| What Does Selling a Home "As Is" Really Mean? |
 When a home is being sold "as is," many buyers automatically assume there's something dreadfully wrong with it and dismiss it without even seeing it. Others may factor their suspicions, justified or not, into their offer, resulting in a lower sales price than might otherwise have been obtained. |
| Most Offers Are Written "As Is" |
| It may surprise you to learn that most offers to purchase a home in Southern California are written for the home to be purchased "as is" subject to the buyers having the right to review the seller's disclosures and conduct whatever inspections and investigations of their own they choose to do. Inspections and investigations are completed within a certain time period early in the transaction (usually within the first two weeks and sometimes sooner than that). Buyers normally hire a professional inspector to check all aspects of a home's condition, including plumbing, electrical, roof, appliances, the home's attic and sub-area, etc. In addition, buyers can hire specialists to further investigate conditions that concern them. Based on the buyers' review of your disclosures and the results of their own inspections and investigations, buyers have the contractual right to request, within the stipulated time frame, that you, as the seller, agree to correct certain deficiencies or, worst case, that the transaction be cancelled. |
| "As Is" Won't Apply to Everything |
| Selling a home "as is" does NOT relieve a seller from the responsibility to comply with legally-required retrofits such as water heater belting, smoke detectors, etc. In addition, selling a home "as is" normally does NOT include relieving a seller from the responsibility of having the home certified as being free of wood destroying organisms and damage (termites, fungus, dry rot, etc.) by a licensed structural pest control company. For additional information, you can visit the state structural pest control web site. |
| Having Work Done in Advance Makes Sense |
| If you know about repairs that are needed, you'll be legally required to disclose them. Buyers tend to estimate repairs as costing at least twice what it likely would cost you to have them done. Maybe even worse, small noticeable defects lead buyers to assume there may be more serious, hidden flaws. Anticipating that buyers will have a professional inspection performed anyway and that you as the seller will be responsible for compliance with retrofit requirements, it makes sense for you to consider taking care of repair items while you're in the process of preparing your home for sale. Return to "Selling Your Home" Page |