How to Sell a House Fast…and How Not to!
Posted on September 9, 2022 by Amanda Gladin
Whether you’re just looking for how sell house fast because you have to or just looking to sell quickly to reduce stress, either one has landed you on an article to help fill in the blanks.
Let’s take a closer look into how sell house fast and how not to, along with a spicy tale for you to reflect on. A story of a seller with a home, that turned into a rental when he bought his retirement home, that initially got lucky with a long term tenant. That was a mouthful.
The Spicy Story
Just recently, we had a elderly gentleman who realized that time was more important to him than the money he could get waiting to sell the traditional route. On just a quick look, this seems like the perfect candidate for this type of sale. However, he had tenants that had been in the house for nearly a decade and had renovated the house in the last year of being there.
Honestly, I’m not sure why any tenant would waste money on a property that they do not own. Especially in this case. Replaced all the plumbing. Recently had the whole house retextured, added rounded sheetrock corners, and painted the whole house. Converted the garage to a second living quarters, which had been completed within the last 6 months. But the pool looked like the loch ness monster had lived there for years.
I’m sure some part of you is wondering why, as well. Other than to cover up damage, I’m not sure there is another explanation.I mean if they had done all these renovations at the beginning and enjoyed the renovations, I’m sure I’d be looking at it from a different perspective.
After the tenants vacated, the seller did not want to waste time selling. He knew exactly how sell house fast. Which leaves us, as well as the seller, in a precarious position.
How Not to…
Needless to say, the house at first glance looked great on paper and in pictures. It wasn’t until we walked the property that we encountered all the potential problems we could face. Did they pull the permits needed for the work completed? Why did they replace or repair all the sheetrock throughout the house? Was the seller aware of the condition before the repairs were made?
The floors were very off level, not in a crappy install kind of way, but in the foundation being in need of major adjusting, kind of way. The whole outside edge of the house was much lower than the interior of the house. This would not be a terrible issue, had all the walls been recently repaired. Tile had been installed over the wonky foundation.
The biggest issue was the pool in the backyard that hadn’t been touched or repaired, leading us to believe that through a series of events the pool leaking caused the house’s edges to begin to sink. This in turn messed up the interior of the house’s walls, by adding cracks to the sheetrock.
Due to the condition of the pool, a lot of the work that the tenants completed was going to have to be completely redone because when adjusting a foundation a bunch of dominos fall, like: the walls shifting, the floors shifting, the roof shifting; sadly, it’s inevitable. Now let’s focus on how sell house fast.
How to…
It would have been better for the tenants to have not repaired anything whatsoever, and taken the hit on the deposit. In the seller’s case, they really didn’t have a move-in ready property. They had a property in need of a pool to be repaired and the house to have a full inspection prior to redoing work or putting any more work into it.
This also made us, initially, look like we were creating issues that the seller thought had already been addressed, but really just covered up by the tenants. We did eventually make a monetary adjustment to the price the seller had in mind, but it took many quotes to show we weren’t making something out of nothing.
The Moral of the Story
In hindsight, the seller did get to sell the house quickly and didn’t lose his buyer in the process, but his pocket book took a hit. Think of this story when trying to figure out how sell house fast. It’s best to just let it go without any repairs being done, so everyone knows what they are getting into, and the seller can avoid any undue stress, like this one caused.
If you do not have the receipts of the work, permits for the work, knowledge of how it was repaired, or where to get the information, then it is just best to let it go without the stress of the unknown.
So let us take it off your hands, whether you’re the former or the latter. Call us today! 832-839-0890
