Selling a House As Is

Before proceeding with selling a house as is, this page covers legal aspects that may or may not apply to the area where you may be selling a fixer upper. Please proceed to My Disclaimer, before reading further.

Sometimes we may have a property, that needs a big pile of work and feel we would be better off to sell "as is".

A few reasons for this choice, may be;

• We do not have, or have the access to, funds to enable us to do all the work necessary, to bring the property up to market standards.
  

• We do not have the time, to complete the necessary work.
  

• We just don't "feel like" going through all the hassle of doing repairs etc.

Why isn't My House Selling?

10 Mistakes to Avoid when Selling For Sale by Owner

Giving Up on FSBO? How to Get Your Money Back if You List with a Realtor

Selling a Rental Property

Should I Sell or Buy First?

Extra Bonus Stuff Overview Page

Return to Home Page

Selling "As Is" May Not Get You Off the Hook

One of the misunderstandings that sellers have sometimes, is when selling a house as is, they feel completely free from any responsibility, to the buyer.

As is, when it come to buying a property, means that there is a "buyer beware" situation. The buyer is purchasing the home, based on WYSIWYG, or what you see is what you get.

What is missing from this, is the full disclosure from you, or me, the seller.

If we do not disclose defects, that you the seller were aware of, and that the buyer could not reasonably detect when buying, the buyer may be able to come back later and sue for damages. You could be liable for repair bills later, for undisclosed defects.

Keep in mind, that this is based on the fact that where you live, the seller is required to submit full disclosure when selling real estate.

Where can you get your for sale by owner contract forms? Just proceed to: Forms

A Quick Example

These are the facts:

• Where the property you are selling is located, the seller is required to produce a full disclosure statement.

• You have lived in the property for the past 3 years

• You sell the property during the dry summer, "as is".

• You know or should know, that the basement floods every spring with 2 to 4 inches of water.

• On your disclosure statement, you say there has never been water in the basement.

Even though you were selling the house as is, the buyer can still come back for compensation, because of the disclosure statement, which you were untruthful about.

Does that make things clearer? Just be honest, OK? A buyer purchasing an "as is" property, knows already, there is problems. Fill out the disclosure statement honestly, and you won't have to deal with headaches later.

"To the Best of My Knowledge"

The disclosure statements that I'm familiar, always state words to the effect "to the best of my knowledge".

The reason for this, is there may be problems that you may not be aware of, or would be expected to be aware of, in certain cases.

As an example, there could be a small leak behind the wall from the shower head in the main bath. There is no evidence of wet, or soft walls. After the buyers moves in and tear the bathroom apart, they discover the damage inside the wall.

Are you responsible? In my opinion, no. You were unaware and could not be expected to be aware.

Who will Buy My As Is Property?

Be prepared! When you advertise "home selling as is," you are looking at a whole different set of buyers. They could be;

• Investors looking for a "fixer upper" to do some quick repairs and flip for a profit.

• Investors looking for a "cheap" dwelling to do necessary repairs and then rent for a positive cash flow.

• A buyer with low income, trying to get into the housing market with low mortgage payments, and fix up the property over time.

• A "jack of all trades" that want a bargain price, live in home, fix up and then sell down the road for a good profit.

• A buyer looking for bargain basement homes to purchase.

The lesson here when selling a house as is, is this. Expect "LOW BALL" offers! You first have to price the house at the bottom of the market at the beginning and then you will be hit with low, low offers, almost for sure.

As an example, you may have got a certified appraisal for $150,000.

You offer for sale at $140,000.

You get offers to buy from $90,000 to $130,000.

OUCH! Sorry, that can be the real life experience of selling a house as is.

Solutions

Before you decide about selling a fixer upper, take a look at other possibilities.

Could you perhaps fix most, or all the problems and then sell?

If this is your principle residence, could you wait to sell for a period of time and slowly make repairs?

Perhaps, doing the necessary repairs and renting the property for a period of time, while you did the rest of the repairs.

To get the maximum exposure, you might want to list on a heavy traffic for sale by owner site. Where? Check out My Choices

One Last Note

Although this is a "how to sell property for sale by owner site," in the case of selling a house as is, if the house is in real rough shape, you may just consider listing with a Realtor.

What did you say Doug? I'm shocked! OK, if you have a real thick skin and can handle what you might consider insulting offers, go for it.

You also may be dealing with "professional" investment buyers, that might be able to run circles around you.

If you have a strong Realtor representing you, it will at least put a shield between you and the buyer when selling a house as is.

For More Information about Good Extra Stuff

Just make a selection from the photo links at the top of the page and click.

Home Page

Back to Top of Page

Disclaimer Privacy Policy Contact Me