Pros and Cons of Selling Your Home As-Is

Pros and Cons of Selling Your Home As-Is

The idea of selling your home as-is seems like an attractive option for many people. Especially if
you are aware of certain problems with your home. It might appear to be a great way to make
your life and the process of selling a lot less stressful. However, you should keep in mind that
this kind of sale is not for every homeowner. The reality of selling your home through this
method may not produce the results you expect.
Before deciding to sell your home as-is, you should get to know the pros and cons involved. The
first step is to get informed through blogs online.

What Selling Your Home As-Is Means

When you decide to sell your home as-is, it simply means that you will not be making any
repairs before the sale. The buyer will submit an “as-is offer”, or in other words – purchasing
your home in its current condition. So, as the seller, you have no obligation to fix any visible or
discovered issues during the buyer’s home inspection.

The Pros of an As-Is Sale

In many US real estate markets, this method is the standard for how homes are sold. Depending
on the market, there could be many benefits when selling as-is.
When it isn’t common, there are many reasons people would be selling their homes this way. For
example, many people opt for selling as-is if their situation requires relocation. Among many
other ways to ensure a quick transfer, people do this to get the sale over with and start the
moving process as soon as possible. And the fastest way to move long distance is by hiring
movers so they can take care of the preparations.

Avoiding Repair Costs

If you have to sell your home but cannot cover the repair costs or don’t have time to fix up your
home, this method is likely your only choice. However, getting in touch with a real estate agent
may help. They might know some other solutions that you haven’t considered. Anything you can
do to avoid this type of sale might be better for you in the long run, depending on your real estate
market.
 

Selling your home as-is is a great way to skip out on repair expenses if you can’t financially cover them.

Financial Pressure
Another situation where this kind of sale is a good choice is if you have serious money problems.
Not having to do repairs before or during the selling process can save time.
Homes like this attract many real estate investors who “flip” properties. Most investors pay cash.
That means that the sale can close within days or weeks. While you are almost definitely not
going to get anywhere near the real value of your home, you at least won’t have to wait
indefinitely for the right buyer to come along.
Something that could give you a good guess about whether this type of sale will work for you or
not is researching how other homes that are for sale in your area are doing.

Unoccupied Homes

If you have never lived in the home, selling it as-is can seem like a good idea. Perhaps the house
was an inherited asset, and you are unaware of the full condition of the property. However, you

will still have to disclose anything you do know. Even if you never resided on the property. For
example, if you’re aware of a roof leak, you must disclose it. Do not think that selling your home
as-is will absolve you from disclosing what you know about the home.

Shortening Negotiations

The process of negotiating a home sale can quickly get very frustrating. If your goal is to speed
that process up and stop further concessions, you can offer an as-is sale. Like this, you won’t
have to worry about getting a repair list from the buyer after the home inspection.
A home inspector will always find some issues, even in new constructions. So any profit
you might think you are losing from deciding to sell as-is and could just as easily have to go
towards making repairs if you don’t.

This kind of sale can significantly shorten the negotiation process.

The Cons of Selling As-Is

As you might imagine, this method will also have some drawbacks for the seller. These issues
mainly lead to the home becoming more difficult to sell or the price decreasing.

The Buyer Can Walk Away

Submitting an as-is offer doesn’t lock the buyer into going through with the transaction. In the
majority of the US, an as-is contract gives the buyer a specific window of time where they are
allowed to change their minds and cancel the contract.
So, what often happens is that the buyer conducts a home inspection, realizes the home needs too
much work and decides to cancel the contract last minute. In some cases, the buyer will get their

entire escrow deposit back. This means that your home could be off the market for weeks only to
have it come back onto the market.

Low Offers

Selling your home as-is can (and usually does) result in lowball offers. A lot of potential buyers
will assume you are desperate to sell. So, they will base their bids on that assumption. This
means that, if you are not patient enough, you could receive well below market value for your
home.
Waiting for a good offer can pay off, but usually, the longer a home sits on the market, the lower
the offers get.

Buyer Perceptions

As we have previously stated, the most common reason for selling a home as-is is that there are
some issues with it. While this isn’t always the case, a buyer won’t know. Their first assumption
will be that something is wrong with the home.
You have to remember that if you decide to sell as-is, your home could be less appealing to
potential buyers or even narrow down your buyer pool. All of this will, in turn, narrow down
your chances of receiving an offer.

 It might be a bit harder to find potential buyers in this situation, so coming up with a good marketing strategy is important.

Pro tip: 

If you get a good offer from buyers still on the fence, the great idea is to agree to a

compromise for their risk. Experts from Centennial Moving recommend offering to pay for their
moving expenses as a fringe benefit for taking the risk of buying as-is.

Finding the Right Price

Finding the right price for a home can be difficult, but it can become even more complicated
with an as-is sale. Getting a proper home evaluation is always the first step, but there is still some
thought to be put into it. On the one hand, if you end up listing too high, you won’t be able to
attract buyers. However, if you list too low, you could come up with the same result since buyers
can think there is something seriously wrong if you are listing $50,000 under market value.

Final thoughts
The pros of selling your home as-is aren’t always clear cut, with other options often looking
preferable. The cons involved, however, can be very significant and lead to you receiving far less
than you deserve if you’re unlucky. While selling as-is can pay off tremendously in certain
situations, it is a pretty big gamble and may not be the stress-free experience you expect.