Top 7 Tips for Selling a Rundown House

Are you selling a rundown house? Sometimes that can feel very overwhelming. Whether it’s due to financial constraints, time limitations, or simply not knowing where to start, you’re not alone.

Here are my top seven tips for selling a rundown house, from deciding whether to sell as-is, to curb appeal, pricing, marketing, disclosures, and quick sale options, so you can sell with confidence and get the best possible outcome.

Tip 1: Decide Whether to Sell As-Is or Make Repairs

The first decision you need to make is whether you’re selling the house as-is or you’re going to invest in repairs. Selling as-is means simply listing the property in its current state. It saves time and upfront cost, and that might be ideal if you’re on a tight budget or a timeline. However, there might be fewer buyers who show interest, and the offers could be lower.

If you’re considering doing some home repairs, focus on affordable updates like painting, cleaning, or some minor landscaping. These can significantly enhance your home’s appeal without breaking the bank. That just might be the little tiny thing that helps you sell your house as-is.

For me, when I start down the road of whether or not to do some repairs, it can be super difficult to figure out where to stop. That’s always my hard part. I get into it and I just see the very end. I don’t see the spots where I could stop along the way. You don’t have to take it all the way to the end and do the full project. That’s why I highly recommend getting some advice from a quality as-is home salesperson. There are a lot of little variables that can make a big difference in this conversation. Little things sometimes cost a lot, and big things sometimes don’t cost a whole lot. What matters is the impact it’s going to make when you go to sell the house.

Consider the current market, too. What are the conditions? Is it a sellers’ market or a buyers’ market? In a sellers’ market, you might fetch a competitive price even without making repairs. In a buyers’ market, little minor updates could make the home stand out just enough. Getting a professional opinion on your home’s condition can also help you greatly. Sometimes what you think are major issues might actually be minor and easily addressed. Then again, sometimes the things you’ve overlooked for so long could be something that really stands out to a potential buyer.

Tip 2: Enhance Your Home’s Curb Appeal on a Budget

At the end of the day, first impressions matter to home buyers. Simple, budget-friendly improvements can transform your home’s exterior and attract buyers. Here are a few ideas to boost the curb appeal of a rundown house:

• Try painting the front door. A pint of paint and a brush can go a really long way.
• Add some potted plants out front.
• Trim overgrown bushes and replace some light fixtures.

You can do all of those things for very little money and a little bit of time.

Don’t forget the driveway and the sidewalks. A quick power wash can make these areas look fresh and clean. It costs very little and adds a lot to the overall appearance of your home. If your budget allows, consider adding some low-maintenance landscaping or updating the mailbox to give the exterior a more polished look. These small upgrades can make a big difference.

Try to think like you’ve never been to the property. Start from the second you see it when you drive up. Get out of your car. What are the first things you notice? The gate, the yard, the little things. Take a look around the whole thing as you walk up to it. Try to give it a little bit of sparkle, or clean that one spot that stands out. Maybe make sure you clean even just the windows on the front of the house. These are relatively affordable improvements that can do a lot for a potential buyer’s first impression.

Tip 3: Highlight Your Property’s Best Features

Even a rundown house has strengths. Let’s get those highlighted. Let’s put those right out front. Is your property near great schools or parks? Does it have a cool layout, something unique about it, or maybe a spacious backyard? Highlighting those kinds of features can help buyers focus on your home’s potential rather than its flaws. But they need to be able to see this part, and often that’s really hard, because most people cannot see the whole picture, especially when they’re just doing a short walk-through. So your goal is to paint the picture so they can see it with just a little bit of imagination. We need to frame the potential so they can find it very easily when they walk through.

Think about that little spot in the backyard that you’ve always thought would be a cool little place. Try doing a little something. You don’t have to do much. Maybe it’s just adding a couple of lawn chairs out there in a nice way, or building a little fire pit. Don’t go buy any material. Just get a few rocks and set them over there. Maybe even start a fire in the middle of it, just so they can see, “Oh yeah, that is a cool little spot.” It sparks the imagination.

Showcasing a flexible floor plan or a unique architectural design can also make your home more appealing to creative buyers or investors. You might also consider staging certain rooms to help buyers visualize the property’s possibilities. For example, setting up a cozy office space or creating an inviting dining area can leave a little bit of an impression of, “Oh yeah, I can make that work.” They might not like what you do, but they might have some ideas of their own. You just start to frame it a little bit so they can see the potential.

Now, I always recommend having the house cleaned and staged by professionals. If you do nothing else, do this. It makes such a huge difference. A good cleaning deals with all the little things, gets the dust out of the corners, all that kind of stuff. And a good stager is worth so much, and they don’t cost very much at all in the big scheme of things. A good stager can paint that picture better than you and me and four other people put together. That’s what they do on a professional level all day long, every day. Lean on people like that to help you.

Tip 4: Set a Realistic Asking Price

Pricing your home correctly is so crucial for attracting serious buyers. When pricing a rundown house, I would say this is even more important than staging, how it looks, or any of those other things, because before buyers ever see the house, they’re going to find it based on the price range it’s in.

Any real estate agent can provide you with a simple comparative market analysis, or CMA. Keep in mind that these can easily be very poorly produced, and they can easily be manipulated. I’m not saying that’s what everybody does, but just keep in mind that any real estate agent can do that. It’s part of the toolbox they’re handed when they become an agent. Any professional just about anywhere who has done real estate at all has the ability to come up with some price numbers. So keep that in mind. It really matters who you’re working with more than what they can provide you, because a lot of the tools they have are pretty standard. Check out my other video, Real Estate Agents and Investors: 5 Key Differences. In there I touch on a few things, but most importantly, I want you to understand that you need to be able to trust and work with whatever professional you choose.

You can also consult with other real estate professionals to determine a fair asking price. Even some of the online home pricing resources, like Zillow, Redfin, and Realtor.com, can be a great starting point. They use comparable properties, and they’re pretty strong machines that work fairly well, but they’re comparing to properties that are in very good condition. If you’re selling a house that’s not in that condition, you have to do the work to figure out the real cost of getting the home to that status, and then adjust your numbers accordingly to get into the right price range. Sometimes that takes a little professional thought, and there are professional opinions that can help you figure out your pricing strategy.

Remember, setting the price too high could discourage interest, while pricing it too low might leave some money on the table. Consider how your asking price aligns with your selling strategy. If you’re targeting investors, they’ll be looking for a deal, so transparency about your pricing rationale can build a lot of trust. Having a good idea of what it costs them to do their work can be very helpful in setting a good asking price. That takes knowing an investor, talking to investors, and figuring out what it actually takes for them to do their work. It’s not as simple as “go do the work,” because they often have other costs around doing business in general and being able to buy the property. They have to take all of those pieces into account.

Be prepared to adjust your price based on market feedback, too. If you decide to list the home on the open market using the MLS, you’ll usually know pretty quickly if you’re in the right price range. If the property isn’t generating enough interest, a slight reduction could bring in some more buyers. And interestingly, if it gets a lot of attention and offers come in quickly, that interest can drive the price up. If all of a sudden you have four or five or six people who are very interested and they start turning in offers, a good real estate agent is going to help you navigate working with all those other agents so the offers are competitive with each other. Ultimately that works out well for you, because they compete while you end up getting a better price at the end of the day.

Tip 5: Use Targeted Marketing Strategies

Effective marketing of a fixer-upper is key. It’s a bit of a niche market, selling homes with potential rather than selling them in perfect condition. If you go look at all the houses for sale, you’ll find the ones that aren’t in perfect condition, but there are fewer of them. As an investor, I can tell you that I weed through most of the ones selling as-is pretty quickly, because their numbers are just really messed up. So it’s super important to know the pricing, and then how to market the property, and how to make it clear to me, when I’m looking to buy a house, what it is. Who are you hoping to sell to? How soon do you need to sell? This all makes a difference in how you market the property.

If you’d like to talk more about that part, I’d be happy to sit down with you and go through all the details and nuances. I can go on for a really long time, and I don’t want this to go on too long or bore you with all those details. But if you get serious about wanting to ask those questions and get into those pieces, give me a call. Let’s sit down and talk about it.

Here are some general marketing tips to consider:

• High-quality photos go a very long way. All of us who buy properties can very quickly tell the difference between an agent who doesn’t care and uses their phone to pop off some pictures, and one who actually puts work into helping the house look right. I know it’s not all about the looks, and some people think, “Who cares what the pictures look like?” Listen, it matters. It makes a difference to all of us. At the very least, it tells us a professional is working on selling this house, and that makes it a whole lot easier on me when I go to start working with a potential deal.
• Do at least some staging. Even if it’s really simple, and even if you don’t hire a stager (although I highly recommend it, because they do not cost very much, and a lot of times your real estate agent will cover the cost; that’s something to talk to them about). It depends on who you’re marketing to. Investors won’t care much about staging and can look past the pictures. End buyers who are planning on buying a project, on the other hand, need to see the potential. They can’t always see the picture the same way someone who does this on a regular basis can.
• Write detailed descriptions that emphasize potential.
• Use targeted ads. A good agent or professional knows how to speak the language of the people you’re trying to sell your house to. They’ll put the ads in the right place, talk the right language, and offer the right information. The goal is to showcase renovation opportunities to draw in buyers looking for a project.
• Use social media and real estate forums to reach a broader audience. Most of the time your professionals have access to these too and know the places that work well. There you get to highlight before-and-after possibilities and spark a little interest.
• Don’t ever underestimate the power of word of mouth. Share your listing with friends, family, and your local networks to maximize exposure. Even those silly little paper ads put in the right place can go a long way. All you need is one buyer.

Get that information out in the places where people are. Where does your ideal buyer spend time? Where’s the person who could afford your house and might be looking for a project? Where do they hang out? Where do they go shopping? Get the info in front of them there, where they’re at, and make it easy for them to find information about your house.

Tip 6: Comply With Legal Disclosure Requirements

Transparency in home sales is essential when you’re selling a rundown house. Most states require you to disclose known issues. I can share some stories about this, but seriously, if you know of an issue, you really need to just disclose that knowledge. Things like structural damage, leaks, and plumbing or electrical issues should be disclosed. Not only does this build trust with buyers, it also protects you from potential legal issues down the road.

Here in Washington State, if you list your house for sale using a real estate agent, they will provide you with a disclosure form. It’s a standard form with a gazillion questions on it: multiple choice, yes, no, or not applicable, with places to write in details as needed. Listen, it’s a really annoying form, but it’s very thorough on purpose, because you need to answer those questions and put that stuff out there. I’m not saying go out there offering every little thing that’s ever gone wrong in all the time you’ve lived there. I’m just saying that if there are known issues, or known continuing issues, don’t try to hide them. If you’re unsure about what to disclose, working with a real estate agent or a legal advisor can help ensure compliance and a smooth process.

Additionally, keep all documentation handy. If you have an inspection report, or you’ve already talked to a contractor about estimates, those can help answer buyer questions, and they also support the disclosure statements you make. On top of that, information like that can help you figure out your listing price as well.

Tip 7: Consider Quick Sale Options Like Cash Buyers

If you need to sell quickly, consider selling your house to a cash buyer, a real estate investor like Kitsap Home Pro, for instance. Most importantly, find and work with a professional real estate investor. Just like any business, there are pros, and then there are those with less than stellar approaches. This continues to ring true in real estate, with real estate agents and investors. So find yourself a professional real estate investor. When you start talking about selling off-market to a cash buyer, make sure you’re talking to a professional who does this on a regular basis and knows what they’re doing. I’ll mention my video again, Real Estate Agents and Investors: 5 Key Differences. I don’t go into great detail on this point there, but I do spend some time speaking to what professionals look like.

Here are some reasons you might want to talk to a real estate investor about selling your house:

• They can close deals very fast if needed. I’ve closed a house in as little as 7 days, just last year, actually.
• You can skip repairs and lengthy showings. You don’t need to do the repairs when you work with me, and you don’t need to do more showings. I’m personally going to come walk through your house, and I’m personally going to walk you through all the issues and things we need to figure out. We’ll get that figured out together, and I make it about as easy as possible for you to walk through the process. Then we work with professionals from that point on who handle the title and the legal documents and those kinds of things, to make sure everything is getting handled properly.

When working with a real estate investor, the offers might be a little bit lower, but the convenience and speed can be worth it sometimes. It really just depends on what your needs are. That’s why you’ve got to sit down, figure that out, talk about needs, and then go from there.

Kitsap Home Pro is a hybrid option. We have both real estate agents and investors. I always tell people, if you ever invite me out to your house to have this conversation, I’m going to ask you what your needs are, because I can help you sell a house. That’s not hard for me. That’s what I do every day. Whether we list it on the open market or work with an investor, whichever option you need, we have those available. We can get creative with an investor, or we can go the traditional route with an agent. But I need to know what you need. That’s the part I don’t know. That’s the variable. I don’t know until I talk with you. So I’m going to come to your house, we’re going to sit down, and we’re going to walk through the situation. I’m going to have you share with me all your dreams and what you need, and from there we can start brainstorming on what might make the most sense for you.

We buy houses all the time, so we can make the process go much smoother than working with other people sometimes. Any real estate investor doing this on a regular, professional basis is used to the process and all the steps, so we’re already ready to move. That makes it much easier on you at the end of the day.

Another thing about working with real estate investors:

• There are no extra fees related to listing the house, and no real estate agent commissions.
• You often pay no closing costs, or much lower ones. Almost every contract I sign with a client, I’m paying all of the closing costs. You don’t pay closing costs when you’re working with me. We still work with a local professional title company. I’m not just going to go home with these documents and try to file them myself with the county. I take the contract and get a professional title company involved who handles the legal documents. They talk to your mortgage company and get the payoff amounts, bring in the county filings, and do the title search for us, so that everything is taken care of smoothly and on time.

Cash buyers are particularly interested in fixer-uppers, with all these things we’ve already talked about, so be sure to emphasize those aspects in your negotiations. They want to know all the things. If you start trying to hide things from them, or they feel like you’re pulling the wool over their eyes, they’re going to walk the other way. It’s not worth their effort and time. They do this all the time, and when they feel that way, when I feel that way, I don’t want to work on the deal. We’re just going to move on to something else.

Explore Local Real Estate Investment Groups

You can also explore local real estate investment groups or online social platforms and things like that. Some of these places specialize in cash sales and connecting with the right buyers, and you might find a buyer there. Don’t get me wrong with this little bit of a warning. I just want to caution you to be a little careful, because when you go to a place like that, there are going to be a lot of people interested, and you’re going to get a lot of attention. Some of that’s good attention, and some of it’s not so great attention, and you might not like all of that quite so much. So be careful when you go into that situation, but it is an option to get a little more traction and find a buyer.

In Conclusion

Selling a rundown house does not have to be a stressful thing. I hope that by going through these seven tips, from deciding whether to sell as-is all the way through considering some quick sale options, you can navigate the process with a little bit of confidence and achieve the best possible outcome. I hope it gives you some things to think about, so that as you’re making decisions and considering your options, you’ve got a bit of an idea of what you can think about.

Seriously, this works so much better in person or on the phone. If you’ve got questions, reach out. I’d be happy to do some brainstorming with you. You’re not going to bother me. That’s the part of this business I like to do. All the rest of it is like work. Sitting down with people, walking through the situation, figuring out what the needs are, and then coming up with some best options or some recommendations. And quite frankly, working with me is not usually the best option, because I’m an investor. Most of the people who come to me, my recommendation is to work with a real estate agent. I’ve got recommendations for that, and we have some real estate agent options in-house as well that we can point you toward. But I’m the guy that does this part. I come and talk. I brainstorm. I work through the things.

More Guides on Selling a Home As-Is in Western Washington

This article is one piece of our guide to selling as-is. Explore the rest:

• Selling a Home As-Is – Everything You Need to Know — the full overview: what selling as-is means, why homeowners choose it, who buys, and the trade-offs.
• Selling As Is: 5 Tips to Maximize Your Home Sale — simple, low-cost ways to boost curb appeal, declutter, and reach the right buyers.
• The Legalities of Selling As-Is in Washington – 5 Important Tips — disclosure requirements, why transparency protects you, and how to avoid legal pitfalls.
• 7 Myths About Selling a Home As-Is — the assumptions that hold sellers back.

You can also browse everything we’ve published on our Guides & Resources page.

Ready to Talk Through Your Options?

If you’re ready to talk about what’s going on and figure out what your next steps are, give me a call. Let’s talk. Let’s figure that out. Hit us up on our website at kitsaphomepro.com. There’s a form right there you can fill out.