Are there holes in the walls? Are the roof shingles cracking? If you are reading this article, you’re probably worried about how to sell my house fast miami in need of repairs.
Lucky for you, there’s hope! Given the expenses involved in getting a new home or moving out, it’s not surprising that you’re highly reluctant to put some repairs into to the property you’re living in.
Considering that you learned to live with a broken door handle or a poor electrical outlet, renovations are by far the most time consuming and expensive.
While some prospective buyers might just accept your home with all its quirks, large repairs may scare away most traditional buyers. Here is how to get the best out of that fixer upper.
How to Sell a Property in Need of Repairs
Contents
1. Consider selling it to an Investor
Most people are very sensitive about selling their houses to investors. They are usually very particular on the type of person they want to sell their home to. Well, considering the condition of the property, you don’t have much choice, especially if your available cash is too low to do repairs.
As the magnitude of repairs increases, there is a limited scope of traditional buyers for the property. Fortunately enough, this is where selling to an investor makes more sense.
If your property has severe structural damages, in need of major repairs or simply very outdated, it can disqualify eligibility for a mortgage program. This significantly decreases the numbers of traditional buyers but entices all-cash investors.
In real estate, if the property requires large bathroom or kitchen remodels, foundation repairs or even a new roof, there is a 90% chance that the buyer is going to be a real estate investment company or a single local investor with cash.
A real estate investor is the easiest and quickest way to sell your property without having to deal with any renovation issues and might be your best option in selling your house in need of lots of repairs.
2. Estimate the value of the property and repairs needed
Finding out the value of your property is a crucial step in gauging what the property goes for. In most cases, you are probably underestimating the cost of renovations, while your buyer is overestimating the costs of repairs.
If you sell the property without assessing its actual value, the buyers will perhaps overestimate the cost involved in repairs. This will leave you getting way less than you deserve.
There are a few ways to determine the value and repairs needed. There are free tools online that can give you value estimates like Zillow, however, these tools are not 100% accurate and don’t consider property conditions.
Another way to help determine value is to pay for an appraiser to inspect your property and provide an estimate of value. However, a single appraisal can cost $300-$400. Typically it’s best to let the buyer pay for this cost when they are considering the purchase of the home and doing their due diligence.
In the end, we recommend making a list of things that aren’t working or need repairs in your house that you know of from the structure and roof to bathrooms and kitchens. This way you can estimate what will need fixing. Home Advisor has a great home renovation and repair estimator you can use as well.
When you do your homework on your property it will provide you with an idea of how much each repair costs. This will give you the upper hand when negotiations begin.
3. Do small repairs if you have the time or money
When most buyers decide to buy a new property, they don’t want the hassle of fixing up. They’re ready to pack their bags, move in and start decorating.
If you’re handy, doing small repairs on your own may help you sell. This option will probably leave you spending a lot of time working on the property while chipping in some extra bucks towards repairs. Although, it might help you in selling the house much faster and for extra cash.
If you’re not very handy, you can hire a contractor to do this. If you’re on a tight budget, you don’t need to transform the whole property completely! Take care of the most critical aspects. Making even small repairs can significantly increase the value of the property, but again this requires time and money.
One big thing to consider and mistake to avoid. Avoid cutting corners by hiring an unlicensed family member or friend to do major repairs for you without getting permits. This could cost you more in the long run if your buyers hire their own inspectors and find out there are lots of unpermitted additions to the property that has to be redone.
4. Choose a fair and fast market price.
If you need to sell the house fast, pricing is everything. You need to price it right!
After calculating the actual price of the property, try to give some equity room for your buyer by pricing it reasonably. Selling a fixer-upper property needs to have equity for the end-buyer to be able to invest in repairs and still leave them room to sell or rent it out at a profit.
You need to generate interest from the pool of buyers. This primarily means you have to under-price the property from its retail price to get more offers. If you price too high and it needs repairs cash buyers won’t take you seriously and you will take longer to sell house fast fort lauderdale.
5. Clean the property
Traditional retail buyers don’t want to buy a cluttered house at full price. If you are trying to get more value out of the home, simply cleaning the property can improve curb appeal and may get you higher offers.
If you do have the time, you can clean up the property yourself. Visit your local store and grab some cleaning supplies to put in the work to spruce up the property.
If you have the extra money and not the time, you can hire a cleaning company to do it for you. Posting an ad on sites like craigslist you may be able to find someone to come in and clean up the property. They can come in and clean all the major areas including the living rooms, bathrooms, kitchens, and bedrooms.
If you’re strapped for both time and money, need to sell the house fast for some reason, or it’s a rental property that tenants left behind a bunch of clutter, then cleaning it yourself may not be an option. In this case, an investor buyer is a great option since they will typically buy the property as-is and clean it themselves.
At Property Nation, we’ve bought plenty of houses full of clutter and handle the cleaning ourselves so you the buyer doesn’t have to deal with it.
6. Work with Realtor if repairs are minimal
While this article is focused on houses with major repairs needed, if your house only needs minor repairs, a Realtor might be a good option to find what’s called retail buyers. These are buyers with loan approvals looking to buy at higher retail buyers.
Keep in mind, agents come with a cost. You will need to give up 3-6% in commission fees for the agent to list your property and sell it for you. This typically gets added at the end of the transaction but takes away from what you can get from the sale of the property.
If your house needs a lot of work, then most agents may actually turn you down. You will be more in the fixer-upper category and will need a cash investment that doesn’t require loan approval requirements.
By choosing this option, you are cutting out the Realtor cost and saving the commission fees. Just be cautious when selling for cash, you can end up getting way less cash than the property is valued for, or it could be a scam. This is because many investors will take advantage of your situation and try to low ball you with offers to buy the property below value.
At Property Nation, we never give low-ball offers, and always make sure it’s a win-win for you and us.
7. Sell to a reliable, trusted investment company.
With all the options listed, the decision-making process can become a tad bit overwhelming. If you have the time to have the property in the market for a long time, then working with a Realtor or doing all the repairs and clean up yourself can be great options.
However, if you need fast cash at the earliest inconvenience, it’s best to consider selling to a cash buyer willing to take the property as-is. This is a faster and easier solution, and while you may think you will get less than the property is worth, in many cases, you can walk away with a lot more money.
If you’re interested in getting an all-cash offer from Property Nation to buy your house as-is, give us a call today or contact us for a no-obligation offer.
