulk, and so on. The kitchen is older or whatever. Usually, when you say as is, buyers, especially in this climate of higher interest rates, where buyers are being a little more picky, they’re being a little more particular with how they spend their money. When you say as-is people immediately think what’s wrong, something’s wrong. And it’s going to be very expensive for me, and it’s going to make them not even come to look at your house. So in most cases, you’re going to be better off by just letting it letting it roll.
So if you know that you’ve got some plumbing issues, probably they’re going to be, you know, maybe no major, big deal, but it’s going to have to be done, you’re almost always going to be better off getting someone to do those things before putting your home on the market. Even if you are short on money, and you need to find somebody who’s going to let you pay for those things out of the proceeds when you actually sell. But if you do those things ahead of time, then you’re going to have a better experience overall. The buyer is going to feel more comfortable purchasing the home and it’s going to be a smoother transaction, smoother process, and get it sold faster and usually for more money.
So as soon as you say as-is, people immediately think there might be something wrong. But if you just let people have an inspection, remember to disclose if there are actually major issues with your home. If the panel box is sparking, you need to let people know that we are a buyer-beware state, but we do have to disclose material defects or major issues to the home. So if you’re aware of them, you have to let people know. And better than letting people know, getting them fixed beforehand. Even if it takes a little bit of money, a little bit of time, a little bit of hassle. Trust me, it’ll be worth it in the end.
There are certainly cases where selling your home as-is is the way to go. But that’s a case-by-case situation. And pricing has a big effect on that too. So if you’ve just inherited grandma’s house, you don’t know anything about it. You don’t have the time, the bandwidth, the money, the energy to get those things done, as is maybe the way to go, but we’re then going to price accordingly. So case by case situation, give me a call, send me a message. Let’s set up a time to take a look, talk through it, and see what your options are. If you’re in the Richmond metro area, I’d love to help give me a call, and let’s get started.