Selling ""As-Is"- Good Idea or Bad Idea for Sellers?

These days many homeowners are on a tight budget and NEED to sell their homes for one reason or another. With that tight budget and usually tight timeframe a lot of owners are electing to sell "as-is". Figuring that its such a buyers market that they should be happy to get the deal they are getting, and not mind a bit of petty work.

So the question that arises is........"Does selling As-Is hurt your selling cost/timeframe?" YES, IT DOES!

Terms like as-is lead buyers to be weary of a property. They figure that there must be something wrong with it and that is why your selling, and that it would be too much of a hassle for them to fix it. This creates lower traffic on the home, which ultimatly leads to a lower selling price.

Banks often sell their foreclosed homes and pre-foreclosure homes "as-is", and they loose a large segment of buyers. Keep in mind, many first time buyers can finally afford a property in todays market. Many of them are using Bond programs and State assistace programs to help get them into their first home. These programs have stipulations on repair budgets. They require inspections and usually require anywhere from $100-$1,000 repair budgets to be negotiated INTO the contract.

So as an agent, I know that my buyer who is using one of these programs can't purchase your home. Therefore, it will not be on the list of properties that suits their needs. Thus, the seller lost a possible buyer.

What to do?

Fix anything minor that you can before you get your home on the market. This keeps costs down, and appearances up.
Negotiate a set amount for repairs into the contract. Keep it at something that is manageable for your finances, and won't make a buyer weary. $500 is very common.
Talk with your agent about the repair contractor taking payment at closing. Some contractors will, some won't. You may have to ask around.

All in all, just remember. There are a lot of homes on the market. Make your home stand out in a positive way, not a negative one.

The Landry Team