Termite infestations, water-damaged floors, leaking bathroom pipes, broken HVAC systems — these are just a few common property issues that create a notable impression on your potential buyers. Ideally, if the damage level is too risky for the safety and health of occupants, the problems have to be addressed immediately. But sometimes, you may not be able to afford repair expenses right when you need to.

But what do you do when you need to sell your house already, and there is just too much going on in your house that’s getting in the way of letting you sell it fast?  Here are a few thoughts to consider:

Degree of Damage

First things first: when we talk about fixing a house, there are two categories that can fall under “things that need some fixing”. These are functional damages and house design. 

Functional damages include your water-damaged floors, molds, faulty electrical system, A/C system that’s not working, stuck windows, rotten stairwell railings, pool piping that’s constantly overgrown by algae, caving foundation, etc. On the other hand, your house design includes everything that contributes to how your house looks — color themes, furniture arrangement, stuff organization, linens, cleanliness, layout, etc.

You can hire a local contractor to assess the damages and draft a cost estimate for you. Don’t worry, you may have to pay for consultation, but you don’t necessarily have to push through with the renovation works.

House Condition of Your Neighborhood Comps

Selling at market price would mean that you will be competing with other houses on the market in your area. This is where a comparative market analysis is most helpful. If you are going to sell your Georgia house through an agent, your agent will do this analysis for you. If not, you can research online for recently sold homes in your neighborhood and do a bit more investigative work on their conditions prior to sale.

If there were houses that had similar conditions as your house, then you’ll know what kind of repair/renovation works were valuable. Even better, if you find houses that had similar situations as your house but were sold as-is, then you know that there are interested buyers who are willing to buy houses as-is in your location.

Financing

If you think there are too many things that need some fixing in your house, the biggest question here is how much money can you afford to throw into repairs and renovations? If you have the budget or think that you can find the funding to finance these repairs, then the next question is, which components should you fix, and how much will they cost you?

It would be wise if you can prioritize functional components first rather than design, especially when there are buyers who are planning on converting your house to a rental property. If you don’t have the cash to repair your house, you can look for renovation lenders in Georgia. Just remember to factor in your repair costs when you set a price for your house. In that way, once you sell your house, you would be able to pay your renovation lender without compromising your potential net profit.

On the other hand, if you are not willing to borrow money to repair your house, you can also sell it to professional home buyers like us. We can buy your property as-is without you lifting a single finger to fix it.

Probability of Getting a Return of Investment

What is the outlook for the Georgia real estate market now?  Are experts projecting a downward trend in housing prices for the next few months? Or do they see an upward trend in demand for the following years? What about inventory?

These are other types of information that you’ll need to brush up on when you are thinking about whether to fix your house before selling or not.  If the market is projected to decline (lesser market buyers), you may want to be conservative with your repair expenses if you want to sell your house fast. A “cold market” means that your buyers have more options, so you’ll need to make your offer price as irresistible as you can (irresistible, meaning as low as you can).

The same goes for when you are not willing to spend on repairs. There are investor buyers for fixer-uppers, but you’ll also need to take a look at how much these investors are willing to pay. Typically, these investors will also depend on their budget, the profitability of your location once they buy your house and many more factors. It would be a good idea to get thoughts from a couple of buyers who have been investing in your area.  

If you want to sell your house as-is without doing any repair work, you can talk to us and let’s see how much we can buy your house for. If you are also concerned because you’ve accumulated too much stuff in your house and don’t know what to do with them, we can also take care of that for you! You don’t have to look for temporary storage or do garage sales anymore because you can leave them all behind if you sell your house to us!

Dial us up at (678) 318-1801 or send us an email via the form below!