Why Selling Your House As Is, is a Bad Idea

Today we're going to talk about selling as-is and why I think it's a bad idea. A lot of times I have a listing appointment and the seller says, “I want to sell this home as-is. I don't want to do any repairs. I don't want to put any more money in the house. I just want to be done with it and move on with my life.” And I totally understand it. I 100% get it. You just want to sell the house and move on, and I'm going to talk about why I don't think it's a good idea. So, if we make the decision to sell the home as-is, you can 100% make that decision, but we don't want to disclose it. We don't want to say, “Hey, this is an as-is sale and we're not going to do any repairs.” And why don't we want to disclose it?

Because what I found is that when people see as-is in the listing, they say, “Well what's wrong with it?” People just assume there's something wrong with the home, and what does that cause them to do? The big thing is it causes them not to see the home. Especially if you're in $300,000 and below as your price range. A lot of first time home buyers are gonna see as-is, and they're going to get spooked. They're going to be scared. They're gonna be like, “What's wrong with the home? I don't even want to see it. I don't even want to mess with it.” So, it attaches this negative stigma to your home that it could be completely unnecessary. Just because you want to sell it as-is, it doesn't mean that there's anything wrong structurally just because you want to sell your home as-is.

It doesn't mean that there's anything wrong with your home. You just may want to be done with it. But the public perception of an as-is home is very, very negative and you're going to cut down on your viewings. Okay. So, now what happens if we listed it as-is, and we still get showings? A lot of times, the offers that we're going to get are a lot lower because they're taking on the risk of buying a home and not knowing what the issues are with that home. So, what I suggest is, if you want to sell your home as-is, I would suggest you spend a little bit of money on a pre-inspection. I have a list of inspectors that will do a pre-inspection of your home. They'll go through and they'll mark out any major defects and safety concerns, and we can address them before you list.

And then, in our listing, we'll put it in the private remarks, so only other agents can see repairs to be limited to safety concerns and major defects. So, if we've handled all the major defects and safety concerns, there isn’t going to be anything that comes up in any surprises. So, that is the way I would handle an as-is sale, whenever any of my listing clients want to have that. And ultimately, that comes down to me wanting to protect your bottom line and put more money in your pocket at the end of the day. I hope that helps. If you have any questions, click the link in the description.