How to sell a hoarder house in Jacksonville. Living room of a hoarder house sold in Jacksonville, Florida.

Posted on July 25, 2022 by in Sellers

The Secret to Selling a Hoarder House

According to the American Psychiatric Association 2.6% of the US population suffers from hoarding disorder. While the underlying causes of this disorder along with prevention and treatment remain a medical conversation, the effects of hoarding disorder are often seen in the condition of a hoarder’s house. 

If you live in a hoarder house, or if you’ve recently inherited the home of a hoarding family member and you want to sell, it’s a real headache. Fortunately, it is possible to sell the home with a few caveats. 

What is a hoarder house? 

The primary characteristic of a hoarder house is an overabundance of personal items, trash, and debris. Often this is accompanied by mold and other contaminants, as well as pests such as rodents and roach infestations. 

The nature of a hoarder’s home makes it a fire hazard, and a danger to tenants and occupants. Many health conditions are triggered or made worse by the presence of unclean air and pollutants, and the general state of filth in a hoarding house makes it a hotbed for infection. 

What makes selling a hoarder house so difficult?

Most successful home sales reflect homes that have been meticulously maintained, cleaned, and professionally staged to showcase their best features. The goal of a real estate listing is to attract potential buyers, much like any other form of advertising. In a hoarder home none of this is possible, making it incredibly difficult to secure buyers on the open market. 

Additionally, because there is so much clutter, any prospective buyer takes a significant risk on unseen issues such as wood rot, water intrusion, or even home settling. Lenders are adverse to these types of risks, meaning most buyers would be unable to qualify for a loan to purchase your home. 

 

Selling a hoarder house. Trash and debris in a hoarder house in Jacksonville

Selling the normal way

The standard way to sell a hoarder home involves a significant amount of time and effort. It starts with a trash-out, or the removal of the belongings cluttering a home. There are local companies in most cities that specialize in this type of cleaning, but most come with a hefty price. 

Next, once the home has been decluttered you will need to perform a deep cleaning. Hire a professional cleaning crew and have them perform a deep cleaning service. Most cleaners have this type of service pre-priced and can provide a quote over the phone. 

Then, once the home is free of clutter and clean you will need to identify items in need of repair. This would include: floors, roof, countertops, cabinets, walls and coverings, as well as landscaping the exterior. 

Finally, once the home is in sufficient shape to sell you will need to hire a real estate agent to help you price, photograph, stage, and list the home. 

In all this process can take months and cost tens of thousands of dollars, but you will get the highest possible price at the time of selling. 

What is the easy way to sell a hoarder home?

If you want to avoid the house cleaning, repairs, and even the trash-out but still want to sell the house, there is an alternative: selling to a real estate investor. 

Real estate investors buy homes, including hoarder homes as-is. This means that they take the home in its current condition, and usually with whatever belongings you don’t wish to move. They expense the trash-out, cleaning and repairs on their own after they purchase it. Then they fix it up for a new buyer on the open market. 

You lose a small amount of equity as these cash buyers are looking to make a small profit from handling the difficult and dirty parts of fixing up your hoarder home. But often a seller with a hoarder home may earn more from accepting a cash offer because they don’t have to pay real estate fees, repairs, or for cleaning. 

If you have a hoarder home and want to see what a cash offer would look like in your situation we’d love to chat. We can close on your house fast! We’ll provide an all cash offer backed by licensure, and a history of excellent service!