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For your ease, we have provided a transcript of the Distressed Home Q&A Recording.

Hey, this is Evan with Simple Sale Central Florida. We’re here for our monthly Q&A. It’s December, heading into the end of the year and we just wanted to make an introduction.

Simple Sale Central Florida’s mission is to bring transparency and accountability to distressed home sales. We buy properties throughout Central Florida – currently that’s Orlando, Tampa, Titusville, Orange County, Hillsborough, Pinellas County, Brevard, Seminole, Osceola and everything in between.

Simple Sale specializes in buying properties that have issues such as excessive repairs, probates, liens, judgments, foreclosures. Anything that isn’t typical in a transaction in buying or selling a house. We specialize in taking care of that. We also list properties for people that have a distressed property and that are in a rush to sell. We can list your property and work to take care of issues and help you manage your distressed home sale.

With that being said, we’ll get into the first question. I think we have 10 or so questions here that we’ll go through.

1. What is a distressed property?

As I was just saying, we typically define distressed as a property that has excessive repairs, or legal issues like probate, liens, judgments, foreclosures, anything of that nature, or disputes. Anything that brings complexity to a home sale is what we consider a distressed property.

It doesn’t necessarily have to be in bad condition, it may just be a property that has a complexity to be able to sell it. Maybe there’s a lien on it, maybe there’s ownership by a person that’s deceased. Or maybe there’s ownership by a person that doesn’t want to sell but you and other people need to sell your ownership of the property.

Whatever the case may be, we define all of those things as distressed because it makes the situation complex and it makes the situation confusing for the average home seller. That’s how we like to think about distressed property.

2. How can I get rid of my distressed home?

Really, there are a couple of options. (A) You can go out and find someone to try to buy it. As I was talking about, distressed may mean that there’s legal issues on the property. If there’s legal issues on the property a lot of buyers will not take on the property. You may have to get an attorney involved to take care of the legal issues. So one way is to go out and find buyers.

Option (B) is to work with an agent that specializes in distressed property cases. The benefit of working with a distressed property buyer specifically is because they’ll specialize in cases of distressed property. They’ll be used to working with attorneys on legal issues, working with HOAs on HOA foreclosure issues, HOA lien issues, working with the stop holds, things of that nature.

If you’re trying to sell your distressed property, you really want to be specific about who you find, that they specialize in those types of things. We often see buyers that don’t know how to handle those situations. You’ll go through 5 buyers and none of them are able to close on the property because they’re not used to dealing with those types of situations and do not want to figure out how to deal with those situations. We see that a lot.

Make sure that whoever you work with, whether it be Simple Sale or another company, that they do in fact specialize in dealing with distressed properties.

3. How does a lien work?

A lien is essentially put on a property, and whenever it is sold or changes hands, the title company and the underwriters for the title insurance will see on the title commitment that there is a lien on the property and that company or that person is wanting to get paid for what they believe to be money owed.

It can be a mechanic’s lien or an IRS lien, among others. A mechanic’s lien comes from a contractor or a vendor of some kind. Let’s say you buy doors for your house and you don’t pay for them. The vendor will put a mechanic’s lien on the property for their money owed for selling you the doors you never paid them back for. Things of that nature. They’ll put it on the property in hopes that they eventually get paid back if the property ever does sell. I would say a majority of houses that we deal with have some form of a lien.

Typically what we see are liens in the form of judgments owed to the county or city in which it’s in. That may be for things as simple as utilities to something bigger as lawyer fees or even IRS liens.

Essentially a lien just protects or helps a person or company feel that they’ll get paid back eventually for what work they feel they completed. Liens are negotiable in some instances. If a contractor wants to be paid back for work completed and you think he charged you too much so that’s why you didn’t pay him, maybe he’s charging you $10,000. Maybe you can negotiate those liens down to $7,000 or $8,000 or $5,000 – that is possible.

However, some liens are not, like IRS liens typically are not negotiable. That’s essentially the gist of how it works.

4. Do tax liens go away after you sell a property?

In almost all cases when we close on a property, those tax liens will be taken care of. They’ll be paid before closing on the property and they won’t go with you and they won’t be attached to the property. Depending on what type of tax lien, if it’s property tax liens they’ll be paid out at close and taken out of your disbursement for taxes owed that you haven’t paid.

In very rare cases we would buy a property that did have tax liens for whatever reason, but usually those are going to be paid and they will not follow you. Typically tax liens will attach to the house and they won’t attach to you personally. So, we do sell houses with tax liens. They will not travel with you to the next property you buy and they won’t attach to you personally. In all situations they are attached to the property

5. Should I sell my house as-is or fix it up?

We get this question a lot. I talk with people a lot about if they should sell their property as-is or fix it up and it really depends on your expertise in rehabbing property. If you’re confident in your ability to rehab a property or you know people that can rehab a property, I would always suggest that you fix it up yourself and sell it because you are going to get more money.

The problem we see – we’ll buy properties from people who tried to fix it up themselves and they got bad contractors, people they thought they could trust and they couldn’t. They charged them too much, they couldn’t complete the work, etc., etc. Make sure if you’re going to take the journey of fixing up your property that you are confident in your ability to make sure it gets completed with trustworthy contractors because it can be pretty bad.

We’ve seen people get taken advantage of when they try to fix up their property to get more money out of it and things go bad. They can be out a lot of money with very little work completed. It really depends on your expertise so that would be the deciding factor on whether you fix it up or just sell it as-is.

I would say for the majority of people Just selling the property as-is is going to be a lot less stressful and easier on the person. Even though you will definitely get less for it and you won’t probably net the same amount of money. You have to think about if things go bad when you are fixing it up, do you want to take that risk and do you feel confident that you can get it completed and get the house sold. It really depends on the person’s situation.

6. I found out the home I inherited needs probate. What should I expect?

We deal with a ton of probate properties. Sometimes the people know, but sometimes we are under a purchase contract and we go to buy the property and we realize that it does need a probate and the seller didn’t even know. We do get those situations, we’re dealing with 2 currently.

You should expect that it’s going to take anywhere from 30-90 days to go through the courts if it’s a simple probate, but we’ve had probates go for a year. However, in most situations it’s 30-90 days depending on how complicated the probate is.

If you were to work with Simple Sale on your probate you would be working with our attorneys in-house and essentially everything would be taken care of. We would just give you progress updates and ask you for documentation as needed. If you want to do a probate yourself you’ll go find a probate real estate lawyer that specializes in that and they’ll walk you through the process.

That’s really your 2 different options and you typically cannot sell the house you cannot close on the sale of a house until the probate. You get a motion for sale of real estate or real property approved by the courts which is late in the probate process and at that point typically the personal representative will be able to sell the property through a personal representative’s deed. That’s a very high level explanation on how the process would work.

7. How do you handle taxes on home sales?

This is an interesting one because without us explaining to the client how taxes work and that they’re going to be paid, people don’t really think about that money coming out.

For easy explanation, let’s say you sell the property at the end of June – you sell it July 1. You’ve owned it for 6 months of the year. When you sell that property if you’ve already paid the taxes for the year then you will be reimbursed one-half of the taxes that you paid. If you close on July 1 you won’t own that property for the last half of the year. If you paid $1,000 in taxes you’ll be reimbursed $500 in taxes because you paid out for the year.

Let’s say you haven’t paid taxes for the year and you’re late, it’s July 1 and you close on the house. You are selling the house for $100,000. $500 is going to be taken out of your proceeds to pay for the taxes that you haven’t paid yet.

You, as a seller will always cover the taxes for the period of time which you owned the property. If you owned the property for the first half of the year, you’re obligated to pay those taxes and a lot of people don’t think about that. We try to disclose that very early in the process that those are costs. Most people understand but some people don’t and it’s an expense that they’re not expecting.

There can be confusion but it’s something that if you own the property you’re obligated to pay those taxes. Then, for the rest of the year, the buyer – if it’s Simple Sale or someone else – would pay those taxes.

8. Do you have any tips or advice for selling a house that needs repairs?

I think this is pretty similar to an earlier question. The easiest things to do that can help are just make sure the house is clean and that junk is removed. Very obvious stuff, like cosmetic fixes. Really easy stuff is just painting walls. That can give the house a better appeal.

Maybe it costs you $1,000 to repaint, but it may bring you $5,000 because the feel of the house is improved. Let’s say the walls are yellow and you repaint them to a neutral color. It could quite possibly bring you a lot more for the house than what it costs. Maybe it’s $1,000 and it brings you $5,000 more dollars or something of that nature. Even though you may need repairs, taking little steps like that can help you with bringing out more equity in the property on sale.

It’s just small things like that. If there’s junk around inside and outside the property, take $1,000 and clean the property. Hire someone to clean the property and junk the stuff that needs to be thrown away. That, maybe it costs you $1,000 but it can save you $5,000. It can bring you $5,000 just because the appeal of the house is better. That’s really the biggest one and the easiest way to bring out more equity in the property.

9. Is it possible to sell a distressed home fast?

Yes, of course. It is possible, it depends on why it is distressed. If it’s distressed for legal issues, sometimes those can take a while. There’s also situations where it looks like we might need a probate and we end up figuring out how to avoid a probate. Distressed properties can be sold fast and probably the fastest sales are ones that just need repairs.

You can absolutely sell a distressed property quickly as long as there aren’t some outstanding complex legal issues. If there are, you’ll want to work with a company that handles those issues often and can fix them quickly. You can get a buyer that hasn’t worked with those issues. It may take twice as long to get through it just because they don’t know how to handle the situation. You want to be very cautious in who you pick to close the property with, whether it be an agent or a buyer.

10. What are the typical closing costs?

So this is a good one because an easy rule of thumb is 2%. If you’re selling a house for $100,000, typical closing costs will be 2% of that. In almost all of our transactions, we pay closing costs. I think most home buyers, more specifically cash home buyers, they pay closing costs as well, so it’s common.

If you’re selling your property on the market with an agent, let’s say you list it with Simple Sale Realty, you would pay closing costs and those are typically 2%. If you hire an agent they’ll typically charge 5-6% total which is 2.5 or 3% per agent. One for the listing agent and one for the buyer’s agent.

A good rule of thumb is 7-8% of the total cost, if you’re listing the property, will come out of your proceeds. That may sound like a lot, but if you are lucky to have time on your side and you list the property, you’re almost in all situations going to get more money for it if you remain patient and wait for offers to come. So typical closing costs 2% for closing costs, and then 5-6% for commissions.

11. I inherited my dad’s house and he was a bit of a hoarder. How can I sell his home?

For hoarder houses that we’ve bought, we’ll just buy the property as-is. We’ve had very complex situations. We once had a house that was in probate and a hoarder house. There was also a bio-hazard issue in which someone died in the property and wasn’t found for a few weeks.

We bought that property as-is, no contingencies. I think that one in particular we bought with no inspection period. We did one or two walk-throughs, bought the property as-is, did the probate and closed on the it, no changes. A biohazard team cleaned it up and we had a team clear out the property. You can absolutely sell that property.

I don’t know how many people would go to those types of lengths if it’s a complex situation. We do, Simple Sale does. I don’t know how many other buyers do deal with that. Other cash buyers will buy a hoarder house assuming that there’s no other complexities on top of it. Besides that you’re not going to be able to list it. In most situations you’re going to want to do an outright cash sale to a distressed home buyer.

Wrapping Up

So, that was the last question. If there’s any other questions – I don’t think I’ve seen any comments with questions – I see Dontae commented but I don’t see any questions. If there are no other questions we’ll go ahead and close this one out.

Once again this is the December Q&A. I appreciate people who are watching this and who view the recording. We always upload it on Facebook and on the website and on various social media. You can reach us at 321-732-6477 or you can go to our website, simplesalecentralflorida.com.

Our mission, as I said at the beginning, is to bring transparency and accountability to distressed home sales whether that be we buy your property we clear up your lien issues or we list your distressed property. We want the client to have a transparent experience with an accountable
company that will work with them to get them through a stressful situation.

Once again, you can reach us at 407-338-4183 or at simplesalecentralflorida.com and put in your information. Whether it’s you, whether it’s a family member if it’s a friend you can input that information and we will do our best to help you out with your situation.

Alright. Thanks. Bye.

When it comes time to sell your home, one question to ask yourself is if it is “up to code.” In other words, are there any current code violations attached to your home? You may or may not be aware of any, but it’s crucial to find out for sure.

Consider having your home inspected to determine where you stand. If you find code violations, or if you already know you have code violations, it doesn’t mean you are unable to sell your home. However, it does mean that you have a choice to make on how you want to proceed with the sale of your home.

What are Code Violations?

There are federal, state, and local residential building codes in place to protect the safety, health, and general welfare of the overall public when it comes to the construction and occupancy of a home. When these building codes aren’t met, your home is in violation.

Building codes are constantly being revised, and if you own an older home, you may find you are not up to code in many areas. However, as long as your home is safe and livable, you can still sell it. From there, the buyer has the option to make updates to bring the house up to code.

If you have made your own improvements or renovations to your home, however, you may be in violation of several areas as well. Did you always file for the proper permits when making those improvements? Did you use appropriate and safe materials? Or, did you pay attention to codes when determining the placement of these improvements or additions? If you answer no to any of these questions, you most likely have a code violation or two.

Example of Code Violations

There is a wide range of common code violations, many requiring only a simple fix, and others being more complex. Some of these are visible, others are hidden. A buyer might never know unless you disclose it to them.

Examples of Code Violations include:

• Exhaust fans venting into an attic instead of outdoors
• Smoke alarms incorrectly placed
• Inadequate ground-fault circuit interrupter (GFCI) protection on circuits or outlets throughout the home
• Polybutylene piping, used between 1978-1995, with poor manufacturing and installment
• Unpermitted additions to the home, such as a garage or garage conversion into living space
• Inadequate deck connection to the house
• Addition of a water heater or other such appliance without a proper permit
• Fence height requirement violation

Selling Options to Consider

Once you’ve determined what code violations your home presently has, your options at this point depend largely on how soon you wish to sell and how much you expect to receive for your home. Two options for selling your home include bringing your home up to code and selling it “as-is.”

Repair and Bring Your House Up to Code

To avoid any adverse effect on your home’s sale and price, you can choose to fix all the things that are not up to code.

First, determine what and how many violations your home currently has. For this, you may want to hire a home inspector to give you a full overview of the state of your home. Once you have a list of potential code violations, it’s time to assess your financial situation.

Prepare a draft budget to make the repairs and decide if this is truly an option for you or not. For instance, if you find plumbing is an issue and will cost up to $15,000, potentially, your wallet may not be compatible with making the update needed.

Determine how soon you want or need to sell your home. Can you make the repairs or renovations in time to meet that timeframe?

Sell your Home As-Is

A common option these days is to sell a house with code violations. In other words,  sell your home, “as-is.” By disclosing to potential buyers that you are selling the house just as it is, with code violations and all, you can remove yourself from any repairs or renovations required to bring it up to code. In turn, this places the responsibility fully on the new buyer.

Why sell your home as-is? Here are the most common reasons:

• Your funds are somewhat limited, and you cannot afford to bring the house up to code.
• Your time is limited. Obtaining the necessary permits, making the repairs and renovations necessary, and putting in the labor (or paying for labor) can be time-consuming and lengthy.

Selling your home as-is affects not only your asking price but also the potential buyer pool. A few types of buyers are most interested in buying such properties and are known as distressed home buyers. A distressed home lacks upkeep or is under a state of financial stress, such as behind on mortgage payments and on the road to foreclosure. Homes with code violations also fit within this category.

Distressed home buyers include house renovators and flippers. They also include investors who are experienced in purchasing as-is homes. Meli Homes is an example of this type of buyer, so consider this option to sell your distressed home in Florida.

An investor, sometimes referred to as a cash buyer, will be familiar with the processes involved with buying a home as-is, even those with code violations. Offering you a cash payment, usually within 30 days, you not only rid yourself of the home and its needed repairs but do so quickly. Now you can turn around and purchase a home that is already up to code and sleep well at night.

Sell a Home with Code Violations with Meli

Selling a house with code violations doesn’t have to be complicated in the Central Florida area. Whether you live in Tampa, Orlando, or Melbourne, Meli can help you! We can buy your home, list it, or point you in the right direction. Contact us today to find out how to sell your home, code violations, and all.

This article is meant for informational purposes only and is not intended to be construed as financial, tax, legal, real estate, insurance, or investment advice. Meli encourages you to reach out to an advisor regarding your own situation. Please consult with your advisor when making legal or financial decisions.

Image Credits

https://www.flickr.com/photos/stevenm_61/28688334927

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Building_permit.jpg

https://pxhere.com/en/photo/1586145

If your home has a tax lien on it, you’re probably experiencing financial difficulties. Often, homeowners struggling to pay their property tax or mortgage don’t know where to turn and eventually face foreclosure and a subsequent hit to their credit. But can you sell a house with a property tax lien?

There are ways to avoid foreclosure or other legal actions. To remove a tax lien, you need to pay allowed taxes and any late fees and interest you may have incurred. The easiest way to do this is by selling your property and using the profit to pay off your debts.

It’s not always easy to sell a property with a tax lien. To make the process easier and more profitable, follow these tips.

1. Research Tax Liens

Before you ask how to sell a house with a tax lien, you first need to know what a tax lien is, why your house has one, and how to get rid of one. 

A tax lien is a type of property lien levied by the Florida Revenue Service when a property owner falls behind in their tax payments. Before placing a tax lien, the FRS will send you a delinquency notice and a bill (Notice of Amount Due).

If you don’t pay your taxes in full within 90 days after receiving the Notice of Amount Due, the FRS will take further action. They may outsource your debt to a collections agency, or they may file a tax lien. Failure to pay certain taxes like property within a set timeline automatically triggers a tax lien.

If you cannot pay your taxes in full, the FRS also has an option to set up a payment plan on a case by case basis.

The Internal Revenue Service can also place a tax lien on your home for unpaid federal taxes. 

Removing home liens isn’t always easy. Often, homeowners cannot pay their taxes because of unexpected financial hardships, like lay-offs at work, medical expenses, or car accidents. In addition to causing money problems, these situations make life more stressful.

While the simplest way to remove a tax lien is to pay off the taxes, if you’re in dire financial straits, that may not be possible. The next best answer to how to remove a tax lien from your property is: sell it and use the profits to pay your back taxes.

2. Home Improvement

If you’re going to sell your house, you’ll want to do everything possible to make it attractive to buyers. If you have problems with your plumbing, foundation, or kitchen, you might want to fix them before putting your house on the market.

However, if you don’t have the cash or time, you can focus on smaller projects that will make your home look more appealing. A new coat of paint and a freshly mowed yard will give buyers a better first impression than high grass and cracked walls.

3. Know Your Home’s Value

When determining your selling price, you’ll need to look at several factors. First, you’ll want to see what similar houses are selling for in your area. You’ll also want to look at the current housing market and research recent trends.

Next, you should see how much you have left on your mortgage and how much you owe in property taxes. The goal is to sell your home for enough to pay the remaining mortgage and pay your back taxes in full.

Hopefully, your selling price will cover all your debts because any remaining tax debt will still be owed. However, if you set your price too high, it may take longer to sell your house.

4. Offer in Compromise

Another answer to the question of how to remove a tax lien is negotiating an offer in compromise. If you have almost enough to pay your tax debts, the FRS or IRS may consider allowing an offer in compromise.

Each case is decided individually. The tax service will determine whether you have the financial capability to pay the agreed rate, current expenses, income, and equity of your assets. If the tax service believes you will hold up your end of the bargain, they may agree to accept a lower sum for your tax debt.

However, this option is not for everyone. If your offer is too low, the tax authority may choose to foreclose on your home instead.

5. Find a Cash Home Buyer

So, can you sell a house with a tax lien against it? The answer is yes, but with difficulty. If you choose to go the traditional route of listing your home yourself or working with a real estate agent, you’ll need to add removing the tax lien to the list of things to do before closing. It can be challenging since the house cannot legally change hands with an existing tax lien.

Working with a cash home buyer like Meli makes the process easier. Instead of finding buyers, advertising, arranging multiple open houses, and handling the legal process yourself, you can let us do all the work for you.

Our 4-step process will have you closing in under 30 days, and you won’t need to pay closing fees. We can also provide information and guidance about removing a tax lien and how we purchase homes with existing property liens.

We pay you in full, upfront, in cash. Instead of waiting for a loan to come in or having to cancel a sale because of a buyer’s financial problems, you will receive your payment quickly so you can clear up your tax debt.

Contact Us Today

If you have a tax lien on your home in Florida, selling the property might be the best way to remove it. Call Meli today at (407) 305-5008 to start the process. Within 24 hours, a team member will respond with any questions and set up a no-obligation walkthrough of your property.

Any offer we make has no strings attached, and you can pull out of the deal at any point. If you have any questions throughout the process or merely want some more information about selling a house with a tax lien, our team is always happy to help.

This article is meant for informational purposes only and is not intended to be construed as financial, tax, legal, real estate, insurance, or investment advice. Meli encourages you to reach out to an advisor regarding your own situation. Please consult with your advisor when making legal or financial decisions.

Image Credits

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If you are considering selling a home in poor condition, should you sell it as-is? It can depend on how expensive it is to fix the issues. A cosmetic repair may be an affordable and quick fix. It would allow you to raise the sale price of your home and sell it quicker.

However, suppose your home needs a new roof or has a leak that caused mold, visible damage, or electrical problems. In that case, the repairs may be more expensive than you can afford. This is where it can become a take it or leave it situation for potential buyers. 

Factors that impact your decision to fix your home before placing it on the market

While your budget may be the primary reason you don’t make repairs, other factors can impact your decision. 

• Home Inspections

The findings in a home inspection report give your buyer a powerful negotiation tool when selling on the open market. If your home is in a state of disrepair, you’ll have to negotiate a lower price or let your buyer walk. 

However, if you are selling a home in poor condition and as-is, the inspection findings don’t impact the sale. So, the buyer no longer has any leverage.    

• Current real estate market conditions

If it is a seller’s market you may be able to sell your house with fewer repairs. But, if it is a buyer’s market, and you don’t make repairs, you’ll have to list your home at a reduced price or expect your house to sit on the market.

• Your neighborhood competition

Evaluate how your home stacks up against the competition in your neighborhood. If there is a mix of remodeled and as-is homes, you may be able to sell your home for a reasonable price.

If a lot of homes in your neighborhood have been updated or have curb appeal, your home will sit unsold indefinitely.

• Return on investment

Paying to repair your house doesn’t make sense unless you stand to make more money than you spend. Consider the costs of repairs and then which are affordable and which will give you value for your spend.

Is my house distressed?

Before deciding to sell your home as-is, an appraisal can help you to understand whether your home is in poor condition. In Florida, a home is defined as a poor condition if it meets has the following criteria:

• Your home is uninhabitable

If your home is dangerous, unsanitary, or unhealthy to occupy, it’s marked as unlivable. Some examples of hazardous homes include frayed or damaged electrical wires, black mold, lead or asbestos, serious plumbing problems, a non-functioning HVAC, and severe foundation cracks.

• If visible repairs are required

While major repairs may not earn a poor rating from a house inspector, it can limit your appeal to buyers on the real estate market. Serious problems with wood rot, roof damage, and plumbing may label your home in poor condition which can make selling it challenging. 

• If it needs an update

Older homes may be safe to live in and can appeal to certain buyers looking for homes with historical value. However, the appearance of peeling paint, outdated finishes, and overgrown landscaping may mean an offer below the home’s value. 

Know your home’s value

Even homes in poor condition have value. In most cases, the location, the size of the lot, and even the house are worth more than it will cost a buyer to fix it up. Don’t let its current condition fool you into accepting less than it is worth, because once it’s back in shape, it will be worth a lot more!   

Why should I sell my home as-is?

Selling a home as-is is a fast and convenient way to unload unwanted property. Many people inherit neglected homes they don’t need, have to liquidate their assets quickly to repay debts or sell their homes to avoid foreclosure or a short sale.   

Selling your home on the open market currently takes on average 93 days, which may not be fast enough if you need cash quickly.

If you sell your home as-is you still have a legal obligation to answer questions truthfully concerning existing problems. Real estate agents in Florida ask sellers to complete a Seller’s Property Condition Disclosure Statement so they can represent the home more accurately.

Once on the market, your as-is home may not attract buyers, and you have to accept a lowball offer due to its condition. 

Benefits of selling to a company that buys homes as-is

Unlike selling a home in poor condition on the real estate market, contacting a company that buys homes, as-is can remove the hassle of unloading a property in poor condition.

• Convenience

Selling your house to Meli, a company that buys homes as-is, means there are no repairs, cleaning, or home staging required to sell your home. Simply schedule a walk-through and the sales representative makes you an offer based on your home’s current condition. Selling a house in disrepair to Meli also eliminates negotiations over the closing costs.

• Zero Fees

There are no fees involved, no broker’s commissions, and no hidden closing fees. At Meli, we also work with you to resolve tax liens.

• Quick Turnaround

Unlike a conventional real estate transaction, the sale happens quickly. You don’t have to wait for loan approval for the buyer, and your payment won’t be sitting in escrow.

At Meli, we take care of the paperwork and buy your home with cash. We can buy your distressed home in Florida from walk-through to payment within 30 days.

Choose Meli to sell your as-is house

Meli is a popular option for buyers who want to off-load their distressed home quickly. Our company serves the Central Florida area, including Tampa, Orlando, and Melbourne.

If you need to secure a house sale fast or face foreclosure or bankruptcy, Meli is an excellent solution. Schedule your walk-through and get an offer from Meli by calling us at (407) 338-4183.

This article is meant for informational purposes only and is not intended to be construed as financial, tax, legal, real estate, insurance, or investment advice. Meli encourages you to reach out to an advisor regarding your own situation. Please consult with your advisor when making legal or financial decisions.

Image Credits

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https://pixabay.com/photos/villa-abandoned-empty-old-forget-4231464/

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For your ease, we have provided a transcript of the Distressed Home Q&A Recording.

Hey, this is Evan with Simple Sale Central Florida. We’re back for our monthly Q&A where we answer some commonly asked questions from our clients that we work with throughout Central Florida.

Just to have a little introduction to Simple Sale, we buy distressed properties throughout Central Florida. We bring transparency and accountability to distressed home sales in an industry where there’s many predatory tactics, and we work with our clients to be transparent and accountable during the process. Simple Sale buys properties throughout Central Florida from Tampa to Titusville to Orlando and anywhere in between.

Let’s get going. We have 10 or so questions here to go through.

1. I inherited a house with my siblings but we can agree on what to do with it, what can we do?

We see these situations a lot, where there’s multiple siblings and they don’t know what to do with their property. Depending upon how serious the disagreement is, sometimes properties never get sold because siblings can’t agree. In some situations they do, and a lot of it is just communication between the siblings, and we can help facilitate a lot of that.

There are also legal actions you can take in order to sell a distressed property, but that’s not the preferred route. You would much rather just have a good dialog between the siblings and figure out what the issues differences are in order to get the distressed property sold.

If you do go the legal route, it’s usually a 6 or 12 month process where you essentially go to a judge and request that they sell the property for you. It does take time, 6-12 months, and can be costly with lawyers as well. Typically the easiest way is to just communicate with all the siblings and come to an agreement.

2. Can I sell my rental property as-is?

Yes, of course. Rental properties, with or without tenants, you can sell those properties with no problems. If it does have tenants then there’s usually going to be requests for leases, proof of rent being paid and things of that nature. You can absolutely sell your rental property as-is in its current condition to a cash buyer. That’s not an issue at all.

There would be an issue if you had a tenant that was not paying rent and refused to leave. The property becomes a lot less desirable, but in our experience you can still sell that property. We’ve bought properties like that. The risk that the buyer has to take will reduce the price of the property, so you won’t be able to sell the property for as much as if the property was vacant. You can still absolutely sell your rental property as-is.

3. Can I sell a condemned property?

You absolutely can sell condemned properties. We’ve bought many condemned properties, condemned due to code violations or code violations, unsafe living conditions. Typically things of that nature will lead to a property becoming condemned. You can sell it in that condition.

Typically, there’s going to be legal issues that you have to figure out that comes with it being condemned but there shouldn’t be an issue. It is probably less desirable for a buyer, but the fact that it is condemned doesn’t mean that you can’t sell it.

4. I’m in pre-foreclosure, but I don’t know what to do because of the moratorium. Do you have any advice?

If you are in pre-foreclosure and your mortgage is insured by the federal government, the moratorium (as of right now) ends for you at the end of this year. If you’re in that situation, I highly suggest you figure out how to (A) sell the property, or (B) get the mortgage current.

If you get the mortgage current, obviously you don’t have any more issues. If that isn’t an option then, you would definitely want to sell the property so the foreclosure doesn’t ruin your credit. Having a plan on when you want to get the property sold is imperative. As of November 13th, you have 45 or so days to get that property sold.

I would highly recommend figuring out a plan to sell it or become current on the mortgage. Once the moratorium is lifted, the bank will have the right to foreclose on the property. This will ruin your credit and you’ll lose your property. I would say, in a lot of situations, if you sell your property before that point you’re going to get a lot more money for it. Once a property goes to foreclosure auction you probably won’t get anything out of it depending on how much money is left on your mortgage. The biggest thing is figuring out if it’s possible for you to become current. If not, then figuring out a plan to sell it.

5. I feel like my house is taking over my life and I just don’t want to deal with it. Can you help me?

We do work with a lot of clients that have had a property for a long period of time. It’s become a burden to them and they just want to get rid of it. They want to get rid of the problems, I think. You don’t just see cases like that with houses. It’s their house, it’s their car, it’s whatever. If it becomes a constant problem, you would rather get rid of it than continue to deal with the issues.

Typically in those situations it’s just better to sell it and get rid of the stress, because it’s not worth the stress it’s putting on you. We can help you by purchasing the property or we can help you list that property and get it sold. It depends on your situation and your property.

We can absolutely help you with those situations and it’s not uncommon. It is quite common to see people who have gotten to that point with their property. It’s not anything unusual or anything to be embarrassed about for sure. We can absolutely help you, without a doubt.

6. Do you charge any fees for handling my property’s problems?

No, we don’t. In a lot of scenarios we end up helping the person with their situation and we don’t end up working together for whatever reason. The person may just want to figure out what their situation even is. We’ll help them figure it out and we may not end up working together. Our goal is bringing transparency and accountability to distressed home sales. If we can help someone, we’re continuing the mission of the company and that’s OK with us.

We don’t charge any fees. We give that sort of consulting and specialist information away for free. In a lot of scenarios, those people may not work with us but some of them do. It’s just part of the mission of the company. Fees you’d typically expect when selling your home yourself include legal advice from lawyers or property repairs. In terms of legal issues like liens, figuring out what the real situation is, we can help you through that with no fees at all.

7. I live in another state, can I sell you a house I own without having to go there?

We have definitely dealt with situations where the person is out of state. Most times they’ll mail us a key and we’ll go look at the property and see if it’s something we can help with. That’s really the easiest way to do it.

We’ve talked with people and based on what they told us, we’ve given them an estimated offer. If we’re on the same page, we’ll sign a contract, they’ll mail us a key and we will work to move forward and close on the property. So no, you absolutely do not have to be in the state. You don’t even have to show up for closings. It can all be done remotely. You absolutely don’t have to go there; it can all be done remotely.

8. I want to sell my home in Fort Lauderdale, can you still help me?

We would definitely consider looking at the property. We are currently just focusing on Central Florida, but we would look at it and we can help you with your situation and still possibly buy the property. It would really just depend on your situation in particular but we would definitely consider it, but it’s not our core area at the moment. We also can help you list the property as well and possibly help you work with someone in the Fort Lauderdale area that might be more convenient.

9. Are there any problems you can’t work with?

There are very few problems that we can’t work with. In most situations, we can figure out the problem. I would say most of the time the reason we don’t work with people is because there’s an emotional or a price issue.

As far as legal problems or problems with the property, there are very few situations we haven’t been able to figure out. We’ve found people that couldn’t be found that needed to sign a deed. We’ve worked through probates with 7 heirs, some of which didn’t know each other and we found them.

We can figure out most problems with a house or the legal issues. Oftentimes the problem is that the person doesn’t know if they want to sell or not, or they want a price that’s just not attainable and that’s OK, that’s their choice. That’s just what we’ve noticed over time. Any issues we can tackle from a legal standpoint, we almost always figure them out.

10. How fast can you buy my home?

We actually had a question from a guy on our team, Dontae: “How long would it take to close on a property once the contract is signed?” From the point of signing the contract, in our experience it’s 30 days or less. I would say 89% of the time it’s 30 days or less, and many times it’s around 21 days. But almost always it’s 30 days or less.

If we haven’t closed in 30 days, there’s a legal issue we’re trying to figure out and we’re at the mercy of the municipality, whatever county or city that it may be in. We’re ordering documents, we’re working with lawyers to figure out the issue. But if it’s something a simple transaction where there aren’t legal issues there’s no reason we go more than 3 weeks really in almost any situation. 30 days or less is 89% of the time. If you appear to have small legal issues or no legal issues, you can expect to close in 30 days or less.

OK, that was the last question. I think we just answered Dontae’s question there. “How long would it take to close on a property once the contract is signed?” It’s going to be 30 days or less a lot of times, around that 3 week mark is pretty common. Yes, you’re welcome, Dontae. Glad you came on. So if there’s not any other questions, we’re going to go ahead and close this one out. This is our November Q&A.

Wrapping Up

As always, we buy properties throughout Central Florida. Orlando, Titusville, Tampa, so Brevard County, Orange County Pinellas County, Hillsborough County Ocala, Kissimmee. We really – anywhere in Central Florida we consider. Not to mention the Gainesville area, we also look there.

If you have a property in one of those areas we can absolutely take a look and see if we’re a good fit. If we are, then it’s what we call 3 Simple Steps. We’ll talk about the property with you online, then we’ll talk about the property with you either via phone or email, we’ll get information from you, we’ll give you an estimated offer. That’s the first step.

If we are on the same page with price for the estimated offer and we’re in the ballpark, we’ll come and do a walk-through of the property, typically within 24 hours, and make sure that the property is in the condition that we discussed and then from there. That’s the second step and the third step would be making the offer and getting closed.

Just 3 Simple Steps. We like to keep it as simple as possible and if you have any questions at all, feel free to go to our website, simplesalecentralflorida.com. You can call us at 407-338-4183.

That’s it for this month and we’ll catch you next month. Thanks everybody!

For your ease, we have provided a transcript of the Distressed Home Q&A Recording.

Hey, this is Evan with Simple Sale Central Florida. We’re back again this month for our October Q&A. Covering questions that we commonly hear with clients that we work with throughout Central Florida.

Simple Sale Central Florida is a distressed home buyer. Distressed homes typically mean foreclosures, legal issues, excessive repairs – properties that need to be sold very, very quickly for whatever reason. That really defines the residential distressed industry.

We work in places like Orlando, Tampa, Titusville, Melbourne. Orange County, Hillsborough, Brevard, Pinellas, Osceola, Seminole County, Volusia. Many, many counties throughout Central Florida. We’re also looking at the Gainesville area to start buying properties there as well. Let’s get started with the questions.

1. I got stuck in a contract with another company and now they’re offering me way less than before, what can I do?

This is pretty common  in the industry. A company will offer you what you’re asking for the property, whatever it may be. Let’s say it’s $100,000. They’ll get you into the contract, move forward and make you feel comfortable that the deal will close. At some point before closing, sometimes a day or days before closing, they’ll request reductions or what they call credits. They’ll say “oh, I didn’t know the roof was that way” or whatever, and they’ll request a credit. Those credits can be anywhere from $2,000 to $10,000 to $20,000.

As a seller, you’re emotionally and financially involved in the process, possibly trying to plan your life out. A lot of times those tactics work because someone is dedicated to closing. They want to move on with their life and just get rid of this distressed property, this stressful situation.

In that situation what you can do – hopefully, first off, the buyer has a deposit down, so you should have the right to that deposit. If they’re trying to offer you less and they’re not willing to close, you should have the right to that deposit. You should also contact the title company and tell them that this transaction is not going to happen because they’re changing the offer price. Tell them that you’re wanting to cancel the contract.

Because you’re telling the buyer you don’t want to close now, things could get pretty hostile, I would contact the title company directly. I’d possibly have a lawyer call the buyer and the title company and show them you’re serious. You’re not taking less for your property than what you agreed to. You went through an inspection period and everything checked out and now they want to change the offer price for reasons that should have been mentioned during the inspection period.

At that point it can become a legal issue and they can threaten to put liens on your property or what they call memorandums, but you’re in the right. You’re not in the wrong. The buyer may try to make you feel like you’re in the wrong but you’re not. It isn’t your fault, it’s just a tactic that companies in this industry use and they do it on purpose, unfortunately.

2. The foreclosure moratorium is the only thing keeping me in my home. What can I do when it’s over and I’m still behind on payments?

The moratorium ended for a small percentage of people that have private mortgages on their properties. We haven’t talked with any of those people to see how those foreclosures are coming along or if any foreclosures have been filed. I personally don’t know any sellers or have had any clients like that.

It really depends on your situation and how much you owe on the property. Let’s say the property is worth $100,000 and you owe $100,000, and you’re going to walk away with nothing. Depending upon your situation, if you’re already in foreclosure and someone offers you the money to get out, it seems like a logical conclusion to go ahead and take that offer, but there are options outside of that. You can try to re-negotiate with the bank. Those processes can be difficult, but it’s possible that they would negotiate with you to see if you could get a lower payment or if they can give you an extension of, you know, 69 days. You can start those dialogues, because if you really need to stay in that home for whatever reason, there are other options than just selling.

If you are just trying to get out of it and you can get out of the foreclosure without it hurting your credit, that may be your best option. But it really, really just depends. It’s also possible for you to have someone take over your mortgage and make the payments and take possession of the property and make your payments for you. You move on with your life, assuming you don’t want to buy another property with a mortgage. They’ll clear up the foreclosure and continue making the payments.

In those situations, a lot of times investors will pay the mortgage payment and rent out the property. They’ll pay down the mortgage over time – over 5, 10, 20 years. Eventually that mortgage will get paid off and you can move on with your life without having to worry about it anymore because the person or investor has an obligation to continue paying that.

I think I answered that one pretty well, but it’s a situation-by-situation basis. If you want more information, just reach out on the website simplesalecentralflorida.com. We can evaluate your situation and better understand what you’re working with. The principal owed, how far behind you are on payments, things of that nature really matter. You could also consult with a lawyer, that’s another option. They could really understand your situation and point you in the right direction.

3. Will my house be worth more if I take care of the legal issues myself??

Absolutely. The legal issues on a property can mean big, big differences in what it’s worth. If you have what they call a broken chain of title, the house essentially can’t be sold. If it is sold, then the person that’s buying it from you isn’t actually taking full interest in the property. They’re probably buying some less than 100% interest in the property and they don’t even know it. When you take care of those legal issues yourself, the property will most likely be worth more.

In our experience, legal issues can start as simple as $300. We have one property right now that we’ve been working on since May 2019 and it’s closer to $10,000 in legal bills. It’s not finished, but we should be this month or next. So $300 all the way up to $10,000+ in legal bills.

If you have the money and a lawyer you trust, it will definitely increase the value of your property by more than what you pay. That’s something to keep in mind. It’s all about having the legal team there that you trust to get the legal issue resolved. Also having the money and the patience to be able to deal with it because legal issues can take anywhere from a few days to years. The one we’re working on right now we’ve been filed in the courts for 10 months or so. It can take a long time.

4. Is there any way I can sell my distressed home using a realtor?

Yes, you can, it’s possible. Typically, realtors or agents have a hard time understanding the situation because they aren’t investors. They may try to sell your property for less than what it’s worth, over-price it, or give you advice on that specific situation that isn’t necessarily accurate. I’m not saying they’re lying to you or they’re uninformed. Realtors are very well-informed and most agents are very well-informed, they just haven’t seen those problems before.

For example, you may have a legal issue and they’re pointing in directions that aren’t the most efficient. That’s not always the case and you can totally sell your distressed home that way. I would try to find someone who’s an agent and an investor that can deal with those issues. Someone who knows those issues and can clear them up and put it on the open market, like an MLS, so you get the money you deserve for the property.

5. Should I shop around when I’m looking to sell my home?

Absolutely. Some clients reach out to us and ask us questions like “Are there other people that do this?” or “Are there other companies?” Or they say “I’m actively looking at other companies.” We highly recommend you talk to other companies. Get to know them, their process, and their goals. What’s their mission when working with their clients? Having more than one point of reference on the homebuyer industry will give you a good idea of what companies serve their clients well and what companies don’t.

I think it will become apparent very quickly which companies really care about their clients and which ones are just saying or doing anything to get you into a contract to try to manipulate you in order for them to have personal gain. Unfortunately, it’s part of the industry, but you should always look at more than one company. It will give you a point of reference on which company is the best and which one you should work with.

6. How does selling my house to Simple Sale Work?

This is what we call the 3 Simple Steps. Step 1, you get an estimate on your property. After discussing the estimate via phone we will come view the property to confirm the estimate. That’s step 2, doing a walk-through. Step 3 is making you an official offer on the property, typically same-day, possibly in person, we’ll make that offer and then move forward with a contract.

To reiterate:

1: Giving you an estimate on your property via phone and reviewing it online
2: A walk-through of the property to confirm the estimate
3: Getting an offer on your property

In some situations we would give you our estimate and then confirm our offer without a walk-through, but in most situations we would still walk through the property to confirm the offer.

7. How much work is it for me to sell you my home?

We get this question a lot. If you look at some of our reviews, you’ll see clients mention how little time they spent on the actual process because we try to make it as simple as possible. We really want you to do as little as possible, so we handle all the steps and processes that come with clearing title. Working with the title companies and conveying the title. We absolutely do not charge fees for giving you an estimate or an offer. No fees for walk-through, nothing. We do not charge fees for anything like that.

To fully answer the question, we try to make it as little work as possible. We shouldn’t have much more than a few conversations on the phone, a walk-through, and then signing a contract and a deed on close. There really shouldn’t be much more than that. If there is anything more than that, it may be because there’s legal issues, but we would handle most of those and explain what’s going on as we’re handling those problems.

8. Are there any good resources to find more information on distressed homes?

I think as a company we do have a lot of information on our website, simplesalecentralflorida.com. We have a lot of articles written that explain questions like:

• What is a distressed property?
• What does a distressed home look like?
• How to deal with tax liens?
• What are tax liens?
• How to sell your house with tax liens?
• What to do with a property with excessive repairs?
• How to sell your house as-is?

All types of articles that help explain how the process works and how to do it yourself without working with someone like Simple Sale Central Florida or another homebuyer. That’s one option. You can also search on Google for more information. For example, if you have a tax lien on your property, Googling “what people do when they have a tax lien on their property.”

One good website for really deep information is biggerpockets.com. It’s mostly real estate investors, but there are sellers learning about what’s going on with their property from investors. There are a lot of articles and opinions on certain aspects of distressed home sales. That’s a great reference but you can Google it and try to find a reputable source like our website, biggerpockets.com or an attorney’s website with blogs or information. Those three would be good references but there isn’t any one source in particular that I would recommend.

Wrapping Up

I think that is it for today for our Q&A. If there are any other questions you can put them in the comments now. I don’t see any, if there aren’t any questions that come up in the next few seconds, I’m going to go ahead and conclude here.

We are Simple Sale Central Florida, we buy distressed properties throughout Central Florida. Our main goal is to bring transparency and accountability to distressed home sales. That really means that we’re accountable for what we do, we’re very transparent about the process and we try to work with our clients to give them the best experience possible in a situation that’s very stressful. That’s our goal and that’s what we strive to do.

Give us a call any time at 407-338-4183 or you can visit our website, simplesalecentralflorida.com, and we will typically get back to you within a few minutes after you’ve filled out the form. We’d love to answer any questions you have about your property. If that is it, thank you all for viewing and we will be back next month with another Q&A. Thank you.

Life is unpredictable, and sometimes, despite our best efforts, we find ourselves in difficult financial circumstances. Getting out from under debt can be stressful and overwhelming, particularly if you don’t know your options.

If you have a property tax lien on your home, your best option might be to sell. But, can you sell a house with a property tax lien? The short answer is yes. However, selling a house with a lien is generally a little more complicated, and you’ll want to understand the process before making any big decisions.

What is a Property Tax Lien?

A property tax lien is a lien placed on your home when you owe property taxes to your city or county. Sometimes, property taxes are built into your monthly mortgage by your lender. Otherwise, property owners pay taxes separately for the annual bill.

Whether you fall behind on your mortgage or have unpaid property taxes, the government can put a lien on your property, frequently resulting in foreclosure. Unresolved property taxes are just like any other debt. Interest and penalties will continue to accrue with each passing day, so it’s a good idea to address the problem quickly.

Confronting a Property Lien

Your home is likely your most valuable asset. If you’re struggling financially and don’t have the means to clear your unpaid taxes outright, your best option to settle the debt may be to sell your home. We can show you how to remove a tax lien.

We’re frequently asked the question, “Can you sell a house with a property tax lien?” The answer is complicated. Ultimately you will need to deal with your tax debt before the house can close escrow. When you sell a home with a tax lien, you’re not transferring the lien with the house. The debt is yours, and you will have to resolve it before the sale can close.

However, you can begin the process of selling a house with a lien. It can take time to resolve the tax debt, and you don’t want to wait until the house closes before dealing with it.

When confronting such a situation, you need to know how to remove a tax lien. Essentially, you have three options.

• Pay the Debt

Obviously, the easiest, most straightforward way to settle any debt is to pay it. If you have the financial means to pay the lien, interest, and penalties owed, you should. This can help you to avoid a foreclosure or tax levy.

You’ll want to work directly with your city or county to clear the debt and remove the lien.

• Dispute the Lien

If, for example, the tax debt is owned by someone else or you have already paid the taxes, you should contact your city or county government and resolve the issue as quickly as possible. Disputing tax debt isn’t easy, but it’s worth pursuing in some cases.

• Sell Your House

If you find yourself unable to settle unpaid taxes outright, you may find that selling your home is the next best option. You can’t close escrow on a home without resolving the lien, but you can start selling your house in order to use the proceeds from your sale to pay to remove the lien.

Tips for Selling a Home with a Property Tax Lien

There are some essential things to consider if you’re planning to sell a house with a property tax lien.

• Know the Value of Your Home

Before selling any home, it’s important to determine how much it’s worth. You’ll want to explore listing and sale prices for comparable homes in your area so that you can set a reasonable asking price and evaluate any offers made on the property.

The team at Meli Homes has extensive experience selling homes throughout Central Florida from Tampa to Orlando to Cocoa Beach. We understand the market in your area, as well as the complexity involved in selling a property with a lien.

• Be Honest

Whether they’re in denial or simply embarrassed about their debt, some homeowners think they can keep the property tax lien quiet until after the home has closed. You may be reluctant to alert buyers to your lien, but honesty is the best policy here. It’s never a good idea to mislead a buyer or an agent, and a quick title search will show existing tax liens on your property anyway.

The bottom line is that you can’t complete your home’s sale until your debt is resolved, so there’s no benefit to keeping it a secret.

It is helpful to have a knowledgeable real estate professional in your corner throughout the process of selling a home to help you navigate and ensure things run smoothly. At Meli, we are familiar with the intricacies of the property tax laws and regulations specific to Florida. This makes us uniquely qualified to walk you through the process.

Find the Right Buyer

While some home buyers are reluctant to purchase a house with a lien, others aren’t dissuaded by the extra steps involved in buying these properties. You’ll want to work with the latter.

Connecting with a qualified, committed buyer is an integral step in getting out from under your debt. Meli Homes represents many verified cash buyers looking to invest in difficult-to-sell homes. Our team can be your link to the market you need to tap into in order to sell your home for a fair price.

The Takeaway

Selling a home can be stressful under the best circumstances, but particularly with the added complications of a property tax lien. You’re likely eager to have it resolved as quickly as possible. At Meli Homes, selling challenging homes is our specialty, and we’re equipped to deal with every tax situation.

You’re not in this alone. The qualified professionals at Meli can answer that complicated question, “Can you sell a house with property taxes owed?” by addressing your unique needs. Call us today at (407) 305-5008 to get started. Let us help you resolve your situation and restore your peace of mind.

This article is meant for informational purposes only and is not intended to be construed as financial, tax, legal, real estate, insurance, or investment advice. Meli encourages you to reach out to an advisor regarding your own situation. Please consult with your advisor when making legal or financial decisions.

Image Credits

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For your ease, we have provided a transcript of the Distressed Home Q&A Recording.

Hey, it’s Evan with Simple Sale Central Florida. We buy distressed homes throughout Central Florida, from Tampa to Orlando to Titusville.

We’re bringing you a Q&A. We typically do these every few weeks to answer any questions that we typically see from home sellers. As a distressed home buyer we see tons of questions because it’s kind of a topic that there isn’t a lot of good information about, so we like to bring you Q&As in which we openly talk about things that we see everyday.

And again, I’m Evan with Simple Sale Central Florida, and we will dive right into questions.

1. Is there anything I can do to get a higher offer on my home?

There’s always things you can do to get a higher offer. Very simple things would be just cleaning the property up. That’s going to bring a higher value, for example. If there’s a lot of junk or items like that, cleaning the outside of the property, the inside of the property, floors – replacing floors is a really easy thing that can make a big difference on the value of your property.

Other things could be updates, but that’s going to get a little more complicated, and a little more time consuming and hectic. But I would say the biggest one would really be just making it more appealing, in the sense of it’s just a cleaner property. That would be the fastest and easiest way.

If there’s a lot of junk around the property, that can be unappealing to home buyers that come and look at your property. It’s like anything else in life, if something is dirty, if there’s a lot of junk, it’s just less appealing to anyone that wants to buy it, even though it actually may not have a significant effect on on the house itself. You can make a big difference in what you’re going to be offered for your property.

2. I’m not sure if I’m ready to sell yet. Can I still talk about my options?

We have people all the time that just want to talk about thinking about it. You know, don’t know if I do want to sell or don’t want to sell. We will absolutely talk with you about your options and then make a recommendation.

Quite often we do tell people to not sell or maybe they should list their property because it’s not a good fit, they’re not actually a distressed property. Maybe there’s some very minor things wrong with the property that, in a sense, if you sell to someone that’s an investor or cash buyer, you’re going to get sell it for a significant discount and you’re really not going to get the most money out of it.

With that being said, yes you can absolutely call and we can talk through all your options and then make up a recommendation on what we think is your best option.

So yeah, feel free to call, 407-338-4183 is our number. You can go to our website, simplesalecentralflorida.com, and you can leave your information and we can give you a call. But with that being said, absolutely. We don’t charge to give advice on what we think is your best option because it’s not always us. We’re not always your best option.

In a lot of situations your best option may be not doing anything at all. You may be considering selling your distressed home and then it ends up that it’s probably not your best option and may be a better option just to keep it and rent it or, also list the property. Absolutely give us a call anytime and we will talk about your options.

3. Will I have to pay any fees for working with a distressed home buyer?

No, working with a distressed home buyer you typically do not pay any fees. Let’s say someone offers you $200,000 for your house. That’s typically what you’re going to get minus pro-rated property taxes you’re probably going to get around $200,000 minus whatever property taxes you may owe. Otherwise, if you’re being charged closing costs or anything of that nature, that’s very uncommon.

If an investor or cash buyer or home buyer is buying your property and they’re trying to charge you fees, that’s not typical and I would question the validity of that. You may be working with an unreputable company if they’re trying to add fees that you don’t understand because it’s very uncommon.

Like I was saying, typically what you get offered is what you’re going to get. If that’s not the case in your situation, then I would question that company and figure out “What are these fees that you are charging me? It doesn’t make sense. Why am I paying closing costs? Aren’t you supposed to be paying closing costs?” Those are the types of questions I would be asking.

4. Do you require any sort of contracts to work with you?

This kind of refers back to the question that we talked about earlier. As far as talking about your options, you don’t have to sign any sort of contracts. That advice is free, no obligation, just trying to give you value in a situation where your property may be distressed. We’ll give out information to try to help you and get the best result possible for you.

As far as working in the sense of purchasing your distressed home, yes, you’ll have to sign a contract. We’ll enter into a contract period. Typically, how a contract works is we’ll sign a contract and there will be anywhere from a 3-day to 14-day inspection period on the property, and during that inspection period we will evaluate the property and work to see if it is a good fit, and then close on the property after the inspection period, typically in less than 30 days.

So yes, you have to sign a contract in the sense to sell your home but as far as just talking about your options you do not have to sign a contract with us. You do have to sign a contract in order to sell your property.

5. Can I choose my closing date?

Yes, you can absolutely choose your closing date. We are very flexible on when you can close on your property. Typically it is going to be in less than 30 days. That seems to always be the case. People want to close relatively quickly and we work with the seller to choose a date that works with them.

You can be flexible, Monday through Friday. I would say in a lot of cases we close on Fridays but any time Monday through Friday in a period, any time of month is fine. So, yes you can actually choose your closing date.

There is another question that references this, but you can actually stay in your property anywhere from a couple days to a couple of weeks after closing to move your stuff out of the property. We typically allow anywhere from 2 to 14 days to give you time after closing to move out of the property.

You can have a closing and then remain in the property for a short period of time. All of that would be contractual, to make sure that you’re going to be vacating the property at some point after close, but there is a move out period available. People use it on occasion, it’s not used as often, but it does happen in certain situations and we are flexible working with you for that.

6. Do you buy homes outside of Central Florida?

We do consider them, and we look at them actually quite often. I would say that most of the properties are in Central Florida, but we would absolutely look at your property outside of Central Florida. Anywhere in the U.S. for that matter. We’ve done deals in several different states, it really just depends on the property, but we are definitely open to looking at your property anywhere but our focus right now is currently distressed homes in Central Florida.

7. Will I have to do any major cleaning or repairs before I move out?

No, you don’t; you really don’t. You really don’t have to clean the property or make any repairs. We’ve bought properties that have significant issues and tons of problems and it doesn’t really make a difference but referencing one of the questions earlier, cleaning or making those small repairs to your house is going to get you a higher value, without a doubt.

Taking the time to throw away junk or making small repairs like minor bathroom updates and things of that nature is going to make a difference. But do you have to do those things? No. You absolutely do not have to do those things.

We purchase distressed properties as-is with junk or excessive repairs, leaks, roof issues, electrical issues, anything of that nature we will definitely close on the property with no problem, so it really isn’t an issue.

8. What kind of legal issues do you deal with on homes you buy?

The typical legal issues would be probate. Probate is where the owner of the property has died and you are needing to go through the courts to determine that the property is now yours. This process can last anywhere from 3-6 months going through the courts. Other legal issues would be liens, judgments, things of that nature. Depending on the liens or judgments it can be a very short process or it could be a very long one.

We are currently dealing with one with code violations in Tampa that has taken several months, but you know, that’s what we do and we can always work through the issues, those legal issues, but honestly the most common is a probate. That’s what you see most, because it’s something that people don’t really talk about, but it’s also actually very common. Those are the types of things that we deal with.

9. Do you list properties on the market?

We do now list properties on the market. We didn’t up until a few months ago, but now we are currently listing properties. If someone brings us a property and we know without a doubt that our cash offer isn’t going to be competitive compared to what maybe a retail buyer would pay for the property, we do offer listing service in order to allow the client to get as much money as they can for the property.

At the end of the day our goal is to work in the interests of the client, and to do that in some scenarios listing the property makes more sense and they get more money for it and really, that’s our goal, is for someone to take a distressed property and get the most they can out of it and move on with their life. If that means listing the property and selling it to someone else we will absolutely do that. We will make that recommendation.

So yeah, Simple Sale Realty is now listing properties. I would say it’s not our first option. We would always rather buy the property, but in some situations if it doesn’t make sense for the client, we’re not going to recommend we buy the property if it isn’t the best choice for you.

10. What can I do if my property is worth less than my mortgage?

This is what would be called a short sale. You would negotiate with the bank on making an offer that’s less than the mortgage. Let’s say, for example, your house is worth $200,000 and you have a mortgage for $250,000, you would go to your bank and you would say “I have someone wanting to buy my property,” and we would help you with these negotiations as well, “I have someone wanting to buy my property for $200,000. I know I owe $250,000, is that adequate?”

You’ll have to get it approved by the bank on the short sale, and when you do get approved then you can sell the property for that amount, whatever that determined amount is. You can absolutely negotiate with the bank on your mortgage. It’s done more often than you would think and it’s really not an uncommon occurrence – it really isn’t. It’s done quite a bit and it’s a useful strategy for people in situations where for whatever reason. Maybe they bought they bought their property for a price that was too high and now they need to sell.

You can absolutely negotiate with the banks on your property, and get out of your distressed property situation. That is something that we always consider. With the short sale process it can take several months if not a year, so keep that in mind. It isn’t a short process in all scenarios it’s going to take 6 months or more. It’s totally possible you can sell the property that way, it’s just going to take some time.

I think that’s it for today. Are there any questions out there? I know I see a couple of people on here. If you have any questions at all feel free to ask, and also we’re always here to answer your questions. You can message us on Facebook, that’s a really easy way and you can catch us at simplesalecentralflorida.com.

You can send us your property’s address and your information and we will reach out to you and talk with you about your property, discuss what issues you’re having, and see if we’re a good fit for one another. If not, then that’s really not a problem. The goal of the company is to help the client out of their distressed home situation. If that means not working with us that is absolutely fine. We’re here to provide a service and that’s really the core of the company. If we’re not a good fit we’ll find a good fit for you, and it doesn’t always have to be us.

I guess if there aren’t any questions – I don’t see any questions, then that’s it. Like I said in the beginning, we purchase distressed properties throughout Central Florida from Tampa to Orlando, Titusville, Melbourne. Really from coast-to-coast in the Central Florida area we are actively buying properties.

If you have a distressed home that you are looking to sell or if you just have questions about distressed properties, give us a call at 407-338-4183. We also have an ebook on the site that you can download and there’s some good information in that. It’s a short, simple ebook that will tell you about distressed properties and help you with your distressed home situation.

But if that’s it then we will catch you next time. Feel free to reach out anytime. Thank you.

There are many decisions that go into selling a home. Do you want or need to move? Is this the right time to sell? Can I afford to sell? Can I afford not to? What is the least complicated, most effective way to get your home sold?

One option is to sell your house as-is. This essentially means you’re acknowledging that your home is a fixer-upper and communicating to buyers and their representatives that you aren’t interested in doing any major repairs or updates to the property. In other words, for the most part, what you see is what you get.

There are some pros and cons of selling a house as-is, and it isn’t necessarily for everyone. There are many things to consider before you decide to list your home for sale. People opt to sell their property as-is for different reasons, but most frequently, to save time, money, and the hassle of the traditional home sale process.

Save Time

The process of selling a home can seem endless. On the front end, you have to find an agent; then, you’ll need to list the property. It will likely take you some time to clean, stage, and update your home to make it most attractive to potential buyers.

Once your home is ready for show, you have to wait until the right buyer comes along, and that can take months. When your house finally sells, you still have to contend with lenders’ delays, multiple days in escrow, and the possibility that the sale will fall through.

Save Money

It’s never worth the risk of going into debt to make improvements on your home, particularly when you want to sell. Home repair and remodeling are costly. You may choose to make updates to get a better asking price, but you should weigh the cost of that investment versus the likely return you’ll see upon your home’s sale.

To be fair, as-is properties sell for less than an updated home, and potential buyers will factor in the costs of needed repairs when making an offer to buy. You’ll want to weigh the costs of selling your property as-is. Opting out of improvements and selling for a little less may end up saving you in the long run.

Save The Headache

Often, sellers want to sell a home as-is simply because they don’t want to deal with the headache of updating, repairing, and marketing a home. Buying and selling a home is inconvenient, at best.

If you just want to get a piece of property off your hands, selling as-is can be an especially good option. If you’ve inherited a fixer-upper from a deceased family member or friend, you may not have the interest or energy needed to endure the lengthy process of selling a home.

An additional benefit of working with Meli Homes is our fast, streamlined process. We deal almost exclusively in distressed and as-is properties. We can anticipate the curveballs, walk you through the process and save you money, time, and the hassle that generally goes with selling a home.

Additional Considerations when Selling As-Is

• As-Is Isn’t for Everyone

There tend to be fewer buyers when you’re selling a property as is because they require work. Your as-is house might appeal to a young couple eager to turn your fixer-upper into their dream home, but other buyers may shy away from the need for major renovations. There tend to be fewer buyers when you’re selling as-is because these properties require work. Your home might appeal to a young couple eager to turn your fixer-upper into their dream home, but other buyers may shy away from the need for major renovations.

It helps to have the assistance of a seasoned investor of as-is properties to ensure your property is being seen by the people who are most likely to buy it. The team at Meli Homes works with various verified investors, specifically seeking as-is properties to buy.

• Know Your Obligations as a Seller

Some people mistakenly believe that by labeling a property “as-is,” they relieve themselves of any buyer’s disclosure obligations. In actuality, Florida law requires a homeowner to disclose any defects to the home, even if the buyer doesn’t ask for it.

The professionals at Meli Homes are experts in real estate law specific to Florida and can help you protect yourself and avoid potential legal issues down the road.

• Know Your Home’s Value

Just because the house you’re selling needs some improvement doesn’t mean you shouldn’t get a fair price.

To avoid being taken advantage of by a less than scrupulous buyer, it pays to have the assistance of an experienced Central Florida real estate professional familiar with the sale prices of comparable properties in your area.

Meli Homes has facilitated as-is property transactions throughout Florida for sellers and cash home buyers from Kissimmee to Tampa to Melbourne. We can ensure you get the best price for your home.

Call Meli Homes Today

The buying and selling of as-is homes is a specialty niche in real estate investment. It can be an excellent option for buyers and sellers, but it can be a more complicated process than a traditional sale.

Meli Homes is a reputable home buying firm with a proven track record for working with as-is properties. Our company represents financially secure cash buyers willing to purchase properties in any condition and move quickly.

As one of the most trusted home buying firms in the state, at Meli Homes we know the ins and outs of selling a house as-is and can facilitate a fast, smooth process.

We even offer incentives to sellers who schedule a walkthrough of your home within 48 hours, so call us today at (407) 338-4183 so that we can discuss your home, your particular needs, and the best path forward for you.

This article is meant for informational purposes only and is not intended to be construed as financial, tax, legal, real estate, insurance, or investment advice. Meli encourages you to reach out to an advisor regarding your own situation. Please consult with your advisor when making legal or financial decisions.

Image Credits

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For your ease, we have provided a transcript of the Q&A Recording.

Hey this is Evan Shelley with Simple Sale Central Florida. We’re back for an August Q&A. The last few months we’ve been doing Q&As for commonly asked questions from clients that we work with.

We are a distressed home buyer throughout Central Florida. We buy properties in Orlando, Tampa, St Pete, Temple Terrace, New Port Richey, Ocala, Webster, Titusville, Melbourne, and we’ve bought properties in Palm Coast as well. So really all of Central Florida.

We’re just going to run through a few questions that we see with clients. Here we go.

1. Can I sell my house with code violations on the property?
So this one is kind of nuanced, where you can sell a property with code violations and we’ve bought properties with code violations. It’s common, though, that the buyer of the property is not going to want those code violations and will probably not buy it.

We’re different in the aspect that we do, depending on what the violations are, and there’s a difference between code violations and code violation liens and the type of code violation. If the code violation was for something simple, like an overgrown yard, that’s not a huge deal. You would just cut the grass down to a reasonable length, then Code Enforcement would remove the code violation, bringing you into compliance.

If you have code violations that have been a problem for a long period of time, you’ll have what’s called a code violation lien on the property. Typically those code violation liens will stack up at a couple of hundred dollars a day and if you have that lien for long enough and you don’t bring it into compliance it can run into tens of thousands if not hundreds of thousands of dollars.

An example of this, we bought a property in Tampa, Florida and it had 2 code violation liens at the time that we bought it. Those liens had been on the property for several years. So at $200 a day over several years it ended up being several hundred thousand dollars in code violations. So what we are actually in the process of doing – we brought the property into compliance. The place looks completely different. It was a very distressed property with many, many issues. After we brought the property into compliance by cleaning it up, we’re now talking with Hillsborough County about settling the code violation liens.

So with that being said, it really just depends upon your buyer, but you can absolutely sell it that way, but most buyers will not buy a property with code violation liens, but we absolutely do. We would probably buy a house with most any situation, but we would just have to evaluate the situation on the property before we made a final decision.

2. I found out my house has a tax lien against it while trying to sell. What can I do?
So this just depends on what type of lien. You have property tax liens, IRS tax liens. In the instance of a property tax lien, depending upon how much property taxes are – typically I’ve seen them everywhere from $1,000 to maybe $10,000.

If you’re selling the house, what typically will happen is the title company will take that $10,000 out of the proceeds. So let’s say you sell the house for $100,000. $10,000 of that will go to the municipality that is owed the $10,000 and the title company will send it to them. You can also pay it yourself outside of the sale, but typically your proceeds would just be reduced from the sale of the property by the amount that’s owed and that would take care of the tax lien.

So typically, it wouldn’t hold up a sale, but you would have to get that lien removed from the property before you can close. Typically a title company has handled those situations before so it’s not an issue where you can close and pay them at the same time the same day. It really just depends upon your situation but in most scenarios you can still sell.

3. My home was affected by a sinkhole, and it has not been repaired. Can I sell it?
Yes, you can definitely sell it. There are niche buyers that buy sinkholes. There aren’t a ton of people that buy them but there are definitely some, Simple Sale included. We will work with you if you have a property that has a sinkhole and it has not been repaired.

Those costs for repairs can be pretty high, but you never really know until you get the situation evaluated and then once you start the repairs, you’ll see how deep the sinkhole actually is and how much work and material is actually going to be used to stabilize that sinkhole.

So yes, you can definitely sell it. For the buyer it is a risky scenario. Typically with a sinkhole, that property is going to be sold at a steep discount because you could end up in a situation with a property that may never be able to be sold again to anyone because it may be condemned permanently.

In that scenario you can’t have tenants in the property and you can’t resell it to a retail buyer. There’s a lot of risk associated with selling and buying a property that has a sinkhole that hasn’t been repaired. But it’s totally possible and there are investors out there that will take that risk.

4. Are there any benefits to making repairs before I reach out to a home buyer?
I get this question all the time and it really does just depend. I feel like I’ve said that several times, but it really does just depend on what’s going on with your property.

There are some repairs that aren’t going to make much of a difference where you might think it would. You can take the time to go get, for example, you can go get… Let’s say you change the floors in the bedrooms because the carpet was a little worn. Is that going to increase the value of the property by more than what you paid for the carpet? Probably not.

It’s probably not going to be a significant difference to where you felt like the time you took to find a contractor and get the work done and move the room around is worth it for you. I just made that scenario up on the fly but some repairs don’t make much sense.

Now, if you’re going to go and completely update the house – absolutely, yeah. You could totally do that, and that’s going to be a huge value add based on the amount of money you’re going to spend compared to what the property is going to be worth afterward. It’s a great deal, but it’s a lot of work, and there’s a lot of risk of getting a bad contractor and things of that nature. It really depends on if you are a contractor or if you have any experience in remodeling and repairs.

In the situations where those big remodels would help the value of the house, it can become risky if you aren’t educated on handling contractors and working with contractors, making sure that they don’t overcharge you and making sure that the job is done right. If you’re just looking to get rid of the property, a lot of times it doesn’t make sense to make those repairs. If the repairs are significant, or if it’s a full update of the property.

If the property is in good shape and it hasn’t been updated, you’re typically still going to get more than you would think for the property even though it hasn’t been updated. As long as there aren’t significant issues and the property is fully functional, you are going to get more than you actually think.

It really would depend, I would say, in most scenarios it’s better for peace of mind just to go ahead and sell the property without taking several extra months and headaches to repair the property, because that’s not what you do. That’s what we do every day. We buy and sell properties, we fix up properties. It’s what we do, but for most people that may not be the best option.

5. I can’t afford the cost of a probate, but I need to sell my home. What can I do?
We have scenarios all the time, where someone needs a probate on a property and they can’t afford it, they can’t pay the lawyer for it, and they want to sell just to get rid of the property. A lot of times those people don’t even know they need a probate, so what we do in that scenario is just pay the lawyer fees. We take the risk of the probate, because probates aren’t always going to be smooth.

You can have errors, have disputes and probates can get ran out for months, if not years. You can find homebuyers that will pay for that probate. I know Simple Sale Central Florida does. I’m sure other homebuyers do as well, and that they’ll help you through the process, because we handle probates all the time. We’ve seen a lot of different scenarios and our lawyers have seen a lot of different scenarios so I’m sure that we can take care of you.

6. My house could use a lot of upgrades, but I don’t want to deal with it all. Will I lose a lot if I sell it as-is?
I think that’s pretty similar to the other question. Well, I actually ended up answering that question on the last one. It’s not the same, but if it has a lot of upgrades and you don’t want to deal with it. Like I was saying, you won’t lose as much as you would think selling it as-is as long as the property is functional.

Because in a lot of scenarios that house will become a rental property if it’s fully functional. That’s probably the highest and best use for it that can bring a higher value for the property. If it’s just remodel upgrades then you won’t. If it’s a property where there’s tons of issues where, for example, we were talking about the kitchen. If the sink doesn’t work and the dishwasher doesn’t work, none of the appliances work, the cabinets are on hinges that don’t work, then making that upgrade would be a significant help to the value of your property. It’s just a lot of work and a lot of headache. If all the appliances work fine, the sink works fine, the dishwasher works fine, the cabinets are fine – it’s just dated, then you’re probably not going to lose as much as you think you would and the property still does have value as is.

7. What’s up with those “we buy homes for cash” signs on the side of the road?
So those signs are typically people – it’s just a form of marketing – and those people will buy houses or they’ll have investors. They’re just using that form of marketing because a lot of people will, in the right locations, pass by those signs just like billboards. I don’t really see any significant issue with it.

The only problem I would say with working with those people, is possibly credibility. A lot of times those people aren’t established, those companies aren’t established. They’re possibly new to the business, or may be a little shady with their tactics of working with sellers. That’s not speaking for every one of them, but for some of them that will be the case.

If it’s a reputable company, they’ll probably be trying to market to you on different avenues like Facebook for example, Google, billboards, where you’re representing a brand with accountability and trustworthiness and good reviews. It’s going to be hard to get reviews from a sign on the side of the road. So I would just be cautious. It doesn’t mean all of them are that way, but it does definitely mean that there’s a possibility of working with someone who doesn’t operate in the correct manner and look out for the interests of the client like they should.

8. How can I get the most value out of my distressed property?
That’s a good question. I would think, I mean, some of the things you can do that are the easiest is – let’s say for example, that the house has a lot of items in it. Inside, outside, everywhere. You could probably pay someone a thousand, couple thousand dollars to come in and clean out the entire property and just have no items, the house is empty and it’s not a mess. That could bring a pretty quick value add. You may put a thousand in and it may get 5 or 10 more out of it just because it just looks more appealing.

It’s not a significant difference in the property, but a lot of times people that have properties in that situation, like landlords – they’re just over it. They’re just ready to sell, they just want to be done with it and I can totally understand that. You know, it’s like anything else in life that you’ve had. If you’ve had something for a long time and you’ve had bad experiences with it, you just want to get rid of it.

But that would be one easy way, just anything cosmetic. If you have holes in the wall and you know how to repair drywall that would be a pretty quick way to make the property more appealing. You can even do little things like changing out doors. The front door could make a significant difference if it’s very, very old and has issues. Cosmetic stuff can go a long way with a distressed property, where for the buyer it’s a lot more appealing.

Now when you start getting into, like we were talking about, trying to do full home upgrades, unless you’re very experienced in it you’re going to have a lot of headaches with contractors, and it’s going to take a lot of time. I would just say cosmetic stuff would be the easiest way where the property is more appealing to the buyer.

With a distressed property, say with legal issues, it’s clearing up those legal issues as much as you can without a lawyer. If it’s a family dispute, you should try to work that out with your family before doing a deal with a home buyer. If you have a situation essentially figured out at that point, the property is going to bring a lot more money because it’s going to be a lot less headache for a home buyer. It’s going to be a lot more appealing to them.

9. If I’m interested in selling, what’s the easiest way to get an offer?
I would say there are several different avenues for selling, at this point. It really just depends on the condition of your property. Let’s say your property is in solid condition, has no issues – no legal issues that you know of, anything of that nature.

Typically, an iBuyer is going to be your best bet. An iBuyer would be something like OpenDoor or OfferPad. They can pay premiums for properties that a lot of buyers cannot and typically from what I’ve seen those offers are higher than you can get anywhere else.

I will say, though, we recently had a property in Bradenton in which we actually offered more than OfferPad did, which was unusual for us, we typically would not. I’m not sure what happened in that scenario, but typically they will offer significantly more than we can. So for most people, that is going to be the best bet if the property is not distressed.

For people that are trying to sell a distressed property, we’re – you could term it – a distressed iBuyer, where we really only buy distressed properties with significant legal issues, significant repairs. There has to be issues with the property for us to have interest, because we’re in the business of buying those distressed properties and taking care of the situations and then re-selling the property rather than just quickly buying a good looking property for a little less and then reselling it. That’s not really our model that we work with.

So it really depends on your situation. I mean, if it’s a distressed property, then we could definitely get you an offer. Another, are other companies that make offers on distressed properties. In some scenarios we’re the only company making offers because the property is so distressed, has so many legal issues. We have a property right now that we’ve been working litigation on for 8 months, and that property – we still haven’t gotten all the legal issues fixed yet.

But that’s what we do, and those are the properties that we buy. There, I would just search online – there’s Simple Sale Central Florida and there’s a couple other legitimate buyers in Central Florida and then, of course, Zillow, OpenDoor and OfferPad if your property is not distressed.

10. Will you buy my home even if it’s not distressed?
So that, I tied that one back into the last question. We typically do not. We’re just not competitive, it’s not our model. I mean, we’ll make an offer and we’ll make a credible offer where we’re not going to change the offer price on you or anything of that nature, but, as far as buying it just to buy it we really probably aren’t your best option. If it’s not distressed at all and you’re not wanting to just get a quick cash offer, then I would highly recommend you list the property with someone that you know and trust.

We do have a brokerage now, Simple Sale Realty, that will list your property. We can list that property for you if it’s not distressed, but I highly recommend working with someone that you know and trust. That would be that would be your best bet for a good experience. We have highly qualified realtors at Simple Sale Realty that I’m sure we can help you out with that listing.

11. Are there any fees associated with selling the property?
This is probably the second most common question I get. So there really are not any fees. If the property offer is $150,000, that is the amount that you will receive, minus if you owe any property taxes. If you don’t owe any property taxes it will be $150,000, flat.

In scenarios where there’s liens, you’d subtract the liens, but as far as just outright fees, there aren’t any. We pay all closing costs for the property, so you don’t have to worry about it. So, to fully answer the question: No, there aren’t any fees, it would just be items that are owed by the seller – the owner that’s selling the property, like property taxes. If there’s code violations, you’d have to pay those, but aside from that, there won’t be any fees associated.

I know other models — I believe the iBuyers – they have an offer and then they subtract fees from it. Those fees are all laid out, but there are fees associated with those closings that you have to pay attention to.

12. How long can I stay in my property after closing?
This is a really common one too. Typically we will allow, like, 14 days after closing. We’ve done more, but typically if it’s more than 14 days you’ll essentially rent it back for a month for market rent price in order for you to get yourself situated into another property. So that’s not an issue. But 14 days or less, typically you can just stay on the property and there’s no issues. So, yeah I think that fully answers it.

Wrapping Up

That was all of our questions. If there’s any other questions you can type them in the comments now. I haven’t seen any comments, so I think that will wrap it up for today, and I’m sure we will be back next month in September for another Q&A.

And, as always, if you are looking to get an offer on your distressed property you can go to simplesalecentralflorida.com. We’re rapidly growing throughout Central Florida like I was saying, buying properties in Bradenton, Sarasota, Tampa, St. Pete, New Port Richey, Temple Terrace, Orlando, Ocala, Kissimmee. I’m just trying to think of all the places. And then on the east coast as I mentioned earlier, Titusville, Melbourne, Palm Coast, Daytona.

So we’re looking everywhere, and we’re actively buying everywhere, even with everything going on in the economy, we are trying to purchase properties and keep moving. So if you have a distressed property you’re looking to sell, feel free to come to the site – simplesalecentralflorida.com.

You can check us out on Facebook, you can check us out on our Google reviews, and if you are looking to sell your distressed home, I would highly recommend working with someone with great reviews and a lot of credibility. You can typically tell that pretty quickly after looking at their social medias and their reviews; it will give you a good idea of the company that you’re working with.

OK, I think that’s it. I will catch up with you all next month. Thanks. Bye.