Selling a Memphis house that is currently occupied by a hoarder for full of a hoarder’s belongings can be a massive undertaking. Selling a house can already be a time-consuming process but add in all of the extra steps, precautions, and costs that can be involved with selling a hoarder house and you might find the entire task impossible. This isn’t the kind of home sale that will happen with a quick clean-up, a couple of repairs, and a few nice photos. Market buyers are going to be a tough sell on a house that was lived in by hoarders. You can sell it as-is directly to a cash buyer like Fair Cash Deal, but if you want to try the market route, here are some steps to sell a hoarder’s house in Memphis.
Step 1 – Understand Hoarding
Before you try to sell a hoarder’s house, you should stop and learn exactly what you’re dealing with. Hoarding is defined as the persistent difficulty that one has getting rid of possessions in spite of any real value. This is a psychological problem that can have emotional, physical, and societal impacts on the person and those around them. Family members and friends are affected by someone else’s hoarding, too.
You know you’re dealing with a hoarder if they exhibit symptoms such as an inability to throw away their possessions, anxiety whenever they consider getting rid of items, difficulty categorizing or sorting items, embarrassment over the number of their possessions, suspicion of others touching their possessions, and obsessive thoughts or actions related to items they own or want to own. The items they can hoard are endless and run the gamut from newspapers and magazines to cardboard boxes to food to clothing and even pets or animals.
Step 2 – Remove the Hoarder
Knowing that a hoarder is someone who is going through some serious issues, it’s important to remove them from the premises in some fashion. If they have moved on or passed away, this is a moot point. But if they still live on the property and they are putting their health and life in danger, an appropriate person needs to step in and help them out of the situation. You may be able to work with them to leave the house, or you may need to involve health professionals or even law enforcement officials. Speak with an expert beforehand in order to assess the right way to remove a hoarder from your Memphis house so you can sell it. You want to be respectful to the person and their mental health while also protecting them from themselves.
Step 3 – Figure Out Ownership
It’s not uncommon for there to be confusion over who actually owns a house that a hoarder lives in. It’s possible that the hoarder is a tenant in someone else’s house. Or perhaps it was left to them by a relative or put in trust by someone else out of a desire to keep the hoarder from selling it. Of course, that also means you can’t sell it or even fix it up without their permission. So you’re going to want to figure out the right documents in order to determine who the rightful owner of the house is. This is common sense but it also protects the seller as well as any lender from legal recourse. You don’t want to start the process of selling your hoarder’s house in Memphis and then find out that you don’t actually have the legal right to make a deal.
Step 4 – Get the House Professionally Cleaned
One of the most important steps when trying to sell a hoarder’s house in Memphis on the open market is to bring in a professional cleaning crew who understand the unique situation that this is. Yes, every house is going to need some cleaning and repairs before you sell it on the housing market, but this is something else altogether. You can’t just walk into a hoarder’s house and get it good as new within a day or so. This is a job that requires expertise, specified training, and top-notch equipment.
Cleaning a hoarder’s house has its levels. There is what you can see and then there’s everything else buried under and behind the massive piles of items left behind. You really can’t be sure what’s waiting for you under a floor-to-ceiling pile of clothes, newspapers, cardboard boxes, and who knows what else. In fact, we’re not just talking about trash, we’re talking about noxious chemicals, deceased animal remains, excrement, and anything else you might be able to think of. These are not things you want to come into contact with unexpectedly and you certainly don’t want to touch them without protection. That’s why you need a pro to come in and do the job safely.
You’re certainly going to have to pay a lot of money for this service but if you expect market buyers to purchase your house, you’re going to have to do it. The house needs to feel livable and can’t leave behind any sense of the mess and trouble that used to be here. Plus. remember that once you clean you also have to remove any fixtures and materials that are contaminated, such as carpets, furniture, wallpaper, and more.
Step 5 – Assess & Fix the Damage
Cleanup is the biggest issue facing you as you try to sell a hoarder’s house in Memphis, but there’s a lot more to come to get it up to code. This house has likely been neglected for some time and the wear and tear is going to be intense given the stress of so much junk and trash filling it for so long. Once the house has been cleaned out, it’s time to assess the structure of the property in order to determine what other issues are present and repairs needed.
You’re going to want to consider having professionals come in to do damage assessments based on their areas of expertise. That means bringing in experts to look at the electrical systems, foundation, plumbing, and landscape. Aside from that, you’ll want to do an assessment of the house’s appliances, fixtures, and essentials. Does the toilet need to be replaced? How are the kitchen cabinets? Does the exterior need a fresh coat of paint? The point is to identify all the potential areas where a buyer may scoff and see how you can get rid of it.
Step 6 – Consider Selling As-Is to a Cash Buyer
As you can see selling a hoarder’s house on the open market in Memphis is hard work and expensive. This list of steps will come in handy but it’s no guarantee that you’ll be able to get past the black mark of having a hoarder’s house in the eyes of market buyers, especially with so many options available to them on the open market. And on top of all the aforementioned costs, we didn’t even get into real estate commissions, seller concessions, and closing costs. It’s going to cost a lot to get this house in shape to sell on the market and you may not like the return on investment in the end.
What you may want to consider instead is selling the hoarder’s house in Memphis as-is to a cash buyer like Fair Cash Deal. By selling to Fair Cash Deal, you won’t need to clean anything. You won’t need to repair anything. You won’t even need to remove any of the items stacked up inside. We will buy the house from you in its current condition and we will give you cash for it. No need to waste another day worrying about it or trying to clean it, we’ll buy your hoarder’s house in Memphis for cash fast.
Just contact Fair Cash Deal today and we’ll start the process of making you a fair offer on your hoarder’s house in Memphis ASAP. You’re under no obligation but if you accept the offer we can close in a matter of days and you walk away with cash in your pocket. There’s nothing to lose by requesting an offer today!
