Apologies in advance for the long post.
My wife inherited her parents home recently…her dad passed in 2018 and her mom passed away in Oct 2022. She's an only child, so the estate/succession process was fairly smooth. The issue we have is that the home is in terrible condition (lots of issues), her parents did not take care of it, and lived there since the late 70's (single owner). The home is located in Lacombe, LA (north of New Orleans), and we live in OKC, which has been another challenge. It's in a great neighborhood, however is probably one of the smallest/worst condition homes in there.
Once we got the home somewhat cleaned out and emptied this spring, we had a realtor come by to help us with the process of getting it listed and sold. She immediately noticed some mold/mildew on the ceiling of the living area, and also in the master bathroom. We had somebody from Servpro come out to look at it last month, and started down the path of filing an insurance claim to get the mold remediated prior to listing and selling the home, thinking that it would sell quicker and for a better price if we had the mold taken care of. The homeowners insurance is thru The Hartford Group, who sent out a leak detection specialist to figure out if the mold in the living area was from a roof leak or HVAC leak, as part of the claim process. Well he didn't see any leaks with the roof, however did find a hole in a sewer line under the laundry room, and also noticed high moisture levels in the floors (all wood floors and tile). We also had an industrial hygienist come out to look at the mold in more detail and help determine how it needs to be remediated. We don't have any written reports yet from either inspector, I'm assuming we should receive them in another week or so.
Lastly, the septic system is out of compliance with current codes, so we are going to have to upgrade that prior to closing. We can't transfer utilities to the buyer until it passes a Parish inspection, so we're pretty much stuck with having to do that work, and have already started down that path.
The home 100% needs to be gutted and remodeled. Its only 1600 SF, 3 bed, 2 bath, so it's not huge but I cannot imagine somebody living there in it's current condition.
So, my questions are:
[ol]
Right now we're leaning towards not doing anything with the mold or hole in the sewer line, and just listing it "as-is" and trying to get it sold as quickly as possible (of course disclosing what we know about it). We had it appraised for $242k a few months ago, however the comps were all in much better condition, and I'm not sure the appraiser fully accounted for the condition of the home. Bad idea to list "as-is"? I know we're likely to be selling to investors and/or contractors who are looking for a deal, so they can flip it in a year or so after renovating. Anyone have any useful experience selling a similar condition home "as-is"? We don't have the written reports from the leak detection or mold inspections last week, so I'm wondering if we should tell them to send us the invoice but not any written report? I don't want to know anymore than I already do, and am concerned that receiving that report is only going to open up this messy can of worms even more. I know that sounds borderline unethical, which is what I'm struggling with. I have no issues disclosing everything I know about, but don't want to know anymore than I already do. I'm kinda regretting even having the leak detection and industrial hygienist come out last week, but that ship has already sailed. Planning to ask the realtor her opinion today. Any realtors with an opinion on that? [/ol]
TIA. Any advice and/or suggestions are much appreciated.
My wife inherited her parents home recently…her dad passed in 2018 and her mom passed away in Oct 2022. She's an only child, so the estate/succession process was fairly smooth. The issue we have is that the home is in terrible condition (lots of issues), her parents did not take care of it, and lived there since the late 70's (single owner). The home is located in Lacombe, LA (north of New Orleans), and we live in OKC, which has been another challenge. It's in a great neighborhood, however is probably one of the smallest/worst condition homes in there.
Once we got the home somewhat cleaned out and emptied this spring, we had a realtor come by to help us with the process of getting it listed and sold. She immediately noticed some mold/mildew on the ceiling of the living area, and also in the master bathroom. We had somebody from Servpro come out to look at it last month, and started down the path of filing an insurance claim to get the mold remediated prior to listing and selling the home, thinking that it would sell quicker and for a better price if we had the mold taken care of. The homeowners insurance is thru The Hartford Group, who sent out a leak detection specialist to figure out if the mold in the living area was from a roof leak or HVAC leak, as part of the claim process. Well he didn't see any leaks with the roof, however did find a hole in a sewer line under the laundry room, and also noticed high moisture levels in the floors (all wood floors and tile). We also had an industrial hygienist come out to look at the mold in more detail and help determine how it needs to be remediated. We don't have any written reports yet from either inspector, I'm assuming we should receive them in another week or so.
Lastly, the septic system is out of compliance with current codes, so we are going to have to upgrade that prior to closing. We can't transfer utilities to the buyer until it passes a Parish inspection, so we're pretty much stuck with having to do that work, and have already started down that path.
The home 100% needs to be gutted and remodeled. Its only 1600 SF, 3 bed, 2 bath, so it's not huge but I cannot imagine somebody living there in it's current condition.
So, my questions are:
[ol]
TIA. Any advice and/or suggestions are much appreciated.
