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Are you thinking of selling yourouse as is? What does that really mean? Is it really that easy? You just throw it on the market and that’s all there is to it? I’m going to give you a couple pros and cons of selling as is, and then I’m going to explore what it really means in the market.
First, the pro, is you don’t have to do anything.No stagers. No painting. No carpet. No nothing. You just throw it on the market, right? And everybody’s going to love it. The other pro is not having to wait, hope that contractors are going to get back to you and call you back. You’re going to come give me your money, and we’re going to be done, right? Well, it’s a little more complicated than that, but let’s get through the cons first before I go over the whole process of really listing your home and what to think about.
The cons, of course, are going to be that you’re going to leave money on the table. That’s like the number one. How can you demonstrate value of your home when you really haven’t shown it in its best light, or if you haven’t even shown it just kind of a little bit better and its little better, best light? That’s really one of the biggest reasons. The other reason is you’re going to get low ball offers when you go as is.
When a listing says “Seller prefers as is,” a lot of times we see those in the agent comments, so we don’t put that catnip out there for the investors to try to low ball and waste everybody’s time, because we know with values the way they are, especially here in Santa Cruz, that you know you can probably still get a pretty good offer even if you really don’t do a whole lot on your property. I would like to explain why it is not a good way to go.
First, it’s not a good way to go, of course, because of that first con, leaving money on the table. But number two is you must realize that when you’re not showing your property in its best light, you always make those buyers wonder about what else hasn’t been done on the property. When a home is fixed up, a lot of times there are some basic repairs being done, some basic cleanups being done, little, tiny fixes. Like toilets bolted down tighter, leaks repairs, minor repairs.
Repairs that give a buyer confidence in the product that they’re buying. But the other thing about going as is, it could also leave you open for a little bit of liability because you’re saying, “I’m not really going to disclose anything about this property. You just have to take it as is.”
That can make buyers weary and it makes them a little bit more unhappy with their purchase, which could result in problems later on down the road. But also know that as is, is still some work. You have to do the paperwork first. Before a buyer really will remove every physical contingency on their property, you must fill out a lot of disclosures. And to have a full as is, you need to have a home inspection. You need to have a termite inspection. You probably should have a roof inspection if you didn’t install it and you don’t know how old it is. Any other thing that comes up in one of those reports, you should have investigated or get a bid for. There’s also the point-of-sale items. Depending on where you’re watching this from, here in Santa Cruz County, we have a sewer lateral maintenance that is asked that the seller do at the time of sale, but the seller can pass along to the buyer. But no buyer is going to take that as is without knowing. You must do upfront work of checking it out. It’s not just that easy that you’re as is. There’s still work to be done. Now, I would always encourage you to at least to paint, carpet, get the yard cleaned up, put extra stuff away, and put stuff in storage, and just do at least the bare minimum. A little secret here is carpet and paint also give the house a very fresh smell. People love it.
Also, there’s the HGTV effect. Haven’t heard of it? Well, maybe it’s because I made it up.
I really did. I think of it as when people look at houses online, they like to see the houses look like the houses they see on TV or whatever streaming channel that they’re watching, where they walk into the home, and they’re being romanced by glimmering chandeliers and shiny surfaces. Buyers just eat that up and the stack of offers come in when your house looks like that. Maybe you don’t want to do that. I’d still say do the bare minimum, or maybe you don’t have the money to do that. All your money is tied up in the equity of your home. Well, Coldwell Banker has a revitalize program, Revitalize your home where you can actually borrow against your home’s equity with the listing agreement and get that work done. We use Angie’s List to get the contractors, to do the work and get your home all set up and ready to go. If you don’t want to do the work, at least your realtor could get it done for you and still get you the highest possible price.
As is, is common sometimes in probate sales, trust sales, where the seller just says, “Look, I inherited this property. I’m not from the area. You can do some extra stuff if you want. The trust will pay for it, or maybe there’s some money left in an account to do it. Fine. Go ahead. If you don’t want to, I’d like to just get it on as soon as possible. Get me that highest price and I’ll be on my way.” There’s a couple different things to think about when you’re thinking about as is, but contact me.
I will look at your house and I will tell you, “If you’re thinking of as is, here’s littlest, kind of the least we can get away with and still get you a good price,” or, “You know what? I would really just go for it. You’re going to get a lot of interest, and you’ll get more money.”