If you put your house on the market with a realtor, you’ll in all likelihood attract buyers looking for a new home for their family, often with a limited budget and the need for a mortgage. While the market boom post-pandemic has led to many a bidding war, and in some cases, waiving an inspection, there’s no way to avoid an inspection entirely if you’re selling to everyday people.
Why not? Because most people are buying their primary residence, and so don’t have the budget for unexpected, costly repairs. And, if you want to sell a house without an inspection, the likelihood is you know or suspect the home needs repairs or renovations in the near future.
So, that leads us to the question: can you sell a house without an inspection? Read on to find out.
Can You Sell a Home Without an Inspection?
The short answer is yes, but you won’t be able to sell your home to the average buyer. Selling a home as-is and attempting to avoid a serious inspection means you’ll rule out all buyers that need a mortgage, and limits your market to cash buyers.
Most cash buyers are interested in purchasing homes because they consider it an investment. While a very small percentage of cash buyers may purchase a property with the intention of making it their primary residence, most will do the property up and sell it for a profit, or rent it out.
How Does Selling a Home As-Is Work?
If you’re selling a home “as-is”, you generally have 3 options:
- Auction the property – this is the least common choice, as most properties put up for auction are foreclosures and tax default properties. However, it may be a good option if you’ve inherited a property in bad condition and just need it off your hands as soon as possible.
- Put it on the market for cash buyers and investors only – if your property may attract a lot of attention as an investment property, and you aren’t short on time, listing your home with a realtor with good connections may help you maximize your profit.
- Sell to a cash home buying company – businesses like ours operate by buying homes for cash in a short timeframe; as little as days or weeks, rather than weeks or months. If you’re trying to avoid foreclosure, are itching to be somewhere else, or have already moved and your property is standing empty with little interest from buyers, this will be the best option for you.
Cash home buying companies will usually do a walk-through of your home and then give you a no-obligation offer, based on all the normal factors such as location, the health of the market there, and the general condition. They won’t “inspect” the home in the traditional sense.
Once you receive the offer, you can then reject or accept the offer.
Is Selling Your House As-Is Right for You?
Selling your home as-is isn’t right for everyone, though it likely is if you’re considering it seriously. Here are a few considerations you should keep in mind as you make your decision:
- You will make less – though “less” in this context may be purely hypothetical since it’s less than if your home was market-ready. If you can’t or don’t want to afford the repairs, then this point won’t matter to you. However, if you are considering making the repairs, it may be worth getting an appraisal so you can decide whether or not it’s worth your time and money making them before you move.
- It’s the best way to sell a home with problems – everything deteriorates over time, and it can often be easy to ignore issues until it’s too late. If you know or suspect there’s a problem, then selling as-is will be the best way to sell. Note that you can’t pull the wool over buyers’ eyes, whether they’re regular joes or experienced investors. In Massachusetts, you’re only legally required to disclose two things: the presence of lead paint and a septic system. However, if a buyer asks you a question about the property, you cannot legally lie or hide the truth, and doing so may make you liable for repair costs in the future. For this reason, if you know about a problem, it’s best to be upfront about it.
- It’s the best way to move quickly – selling as-is to a cash home buying company is by far the fastest way to sell a home, period. There are times in life when you just need to move on as fast as possible, and selling your biggest asset can often free you from a number of unpleasant situations. If you’re trying to avoid foreclosure, suddenly need to move across the country, or had your dream property come up for sale well within your budget, selling your home for cash can be the answer you’re looking for. You can often have the cash in your pocket within just days or weeks of contacting a cash home buying company, freeing you to move on with your life.
How to Sell Your Home As-Is in Massachusetts
If you’re thinking about selling a house as-is in Massachusetts, we’d love to help. We’ll look at your property, offer you a fair price for it, and then it’s up to you to take or reject our offer – no strings attached. If you like our offer, we’ll move quickly to ensure the sale is completed quickly, allowing you to move on with your life.
To find out more or to contact us to get the ball rolling, click here to learn how we buy houses in Massachusetts!