Divorce is hard to go through for several different reasons, some of which may seem more obvious than others. It can be hard to handle the practicalities of divorce if you’re also trying to do the emotional work necessary to keep yourself together. For that matter, a divorce may involve children, in which can the parents need to figure out how to navigate splitting up their families. Perhaps one of the biggest issues that comes up for those facing divorce, however, is what’s going to be done with a house the spouses shared together. There is nothing that dictates that you must give up your house when you divorce. Whether it was owned by both spouses or one, they have the option to hold onto the house following a split. But for several reasons, many divorcing couples choose to sell their houses. For one thing, there is a lot of emotional baggage tied to a home following a divorce. For another, a large house is no longer necessary when you’re downsizing; even if you have children, you may only have them for half the time if you’re divorcing, and therefore you might not require the kind of excess space that you had in your old house. But one of the biggest reasons why houses are sold during a divorce is simply that splitting up costs money — sometimes a lot of it.
At its most basic, a divorce involves dividing a household, which means that both parties will likely lose assets. For that matter, they’re going from what could have been a combined income if both parties worked, to a single income. One spouse may owe the other alimony, or child support, or both. Furthermore, the cost of divorce lawyer services is not small, and if a divorce becomes particularly nasty it may go to court, which will only cost more in the long term. All things considered, it’s often a good idea to sell your home as quickly as possible when you’re divorcing. But if you’re looking to sell your house fast and don’t have the ability to risk it sitting on the market for months on end, you may find that your options are limited. There are things that you can do to sell your house more quickly, however. One of your options is selling the house “as-is” for cash. But how does this work? That’s what we’re here to find out.
What Does It Mean To Sell My Home As-Is?
Before we look into the reasons why people often choose to sell their homes as-is for cash, let’s delve into what that means. If you’re looking to sell your house fast, this is easily going to be one of the first and most prominent options mentioned by advisers. In the most basic terms, when you sell your house as-is you’re selling it without any repairs being made. Usually, these houses are already fixer-uppers on some levels, but it means that you won’t be including any sort of repair clauses or agreements in the sale. If the house is in need of an HVAC replacement, for example, you’re not going to make that before it sells, and this is made clear to the buyer or buyers ahead of time.
Now, selling your house as-is for cash simply means what you might imagine it would mean: the buyers are not going to use lender financing to buy the house, and the sale is therefore not depending on the buyer being able to secure a loan. The seller isn’t going to show up at the sale with a suitcase full of cash; they simply have the money ready and don’t require a mortgage. Normally, this would also mean that the house is being bought off-market. While this process might seem a little intimidating at first, for understandable reasons, there are a lot of benefits to choosing this process over the traditional sale of a house, especially if you’re looking to sell your house fast during a divorce. You do need to tread carefully, as there can be certain risks associated, at times, with selling a house as-is for cash. But if you research your buyers and understand this process fully before committing to it, you could not only rid yourself of the financial burden that a house can be during a divorce, but also potentially make money that will help offset the costs of your split. But there is much more to the advantage of this system than simply making money. After all, you can make money by selling your house in any manner, depending on the condition of your house and the market, as well as how much equity you have in the home. There are benefits that remain very specific to this process alone.
What Are The Specialized Benefits Of Selling Your House For Cash As-Is?
If you’re looking to sell your house fast, the process of selling your house as-is immediately eliminates one of the more tedious aspects of selling a home. As previously mentioned, a house being sold as-is doesn’t need to be repaired ahead of its sale, whether that means that it’s being sold without a perfectly working plumbing system, or without the roof repairs that it would normally receive before being approved for sale. These repairs can take days or even weeks, depending on the severity of the issues with the house. This is just something that you may not have the time for if you’re going through a divorce.
Furthermore, this allows you to skip the costs that come with those repairs. Chances are that if you’re looking to sell your house fast, you’re doing so because you’re feeling the financial pressures that come with a divorce. While the cost of repairs can be worth it in the long term after a house is sold, you as the homeowner will still need to take care of those repairs before the house is sold, and put up the money ahead of time for everything from a paint job to new garage doors, depending on the condition of the home. It’s more financially efficient, if your bank account is already under strain, to sell the house as-is. In cases like these, especially if the house is in need of more serious repairs, a company will often buy the house as-is; they’re more equipped to take care of those costs, quite often, than an individual buyer would be. This is why you’re often able to find a buyer looking to buy a home as-is with cash, rather than a loan. A company has the money necessary to buy a house, especially if it’s being sold for a reasonable price due to its as-is status, because repairs and renovations are a part of its typical budget and investment into properties.
This actually leads to another advantage that comes with selling your home as-is for cash. When selling your home fast is a priority, being able to work with a company rather than an individual can actually be a major relief. A company comes with the type of reliability than can be difficult to find when selling a house to an individual. There are few people who can drum up the cash necessary to buy a home as-is on their own, but those that do often need to get the cash together over time. Working with a company means that you can handle things in a more efficient, businesslike fashion. Ideally, you’ll want to work with an experienced company; the more often a business handles things like this, the more likely they will be to have a system in place that will fast track the sale of your house. They have as much, or even more, to gain from the sale as you do.
It’s often much less stressful to sell a home as-is and for cash. Because you’re working with a reputable company, you won’t need to worry about them dithering over whether or not to buy the property, as individuals might. Furthermore, you won’t need to worry about repairs, as mentioned previously. Because this will often involve selling your house off-market, you don’t need to spend time working with a real estate agent to make your home appeal to individual buyers, and you can simply cut to the chase and get the money that you probably need if you’re looking to sell your house fast.
It’s important too, to think about the many benefits getting that cash quickly. While you might potentially get more money in the long term if you decide against looking to sell your house fast, it will of course take you much longer to get that money. Many people who sell their houses are surprised by how long it takes them to get their money, and by how it might be broken up. Selling a house for cash allows you to benefit from immediate liquidation, and this will allow you to more easily pay off any bills that might be waiting in the wings. This is crucial during a divorce, and as about 87% of families are estimated to be in debt, people typically do struggle with this during a split. You should consult with your attorneys about what you need to clear with the cash you’ll receive from the sale of the house ahead of time. Furthermore, you’ll be able to cut the risk of the sale being delayed. This means that if you need to commit to paying off certain bills in a specific time frame, selling your house as-is for cash will allow you to do so more readily. You don’t need to worry about a loan or mortgage falling through for the buyer, and therefore it’s safer for you as the seller.
Is The Price Set If I Sell My House As-Is?
Even if you’re looking to sell your house fast, it can be difficult to abandon the idea of a traditional sale in your head. You might feel worried that you’re taking a loss on your house. Again, this depends on several individual factors that would vary no matter how or when you were planning to sell your house. But you should know that, despite the less-than-traditional approach that comes with selling your house as-is for cash, there is room for negotiation during the sale process. While it may be easy to assume that you’ll only be fielding low-ball offers when selling your house as-is, that is not the case, especially if you vet the company you’re working with beforehand.
Most of the time, companies that buy houses as-is from homeowners are completely open to negotiation. Like any sellers, they will want a deal that is favorable to them; but ideally, they would like to find one that is favorable to you as well. These companies live in part off of word of mouth, which means that they want you to come away from the deal happy and satisfied. Speak up if you have concerns, and be ready to represent your own interests. These companies to have reputations to uphold, and therefore it’s unlikely that a good company that has been referred to you by happy sellers would be completely against negotiating with you. Just remember that if you’re looking to sell your house fast, this can cause the sale to take more time.
If you’ve hired a lawyer, and you’re going through a divorce, you need the sale process to be as easy and seamless as possible. Knowing that your house is being sold, that you don’t need to make repairs or wait for a lender to approve a loan or mortgage, can give you peace of mind. If you’re looking to sell your house fast, there are few more effective ways to do so than through selling your house as-is for cash. The benefits are many, from the liquid cash to the quick selling process to the lowered risk of delays or cancellations.
