My mom’s house is in really, really bad shape in a sort of dangerous neighborhood. I have found her a rgood senior living place to live that she can afford, if she sells her house. How can I go about selling her house quickly without fixing it up first? Too much to fix. Rotten carpet, holes in ceiling. It’s going to have to be sold as is. Thinking this would be a good fixer upper for a rental property.
You received good advice from others. You probably don't even need to work through a realtor, but can list it on Nextdoor.com or other sites and use a real estate attorney to close (this would also benefit the buyer).
My parents' house was 90 years old with a kitchen last remodeled in 1969. We did the "lipstick on a pig bit" by painting it, refinishing the wood floors, and staging it, out we didn't even redo the kitchen with the non-functioning oven and barely functioning stove. All we did in there was paint the cabinets and replace the old vinyl floor with tile.
We had an inspection done before putting it on the market, and we handed it to any potential buyers up front, so they knew what they were getting into. We sold it as-is, and got about twice back what we'd put into fixing it up. We had three offers, sold it three days after it went on the market, that sale fell through, and we sold it the next day to the next bidder who matched the first offer. We got $2.3 million for what I'd considered a tear-down house. (Yes, it's California, so adjust for your own area.)
All this was thanks to a very skilled Realtor who also arranged for all the contractors to do the work. I cannot emphasize that enough, so don't skimp if you think a Realtor isn't worth the commission. Trust me -- they are.
I realize you're under a time constraint, so you probably wouldn't want to do even as much as we did, but don't just throw in the towel right off the bat. Interview three Realtors, ideally ones that specialize in estates (as in old people's homes, not mansions). They'll make a marketing plan to present to you, and you decide who you want to go with. Be sure to ask about these renovation loan plans they offer.
what they use seem to be using is a document that allows them total control to represent your home for sale AND allows them to place a lien on it as well. It’s not a Realtor listing document, they are not Realtors. The safeguards that exist for seller/ Realtor won’t exist. But what it does do, is allows them to place a lein onto the property. A lien for thousands of $$$ for “costs” that are very suspect. But it’s hard for you to fight this, or to get an actual Realtor and do a MLS type of listing on the place as the Ugly lien will be there to affect the deal.
The ProPublica articles are frightening. Its 5-6 stories of elders over 65, all take advantage of by UGLY & all getting a fraction of the value of the home. Little they could do either as that document totally allowed HomeVestors aka We buy Ugly total control.
This is a good question for a realtor and I do not know of any currently on Forum. I am hoping one shows up. Meanwhile, as I think you may guess, realtors will speak with you free of time and will advise you. Basically with a home in VERY bad shape you are selling the burden of a tear-down. Dependent on city this will work well or less well. In SF where I live the land alone is worth a mint.
I advise you to speak with a good realtor in your area. You can also watch the neighborhood itself for realtor signs as often they concentrate/specialize on certain neighborhoods.
I am assuming you have a POA in place that allows you to deal with your Mom's real estate? That, of course is step one and crucial unless she herself is competent and can sign papers with a dedicated Realtor.
Good luck. Hope you will update us.
If the owner is going into Medicaid financed care, doesn’t she have to be careful of selling too low? Even if home is sold as is, doesn’t she still need to show it is sold at “FMV”? I know this move is to where she can afford, if she sells her house. However, life happens and if she winds up needing more care than she can afford, wouldn’t she want to have comps to show the sell was at FMV?
A situation like this, would absolutely require a home inspection to prove that the lower value was Fair Market Value. That would be the ONLY way to prevent medicaid from saying there is a penalty because the house sold under FMV. Documentation is salvation in these situations.
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