by Sean Hess (Sean@StAugTeam.com), Broker and Manager for St. Augustine Team Realty (www.StAugustineTeamRealty.com). Join us on Facebook.
How do you make repairs when you have no cash?
So you’re selling your home. The carpet is trashed. It needs paint. The windows…they’ve seen better days.
How do you make repairs when you don’t have the cash?
There may be other options but I will offer two.
The first is to replace the carpet via a 12-month no interest, no payment plan that some carpet retailers or home improvement stores offer. You will have to have good credit to do this, obviously. And you better sell the property before the carpet comes due, otherwise you’ll not only pay for the carpet but you’ll have to pay all the interest, too.
The second option is to get estimates for the repairs to be done and offer that amount as a credit at closing. You can do this if you have equity.
If you don’t have equity and you don’t have credit, there’s not a lot you can do. What you will have to do is sell at a somewhat discounted price, maybe at an even greater discount than if you were to offer a credit for repairs.
The one repair that’s tricky to get around is if the roof needs done. Sometimes a bank needs for the roof to have 3-5 years left of expected life in order to approve the financing. If the roof is on its last legs then it may not get through financing, thus it will have to be repaired (or you have to hope a cash buyer comes along). In these cases sometimes the buyer will front the repairs for a discount on the price.
Do you need a real estate team that can get your home sold? Get the St. Augustine Team working for you…email us at requestion@StAugTeam.com, or visit the St. Augustine Team sellers page!
