Ask Phyllis!

Selling As Is

Dear Phyllis,
   I am moving my mother into an assisted living facility. Her home is 70 years old but most everything is in working order – just old. I want to sell her home AS IS, I don’t want to paint, or even clean or empty the home.  In other words, I want to move her and be done with the house, is this even possible?   JT

Dear JT,
Absolutely. It is a seller’s market and if you are not concerned with selling at the highest possible price, you can contact a local real estate agent who can do just that. There are several ways this can be handled:

List the home AS IS in the same condition as when you lock the door.  If priced well, it will certainly sell.  The buyer can assume responsibility for emptying and cleaning the home after closing.

But a better way to handle this is to contact a local real estate agent who is going to do more than place a For Sale sign in the ground. A valuable service we provide is helping the seller prepare their home for sale.  At a minimum the Realtor® you hire should arrange the following without your involvement:

•   Meet the Salvation Army (or whomever) to donate anything valuable (you should be provided a tax receipt).

•  Hire someone to have the home cleaned and any remaining items hauled (this vendor should be paid by the escrow company at closing).

These two simple steps should net your mother a minimum of an additional $15,000.00. But you can also find a real estate agent who can do much more than that. Most experienced real estate agents should be able to make a punch list of items that need tending, such as: landscape clean up, paint, flooring, replacing outdated light fixtures and cabinet hardware. Again, if you hire the right real estate agent, they can do all of this for your mother. The agent you hire should oversee the work and the vendors should be paid at closing.

I recognize that your mother’s comfort is the priority. But you can simply turn all of these details over to a Realtor® who is agreeable and capable of taking all of this off your hands. Best of luck to you on your mother’s move.

  Phyllis Harb