Steve D Valentine and a co-host break down three ways to sell an inherited house: as-is, cleaned up and listed, or fully renovated. They argue that without local help or deep pockets, selling quickly for certainty usually beats waiting for a higher price.
October 22, 2024
Three siblings
$200,000
So I think the initial reaction to this phone call when these sellers called me was to help them. And I knew that there were a lot of different ways to do that. But at the end of the day, like we knew that they needed to sell this house. There was no way that they were going to rent it out or anything like that. None of the family members live here. They have no one here to be able to help manage a property unless they really felt like they wanted to fix it up and rent it out. Which that was never really a part of the discussion. So it made sense that they were going to sell it. Now the question, and we kind of talked through this with them, was that they have a couple options when it came to selling it. Did they just want to sell it as is and not lift another finger? Did they want to clean it up themselves and throw it on the market and see what happens? Or did they want to go through a full renovation, fix it up? The, the second option, you kind of have to have somebody boots on the ground to be able to do that stuff. And the third option obviously takes a lot of money to be able to throw out a property. So in this specific scenario, it makes sense that they decided to go with the option that they did, which was.
Yeah. So it's strategy three. And we went through the three strategies with them, which is, you know, fix it up. And by the way, let's set the stage. The house is inherited, Right. It's trust. There's three siblings involved in it. And, you know, going through the options. When we got here, it wasn't nearly as hot as it is now, but they were out working, throwing things away. They had gone through all these dumpsters, they still wouldn't listen. Yeah. Because no matter what they did, it wasn't going to be clean enough to get there. And then strategy two is putting it on the market as is. Right. And again, you made the point. They don't live here. We're really not finance with broken windows, green pool, all the things. So, you know, number two as is, I'm just watching the sweat pour down your freaking forehead. Right.
It's hot.
So option two really isn't a good idea for them because you're just going to get a lot of low ball offers, a lot of bullshit. They really did, at the end of the day, want certainty and ease.
Right.
And that was where it was worth them to just sell us the house rather than go through this, this or this. And they had some other investors and this, that and the other, we got to Match one of them and come in because you had the relationship with them. So this is one of those things that I think people just need to see what's possible and go, hey, here's this option or this option. So this case they chose a great option. Get out of it. We have to deal with what's here, ease certainty for them and potentially a profitable deal for us on the way up.
Right. And there's no wrong answer in that either. When people are deciding, I think that really like the decision of the family or whoever the seller is is going to depend on what their time and finances look like. You know, if they had had somebody that was here in Arizona and they had, you know, $200,000 to pour into this house and then make a huge profit on it, then they would totally have done that. The problem is that those two things were lacking. Whereas somebody that maybe lives in Arizona or has family members in Arizona that maybe they inherited a house from, that they can be a little bit more hands on. Those other options might open up a little bit more for them.
Yeah, I mean, you make a really good point, is that all three of those options are there for anybody to choose and it's the pros and cons of each. And then they get to decide what variables and situation in their life make sense with those.
Right.
You know, we were just over at another house. We're same thing. You know, 80 year old lady that was selling the house, the house is in disarray. It's half remodeled, half not. You know, we ended up buying it after it canceled twice. Like this should have been sold off market.
Yeah.
Like why'd you do this to this old lady? And the funny thing is the price difference. She actually probably would have netted more if she had just sold it as is off market. If I would have bought it.
Yeah. Versus worry about commissions. You don't have to worry about was the same the time period of holding it. I don't know if she has a mortgage on it, but if she did, you still have, you know, you stop to have utilities on, so electricity, water, all that stuff. And then if you have a mortgage, add that on top. So it's like there's a lot of hidden costs that are associated with holding a property and with doing the other two options where you're selling it on market in either as is or refinance situation. And when you already have perfectly good homes sitting on the market for over a month. Now imagine a house that looks like this and it's like you have to expect that there's going to be a lot longer time period before you find that right buyer that's going to want to buy that house. It's just a more unique, you know, scenario for somebody.
So, hey, at the end of this, subscribe, like, do all that fun stuff. Keep this in mind, is that a great real estate strategist is going to give you some options, not just one option, because there's not just one way to sell a house. There's actually five ways, and we even have some secret ways. So if you were looking for a strategy with your property, whether it looks like this shithole or something else, we'd love to talk to you. Sit down and just go over the strategies, the options, so that you can make a decision that works best for you and your situation.
It’s Not What Your House Is Worth; It’s What It Can Do for You (Pause, Identify, Respond)
