When I got ready to sell my home in Jacksonville, Florida, I knew that it would never pass an inspection.
I bought the house straight out of college.
I was not ready to be a homeowner. I lacked the knowledge, budget and desire to handle maintenance, repairs and improvements. I simply lived in the home. The gutters never got cleaned. The HVAC filters never were replaced. I never drained the water heater, caulked around windows or brushed debris off the roof. The most I managed was general day-to-day cleaning. Because of this lack of attention, the condition of the home deteriorated steadily. By the time I decided to sell, there were some major problems. The roof was old, covered in algae and leaking. There was considerable damage from a hurricane. Stray shingles littered the lawn. Water penetration stained interior walls, brought down portions of the ceiling and led to a musty smell. The clogged cutters had caused run-off from the roof that eroded the foundation. My front porch was on the verge of collapse. I had approximately one power outlet in every room and used to pop a breaker if I tried to run the microwave and coffee maker at the same time. It was a disaster. I actually contacted a real estate agent. She gave me a very long list of things that would need to be fixed before listing the property. She warned me that a home inspection would most likely reveal more necessary repairs. She said that a bank would never provide a mortgage to a potential buyer on a property in such poor condition. I then contacted a cash home buyer that is local to Jacksonville. They were wonderful. None of the issues with the house mattered. I received a decent cash offer the same day I filled out the form. They took care of all of the paperwork and requirements of the closing. I wasn’t responsible for any fees. They didn’t even ask me to clean the house before moving out. I walked away from the house with the full sale price in my bank account in less than ten days.