Chris Buys Houses Fast in VA

And everywhere nationwide, buying Houses Fast anywhere in Virginia and the US

Sell your vacant lot fast in Richmond VA

A vacant lot is a financial drain.

You have to pay taxes on property that doesn’t produce income.

You have to pay to cut the grass.

You have to pay to keep the lot clean of trash.

Sell Your Vacant Lot for Cash - Richmond VA

How A Seller Got Rid of Her Vacant Lot

A seller contacted me about her vacant land.

She was behind on property taxes.

Her home needed repair.

Her husband had some debt that had to be paid off.

Would I buy her vacant parcel in the city of Richmond VA?

She needed to turn that lot into cash, sell that property fast, so that she could take care of those other more important needs.

That lot was an illiquid assest that she needed to sell fast and turn it into cash.

Would I buy her piece of dirt in Richmond’s Church Hill?

She sold her vacant lot

Richmond City has many parcels of land where houses use to sit. Houses were torn down and the ground sits clean and ready for a new house.

This lot was one such empty lot.

She and I agreed to a price to pay for her parcel of land and the paper work went to the title company.

I even agreed to pay all her closing costs.

There were some delays due to title issues, but once the title was cleaned up, she sold her vacant lot and the deal was done.

A happy seller of a vacant lot

The seller sold her lot fast.  She turned that vacant lot into cash to pay off her husband’s bills, clear up some of their debt and make repairs around their house.

I spoke with her again recently and here is what she told me:

Thanks for helping me sell my vacant lot fast.  I am so grateful and relieved that ordeal is over.  You persevered through the title problems and didn’t leave me hanging like a prior investor did. You got it done, and for that, I’m grateful – Ms. Cooper, Richmond VA

Sell your vacant lot

Do you have vacant land to sell? A building lot that could have a house on it?

Sell your vacant lot fast anywhere in the city of Richmond, Henrico County, or Chesterfield County.

Give me a call at 804-719-1489 and I’ll give you an offer or fill out the form at the “Get Offer” button below.

Get an offer on Your Vacant Lot

Good News for a Short Sale Sellers – Tax Break Extended

Source: http://www.housingwire.com/articles/35861-short-sale-tax-break-on-verge-of-being-extended-until-2017

Homeowners who had short sales in 2015 are about to get big break on their taxes, thanks for a massive federal spending bill that’s about to be signed into law by President Obama.

The Mortgage Debt Forgiveness Act was set to expire at the end of 2015, and without an extension, any mortgage forgiveness achieved in a short sale would have been counted as income for homeowners whom banks allowed to sell their homes for less than the amount of their mortgage during 2015.

But an extension to the Mortgage Debt Forgiveness Act was included in the fiscal 2016 federal appropriations and tax relief bill, which passed both the House of Representatives and the Senate on Friday.

The bill is now awaiting the signature of President Obama, who reportedly will sign the bill into law on Friday, meaning that borrowers who had short sales in 2015 are about to be able to breath a little easier.

Read more.

Short Sales are something that I have stayed away from

Sell your vacant land in Richmond VA

Richmond Virginia Vacant Lots Sell for Cash

Vacant land is a financial drain.

Your vacant lot sucks money out of your pocket.

In Richmond, you have to keep your parcel of vacant land clear – that means removing trash, keeping the grass cut, and keeping the right of ways clear.

If you cannot do the work yourself, you will be spending money.

Then there are real estate taxes.

On your income taxes, you don’t get depreciation deductions on your land like you would a rental house.

Each month, a vacant parcel of land is taking a portion of your income away from you and you will not get it back.

It is a hole that vacuums money out of your pocket.

Sell your vacant land in Richmond Virginia

In recent months, I’ve been buying vacant land that is ready to have a house put on it.  It takes about 4 months for a house to be built.

Sometimes those houses are resold to someone buying a house for the very first time (increasing property values in the neighborhood).

Other times, those houses are rental properties for tenants who want to live near where they work.

I’ve been focusing on Church Hill, an area of Richmond Virginia that is experiencing pockets of renovation.

In the last 12 months, sellers have sold their buildable pieces of vacant land for cash.

These are vacant building lots where sellers have:

  • Fallen significantly behind on real estate property taxes.
  • Inherited, but never gotten rid of the financial drain.
  • Turned their lot into cash that they need for something different.

Factors that influence value of vacant land

Sometimes selling dirt (vacant land) is hard.

Richmond has some complex rules regarding whether a house can be built on that vacant lot.

Setbacks from neighboring properties, lot size, road frontage, alley access, off street parking – these are just some of a variables that will influence the price you will get when you sell your vacant lot.

Sometimes the terrain is not right for a house – it’s too steep, too expensive to fill in, the soil is not stable.

Sometimes the neighborhood doesn’t justify new construction – houses that sell for 1/3 the price it takes to build one.

Sometimes the distance from a stream will determine how much of vacant lot is buildable.  I almost bought one lot that had a stream on it and these rules made it 100% unbuildable, unless I built it on stilts.  There was no value in doing so.

Sell your vacant land for cash

If you want to sell your vacant lot for cash in Richmond and areas, give me a call at 804-719-1489.

Or tap the get our offer button below and let’s start a conversation about your vacant lot.  There is no obligation to sell it to me.

 

How to sell your handyman special in Richmond Virginia

You want to sell your handyman special.

Your house is ugly.

Your house is out of date.

Your house needs more repairs than you care to imagine.

Perhaps you have smoked in the house and the walls are stained.

Perhaps you had really old pet who has soiled the flooring so bad that guests won’t enter your house.

Maybe the rotten bathroom floor has finally caved in from rot and you can’t even enter your bathroom.

I buy handyman specials.

I buy those types of houses.

I want to buy your handyman special.

I can close on a date of your choice, usually in as little as two weeks.

A recent handyman special

We Buy Handyman Specials

Last week, I closed on the purchase of  a handyman special.

I found it on the MLS and it was over 60 days on market.

The sellers were anxious to sell.

A vacant house can attract all sorts of problems and headaches for an absent owner.  (Including bullet holes).

If your handyman special sits too long, it will attract vandals.  That is what happened with this property in a decent working class neighborhood.

All of the replacement windows got shot out or broken.

Storm doors were destroyed.

I’ve had frozen pipes burst, gutters stolen, and even found a homeless man sleeping in the living room of the vacant house.

It was a handyman special

Because of it’s condition, it took me nearly two weeks to have the property inspected and form a budget for fixing it.  I couldn’t close on it in less than three weeks, mostly because of the time I needed to look at the scope of repairs.

The windows had been broken by vandals.

The house had been boarded up.

The storm doors had fallen off.

Light fixtures had been stolen.

The kitchen needed to be redone.

The two bathrooms needed complete makeovers.

All told, the amount of repairs on this house will approach nearly $45,000 dollars over the next 6-8 weeks.

What you need to do to get a fast offer on your handyman special

I buy handyman special houses.

The amount of repairs needed doesn’t really matter to me as long as that budget fits the formulas I use in my pricing.

If you want a fast offer on your handyman special, please call me directly at 804-719-1489 during normal business hours on the east coast.

How I made a Fast Offer on a Handyman Special

One of my ads for buying handyman specials caught the attention of a realtor who gave me a call with a house she swore she couldn’t sell.

I answer my own phone (unlike other We Buys Houses Fast companies).    The agent told me that her seller just wanted to get rid  of the house.

I made a fast offer of the handyman special.

We followed a pretty good process:

1.  We talked about the handyman property in its current condition.

2.  We talked about expected repairs that the realtor knew about.

3.  I ran the expected numbers through my formulas and found a price that worked for the seller and myself.

4.  I put house under contract with a 14 day inspection period and had signatures within 24 hours.

5.  I had the house inspected for repairs and to confirm the repair budget.

I made the offer on the house based on numbers and expected condition.  If you want to sell your house fast, we can follow a similar process based on expected repairs.

Fast Offer on Handyman Fixers

My Fast Offer for that house wouldn’t work.

Here is where it became impossible for me to buy this handyman special.

The inspections revealed all sorts of defects that the real estate agent didn’t know.

  • A 200 ft2 addition was added to the house without a permit.
  • The foundation of the addition was built on piers.
  • Siding and boards on the side of the house were touching the ground and rotting.
  • The electrical panel, installed outside, was not weather proofed and installed upside down.
  • Illegal (not to code) roof repairs required a complete roof replacement.
  • The kitchen floor slopped in two directions and could only be fixed from above (no crawlspace) by ripping out the existing tile floor and replacing it.

Many estimates of repair were exceeding 30,000 and one estimate went as high as 80,000 to fix.

HandyMan_Special10

In this case, the seller hadn’t told the realtor of all the problems, and the realtor had no clue of the amount of repairs.

With the amount of repairs exceeding the amount in my calculations, we agreed to part ways.  The seller had no room to cut the price because of a loan on the house.

If you are a seller and want to sell your house fast, you need to be realistic about the amount of repairs.  In this case, I was unable to buy this handyman special, even though they got our offer fast.

What you need to do to get a fast offer on your handyman special

I do buy handyman special houses.

The amount of repairs needed doesn’t really matter to me as long as that budget fits the formulas I use in my pricing.

In order to have finished with the agreement to purchase this house, the price would have needed to go down another 30,000 to allow it to fit into my formulas.  This would allow for extreme circumstances if the un-permited section had to be torn and rebuilt.

If you want a fast offer on your handyman special, please call me directly at 804-719-1489 during normal business hours on the east coast.

Or fill out the form below.

Get an offer

Some Good News for the Richmond Housing Market

Richmond Biz Sense reports on April 3, 2014 the following news for the Richmond housing Market, particularly Hanover County:

Developers plan two new residential developments in Hanover County that will encompass more than 150 homes.

Hanover Land Investors LLC, led by developer Henry Shield, is planning to build 48 detached, single-family houses and 73 single-family townhouses on a 22-acre property near the intersection of Pole Green Road and Bell Creek Road in Mechanicsville. . . . .

An attorney for the developer said plans include commercial development for the adjacent three acres. Andrew Condlin, with the firm Roth Doner Jackson, said the space could be used house something like a pharmacy and a 10,000-square-foot shopping center.

The property is located across Pole Green Road from the Shoppes at Bell Creek. Shield developed the Shoppes at Bell Creek and the adjacent housing subdivision.

The project could go before the county planning commission as early as April 17. Condlin said the proposed development, which has met some resistance from local residents, fits in with the county’s views for growth in its comprehensive plan.

“Hanover County has designated areas in the county for development and this is one of them,” Condlin said.

…..

A few miles away, Hanky LLC is gearing up to build a 17-acre development off Adams Farm Road near Lowe’s on Mechanicsville Turnpike. The county recently approved the project, which calls for 49 single-family houses, developer Mike Hanky said.

Hanky LLC plans to build 49 houses on Adams Farm Road near Lowe’s in Mechanicsville.

The new development, which could be named Adams Farm, is located near the Travellers Run subdivision. The Hanover County Board of Supervisors has approved the development.

Hanky said he and his brother plan to develop the property — previously a working farm — and install infrastructure. After that, they expect to sell the lots to builders, he said. They’ll likely start “pushing dirt” in late summer or early fall.

Original Source: Here (link broken)

Good News for Richmond Housing Market

This is good news for the Richmond Virginia housing market.  Some home builders are returning to the market.

While I don’t buy new construction houses, I rejoice that new construction is happening.

At the price points in those new subdivisions, it suggests a growing job base that can support mortgage payments for houses that size.

What type of houses I buy

I buy houses fast from sellers with handyman specials, everywhere in the Richmond housing market.

If your house is a handyman special, I’d be happy to make a cash offer on your as-is house.

Richmond Housing Market

Stock photo.

Sell My House Fast in Richmond VA

You have your own reason for wanting to sell your house fast in Richmond Virginia.

You want a fast offer.

You want a fair offer.

You have found the right group.

Maybe you need the cash.

Maybe you need to avoid foreclosure.

Maybe it’s been a condemned.

We buy houses for cash in the Richmond Virginia area. We’ve been doing this since 2001.

Some sellers may have found that they need to

  • relocate
  • avoid foreclosure
  • avoid costly repairs

All of these may suggest that you want to sell your house fast in the Richmond area because there is no time for clean up, high end repairs, or not enough money in your hand to make the repairs.

Get offer

to sell your house fast in Richmond VA

You’ll sell your house fast with me.

There are several investor homebuyers like me in our market who offer to buy your house quickly.

Why spend hours making phone calls that they don’t return?

Why spend hours talking with an intake operator who will say “I’ll pass this along” and you never hear back from them?

When you call us, you’ll likely get me on the phone.  No intermediaries.

You talk direct with me about selling your house fast as-is in Richmond or anywhere else.

They waited to the last minute to avoid foreclosure

The most dangerous mistake you can make if your house is falling into foreclosure is to delay.

One seller waited nearly too late to avoid foreclosure.

Avoid_Foreclosure_in_Virginia_11

What did this seller do to avoid foreclosure.

This particular person was loosing his inherited house to foreclosure.

The house needed nearly 20,000 in repairs and the seller had emotionally given up on it.

The seller found my “We Buy Houses” ad in the newspaper and gave me a call at 804/719-1489.    He got me on the phone instead of a office assistance.

His house was nearly 1 hour outside of Richmond Virginia.

We setup an appointment.

The Seller almost was too late to avoid foreclosure

The auction was in under a week.

I offered to take over the payments of the existing mortgage, and give him some of his equity.

It was enough for him to start over.

After signing the paperwork, we ordered title work on the house.

This is for our protection as a buyer and your protection as a seller.

It took about 48 hours for the title research to be done, since this house was out in the country.

A title surprise almost derailed it.

This is where we ran into a title surprise that almost cost him the whole deal.

The last minute surprise almost caused the seller to loose everything to foreclosure.

He was not the sole owner.

He had inherited the house from his mother, but only his mother’s half.

Other siblings inherited a portion of the mother’s share.

To make maters worse, a former stepfather that the siblings didn’t like still owned the other half the house.

All told, there were 4 people on the title, and only 3 of them sharing 1/2 of the house.

How the Sellers decided to avoid foreclosure

We had the family have a meeting at the house.  It was tense, it was tough, it was not an easy deal to assemble.

Siblings didn’t like the fact that an ex step father was on title.

Siblings didn’t like that their brother had been irresponsible and not made the mortgage payments.

No one liked that the portion of the equity we agreed to give to the seller was now divided into much smaller parts.

Their option was clear – everyone sign off, or loose the equity payment to auction.

Accept the cash in proportional share at closing by signing the agreement, or accept nothing because the house would go to auction.

Did I mention that the family meeting was the day BEFORE the foreclosure auction?

They signed and we bought their house

After we closed on their house, they got their various portions of their check, and we had a house to rehab.

We fixed it up with nearly 20,000 in repairs and then resold it.  That same house is now pictured here:

We help sellers avoid foreclosure

Act Now to Avoid Foreclosure

Learn from this seller.

You have to act now to avoid foreclosure in Virginia.  Don’t wait until the last minute.

Their last minute rush put them in a panic position when there was a surprise on the title work.

It is much easier to sell your house when it is not the last minute.

If you want our offer to help you avoid foreclosure (anywhere in Virginia), click here and see your options

How to Sell Your House Fast in Emporia Virginia

Sell House Fast Emporia VirginiaI’ve driven through Emporia Virginia several times in my life.

For many people, Emporia is simply an exit off of Interstate I-95, with a few police radar hiding spots nearby to catch speeders zipping through.

A few years ago, I bought a house pretty fast in Emporia, by taking over the mortgage payments.

It was a cute craftsman style house that had been beat up to become a handyman special.

How that Emporia seller sold his house fast

In working with the seller, we followed a pretty good process:

1.  We talked about his Emporia property in its current condition – it was a handyman special.

2.  We talked about expected repairs that he knew about, including the repairs he’d make if he had the money to do it.  The repairs were too much for him.

3.  I ran the expected numbers through my formulas and found a price that worked for the seller and myself.

4.  I put house under contract with a 14 day inspection period and had signatures within 24 hours.

5.  I had the house inspected for repairs and to confirm the repair budget.

6.  We closed on that Emporia house in under 2 weeks. by taking over the payments.

I had the house rehabbed, and then resold on the open market, and made a reasonable return on what I invested.

The key step this seller took to sell his house fast was to allow me to take over his mortgage payments.

That lowered my cost of money, and allowed me to give him those savings.

How You Sell Your House Fast in Emporia

I want to buy another house in Emporia.

Because of recent changes in the Real Estate market there, I think an investor might do well buying homes to rehab and well as homes to hold onto as rental properties.

If you are not receiving results from listings homes with real estate agents, you can benefit from our service in Emporia Virginia.

We can assist you with securing a faster date of sale, as long as your price fits our formulas.  We’ll offer you a fair price.

If you have

any where in Emporia or surrounding areas, I’d like to help you sell your house fast.

Take Action

The first step is a free consultation with me.

To start, call me directly at 804/719-1489.  I answer my own phone, rather than send you to a call center half-way around the world.

If it is outside of normal business hours,  fill out this form for our fast offer.

I’ll call you to learn more about your Emporia property, or anywhere in the surrounding counties.

Beautiful House in Emporia

 

3 Tips to Sell Your House Fast When it Has Problems

Some houses are a problem to sell via normal and traditional channels.  It’s hard to sell your house fast when there are problems with it.

Various problems I’ve seen

Here is an extreme problem:

Handyman Special

The seller couldn’t sell that house fast – it was missing an exterior wall.

Other houses are hard to sell fast because they are full of junk and smells, like when a hoarder lets the cats scat everywhere.

We_Buy_Houses_Fast_01

I’ve seen all sorts of houses that are hard to sell fast because of the problems that exist:

  • Last updated 80 years ago.
  • Wall paper that would make my grandmother cringe.
  • Live roaches crawling in every room.
  • Infestations of rats, roaches, spiders.
  • Termites that have eaten away the framing.
  • A hot water heater installed in the attic, which burst and caused the ceiling to fall in.
  • Structures so old that the studs were shaved trees.
  • Incomplete Renovations

We_Buy_Houses_Fast_02

3 Tips to Sell Your House Fast when it has problems

Houses like this are hard to sell quickly to future home buyers.

Normal home buyers are repulsed at odors and scared of extreme repairs.

1.  Find a real estate investor who loves handyman properties

I love properties with problems that can’t sell fast.

I love to purchase handyman specials.

Even if I do not personally buy it, I am networked with enough people that you don’t have to find them.

You don’t have to call every we buy houses persons in the phone book.

Call me and I’ll help you sell your handyman house fast.

2.  Price it right.

If your house is in need of significant repairs, you have to price your house right for a handyman investor to buy your house.

Most real estate investors like myself follow the same formulas in calculating our offers.

With so many foreclosures available in the current real estate market, your handyman house would need to be priced even lower than your competition.

Why?

Ask yourself this:

Would an investor spend the same amount of money on my fixer upper as they would on the move-in ready foreclosure down the street?  The answer is no.

If 80,000 could buy you a ready to move in house (only needs 5,000 to make ready) vs. your 80,000 house that needs 25,000 in repairs, which would you buy?

No

You won’t be able to receive top dollar for your handyman special.

But you don’t have to give your house away either.

Call me for a fair offer on your handyman fixer upper.

3.   Detach your emotions from your handyman house.

One seller was so emotionally attached to her house that she couldn’t sell it at a realistic price.

She saw that houses around her were selling for 135,000 and that is what she wanted for her house that was 80 years out of date.

We estimated that to fix the windows, install the air conditioning system, fix the floors, modernize the electrical system, straighten the structure, replace the roof and many more repairs and updates would cost nearly $80,000.

Because it was the house her parents had given her, the house she grew up in, her emotions flatly rejected our offer.  Her emotions prevented her from seeing that her house was not comparable to the $135,000 homes around her.

If you have a house that has problems, forgo the emotions.

Call me, and I’ll help you face some of those fears and will gently walk you through the process of our offer price.

Start Selling Your House

If you want to start a discussion with me about selling your house fast, call me directly during normal business hours.

804/719-1489.

I try to answer my own phone.

Or fill out this form and we can start a confidential conversation.

Get an offer

Sell_My_House_Fast_Richmond_47BB