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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Your house is out of date.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

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

 

I Want to Sell My Handyman Special in Richmond

If you’ve got a handyman special that you want to sell, I’d be interested in buying it.

In this video, you’ll see some of the handyman specials I’ve been involved in:

The three sided house is my favorite photo of a handyman special.

I almost bought it, but a snag in the title work kept the seller from selling their ugly fixer upper to me.

The amount of repairs needed will be calculated in my offer to you to buy your house.  But the amount of repairs doesn’t bother me.

I’ve had to jack up houses, replace joists, straighten out sinking houses, and even had all the wiring and plumbing replaced.

If you want to sell your handyman special, I’d be happy to make you an offer.

You can turn your house into cash in just a few days.

Get an offer

Evaluate Your Own Rehab Budget

If your house needs a lot of repairs, you may be horrifically surprised at the cost of those repairs.  Most sellers I speak to have no idea how to estimate repairs or form a realistic rehab budget.

Not too long ago, I visited the house of  seller whose house had not been updated since the early 1940s.

When we visited the house, our renovation estimate to bring the house to the current FHA standards was nearly $80,000.  The seller’s best guess was $15,000.

Clearly, we didn’t see the same amount of repairs.

How not to be deceived on the rehab budget.

You might feel that the real estate investor is blowing smoke when it comes to a rehab budget.

Here is how not to be deceived.

Get your own contractor estimates.

I have often told homeowners that to understand the nature of the repairs needed to their handyman house, they will need to get their own estimates of repairs.

If you want to know for sure that the real estate investor is giving you a realistic rehab number that they are calcuating, then go and get your own price for rehabbing your house.

I found this little video that shows how you could potentially talk with a contractor to help you get that rehab budget.

Make sure a real estate investor’s estimate of rehab is in line with contractor estimates.

That will give you the confidence to know that you will be treated fairly by the investor who is offering to buy your house.

To help yourself understand the rehab budget, get your own contractor estimates.

An experienced investor will know a rehab budget

If you wish to sell your handyman special to an investor, they will calculate a rehab budget into their offer price.

An experienced investor will know a good rehab budget, whereas an inexperienced investor will likely make a guess and guess wrong.

If your rehab budget is beyond your ability

Sell_My_Handyman_Special_01

If you find that your rehab budget to fix your handyman special is way too far out of reach for you, we’d be interested in buying it.

We promise that we will give you a fair price for your handyman special as is.

Our team has been buying handyman specials since 2004 and we have a pretty good knack for determining a realistic rehab budget that will influence our offer price to you.

Call me during normal business hours or fill out the form here and I will give you a call

Get an offer

How to sell my inherited home for cash in Virginia

Even though at this point you and I are anonymous, I want to communicate my condolences with your loss.

Did you just inherit an unwanted piece of real estate or home in Virginia (or any other state for that matter)?

Sell_My_Inherited_House_Fast_Richmond_BB

Maybe you have had this inherited home

  • a few years ago,
  • wasn’t sure what to do about it,
  • and now the house you inherited is just a vacant house,
  • sitting there as a museum to a deceased loved one
  • until you finally got around to dealing with it.

Unloading a inherited home where you may have grown up, or a relative may have passed away can be emotionally challenging.

  • Not wanting to let go.
  • Giving up a piece of your past.
  • Years, if not decades of memories in that inherited home.

Sell An Inherited Home In Virginia

casketIf you do find yourself needing to sell an inherited home, perhaps I can help make at least that ONE process a little more straightforward and easy to understand.

I can relieve the stress of dealing with this inherited home as the mortgage statements keep coming in, and the other bills pile up.

Selling a inherited home in Virginia can quickly get those

  • pesky mortgage  payments off your hands
  • Free up the equity
  • allow you to pay the taxes, final services, and so forth.

Getting rid of that inherited home allows you to finish settling some debt and take those tax payments off your hands.

Perhaps I can help you to sell your inherited home in Virginia.

As a private and professional home buyer, I meet with families and discuss their options and their situation.

Sometimes I can buy their inherited home.

When I buy inherited homes, there are no real estate agents, no commissions and no open houses.

I can make the sale of your home that you inherited a quick transaction.

I’ve done them in as little as four days, though usually they take about 2-3 weeks to finalize the sale of the estate.

You don’t have to hassle with dozens of people coming through at all hours of the day and night. Nor will you suffer from concerns about not knowing when or if your inherited Virginia home will ever sell.

Call me to see if I will buy your inherited home

I’ll be able to tell you whether your inherited house in Virginia may be something I’m interested in buying, with just a 10 minute phone call

If working with me doesn’t make the most sense for you, I’ll be the first to tell you that.

I will cheerfully point you in another, better direction.

Call me at 804-719-1489 during normal business hours, 9-5 Eastern time.

Or fill out this form to start the conversation to sell your inherited home.

Get an offer

How to sell your house in 10 days

Lots of websites claim that you can sell your house in 10 days.

These “we buy houses” websites claim that you can sell your house in 10 days and be done with the entire transaction.

Imagine that:

  • call,
  • contract,
  • close,
  • cash in hand in less than 10 days.

Can it be possible in this market to sell your house that fast?

Sell_My_House_Fast_HandyManSpecial_27

The Secret to your 10 day house sale.

Let me fill you in on the secret to selling your house in 10 days.

Price or terms.

Before I explain how that works, let me share with you two reasons normal real estate transactions take so long

1.  Price at market level.

If you want top market dollar to sell your house fast, you will not sell your house in 10 days.

Those days are over.

Bidding wars for houses are rare.

Your house is like 200 others on the market that people can look at.

It might take 30-120 days for a buyer to even choose your house.

2. Banking delays.

If your buyer needs a bank loan, you’ll have to wait 45-60 days in current market conditions for a bank approval.

And sometimes, banks will not loan on a house even if the buyer agrees to a price.

I’ve got second hand stories of banks killing an agreement because they don’t like the price.

To close your transaction quickly, you’ll need to avoid the banks and have a cash buyer.

How to sell your house in 10 days.

Cash home buyers are professionals who either buy houses to fix and resell them, or buy houses to hold them as rentals.

These cash home buyers are looking for returns on their investment, not a home to live in.

For any of these “we buy houses” people to deploy their cash, your house will need to make them a reasonable return.

Thus, you as the seller must price your house according to the formulas they need to make a good return.

If everyone around you is asking for $100,000, and you will sell your house for $60,000, you’ll sell your house in 10 days, depending on the condition of the property.

By the time the house is fixed up and resold, the investor may only make 10-15% return after expenses.

If everyone around you asks for $100,000 and you will sell for $90,000, you’ll not sell your house in 10 days to anyone in this industry for cash.

Terms

If you will be flexible and allow for terms such as

  • taking over payments
  • holding a note for the equity, or
  • lease option your property

You can get a much higher price and close your transaction in 10 days or less.

The seller of one house I dealt with was willing to wait 5 years for her funds – she got an above market price in less than 10 days because she offered terms.

Another house seller let me to take over the mortgage payments and that gave them a closing in less than 14 days.  After I rehabbed the house, I sold it and paid off the mortgage.

To Sell Your House in 10 days

If you want to sell your house in 10 days or less, these are some of the criteria you’ll have to consider to help make it work.

If you are not sure and want to talk with a professional, you can give me a call at 804-719-1489 during normal business hours.

The consultation is free and confidential.

Get an offer

How to Sell Your House AS IS

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 “as is” because there is no time for clean up, high end repairs, or not enough money in your hand to make the repairs.

Sell my house fast as is

Sell your house for cash as is

“As is” is just that.  We have bought these types of homes since we have been in business.  Here are some examples:

  • Rotten floor joists from bathroom toilet leak.
  • Trees growing through the living room floor.
  • Second stories that have collapsed into the first floor.
  • One house missing an exterior wall

missingwall

Now these are extreme rehab examples.  However, we have bought houses that are pretty, just out of date.

  • Outdated but functional kitchen.
  • Homeowners association complaints about siding and exterior repairs.
  • Estate clutter.

sellhouse as is

If we talk about the fast sale of your home, we’d take it as is.

No need to make repairs, no need to fix things up.  No need to clean out the junk.

That is what we do.  We clean it out.  We make the repairs.  You simply get rid of your headache.

What now?

Call me during normal business hours in Virginia.  I try to answer my own phone:

804-719-1489

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

Get offer

to sell your house fast in Richmond VA