If you’ve ever gone into a house with tons of junk and furniture, and several years of…” I’ll deal with it later,” you know that selling that type of house is significantly different than a traditional sale. This may be a parent, relative, or it may be your home and you are looking into a room full of junk and wondering where do I even begin. The good thing is that you won’t be taking months to clean it up, repair it, or stage it to get it ready to sell. Hoarder homes are far more common to see than you might think in Winnipeg, and fortunately, getting those types of homes sold comes with easy and manageable pathways.

So in this blog, we give you proper information about how to sell a hoarder house in Winnipeg. So stay tuned with this blog.

Table of Contents

Why Hoarder Houses Are Different to Sell

Hoarding can lead to things other than a disorderly, untidy home. There may also be issues that cannot be seen from the outside of the home due to clutter and the number of things inside. These issues can include water damage, problems caused by pests, structural damage, and very bad smells or odours that have developed over time due to neglect of the home. Typical buyers who use mortgage financing require that the home be in ‘move-in’ condition, and because many lenders will not lend on a home that has failed the most basic home inspection standard, this really limits the potential buyer pool and could result in an extremely lengthy timeframe to sell the home if you attempt to sell through a traditional real estate listing method.

Decide Between Cleaning It Up or Selling As-Is

There are basically two alternatives. One alternative is that you perform clean-up, reduce the amount of clutter, complete repairs, and stage the front of the property before putting it for sale to potential buyers under the traditionally open market method. Going with this alternative might allow you to maximise your sale price, however, this will typically require you to hire dumpster rental companies and/or junk removal services, complete repairs on the property, and wait weeks or months for all these things to get done and/or for your house to be sold. The second alternative is selling your home as-is to a cash buyer who specialises in purchasing these types of properties (as-is). Because the buyer will take ownership of the property in as-is condition, there is no cleanup required.

Steps to Take If You Choose the Traditional Route

Begin by organising items you want to keep, give away as donations, or throw away. If you don’t mind paying for a junk removal service to help haul away most of the junk, have them take away all of your junk to clear your home out. After that, look at your home to see what repairs need to be made (flooring, drywall, plumbing, etc.) which may not have been addressed for many years. Also, consider doing a thorough cleaning and maybe even painting the walls before contacting a real estate agent to have your home listed.

Steps to Take If You Choose to Sell As-Is

When you sell your property without making necessary repairs or improvements, this is called selling “as-is”. To sell “as-is”, you do need to reach out to a reputable cash home-buying company in your area to get an all cash offer on the home in its current condition at no obligation and a closing date that fits your schedule (sometimes as quickly as 1-2 weeks). An as-is sale is usually the best option for individuals who are dealing with a family inheritance or emotional attachment to the property or who simply need to quickly sell their home.

Setting Realistic Expectations on Price

You need to be straight with yourself regarding values of properties. A hoarder home (regardless of any cleanup) will have some degree of deficiency with regards to quality and, consequently, what value would attract buyers. A cash buyer will include a cost for cleanup and repairs into their offer which means that cash offers are usually lower than retail market price. However, cash buyers do not have realtor commissions to pay, they do not incur costs to repair the property and there is no delay in finding out whether financing will close or not.

Final Thoughts

Selling a hoarder house can be easy if you don’t want to take care of cleaning and repairs yourself; AJ Buys Houses can help you sell your home “as-is” quickly. Understanding your options makes it possible to make an informed decision about how to sell your property and move on from the clutter on your property.

FAQs

Do I have to clean out the house before I sell it?

There’s no need to clean out your house if you are selling to a cash buyer since they usually will buy the home in “as-is” condition including all of the items or junk that are in it and you can avoid by-passing dumpsters, making multiple runs to donate items, and spending weeks just sorting items.

What if there’s mould, pest damage, or structural problems hiding under all the stuff?

Many people choose to sell as-is because of this; cash buyers will factor any potential problems into their offer rather than having you repair any issues yourself. Thus, without having to perform any repairs, sellers will receive their cash offers.

Will I get less money for selling it this way?

Typically, the price you will receive will be less than if the property was completely renovated and sold through a traditional sale. However, the money you save on you will be able to put towards your cleaning expenses, repairs, commissions to agents for selling the home, and the months of holding costs (such as utility bills and property taxes) incurred while you wait for a buyer to purchase it.

The house belonged to a parent who passed away. Can I still sell it if it’s full of their belongings?

That is correct. This frequently happens to cash purchasers prior to the closing of their new residence. You won’t have to hurry through numerous boxes or worry about your emotional possessions being part of your decision to purchase since the sale isn’t based on clearing out the property first.