Selling a Hoarder House In California

Imagine how difficult it may be to market a hoarder house if it already takes a lot of work to sell a well-kept home. There’s no guarantee that someone will be interested in it, and it can take months or even years before it can be prepared for sale. However, keep in mind that selling a hoarder home in California is difficult but not impossible.

A hoarder house may be sold in two different ways. Before you sell a hoarder house with a real estate agent, you will need to undertake a thorough clean-up as well as repairs and updates. Be aware that fixing and cleaning up a hoarder’s home may be expensive. You can sell the hoarder house off-market to cash buyers if you’d like to save money and avoid the hassles.

sell my hoarder house fast in California

If the hoarder house is beyond repair, your decision of how to sell may be made for you– a cash buyer could be your only option depending on the severity of the hoarding issue. Want to know if you can still do something about your hoarder house and how to sell it at the best price? Keep reading!

What is a Hoarder House California?

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A hoarder house is the residential location of someone with a hoarding issue; thus, it is filled with excessive personal items.

The California house is a disarray because there are too many unorganized hoarded items kept inside. Finding the right space or simply a walkway may be challenging.

Hoarder homes frequently include useless items that have been there for years or even decades. The owner found it difficult to throwing them, which is why.

According to the Anxiety and Depression Association of America (AADA), hoarding is an emotional disorder that combines an intense need to acquire things but finds it difficult to get rid of them.

Although it is simple to judge that a seller of a hoarder house suffers from a hoarding issue, it is important to keep in mind that in many cases, the seller may have inherited the property from a loved one, who passed. The owner of a hoarding problem does not always own the hoarder houses.

Threats and Challenges of a Hoarder House California

There are a number of reasons why hoarder homes pose a threat to the seller and prospective buyers.

Hoarding-related problems should be resolved immediately because they may result in damages and the owner could be legally liable.

First of all, hoarder homes are dangerous and unsanitary due to the accumulation of rubbish. Anyone living in the house, including the person with the hoarding condition, runs the risk of hyperventilating or possibly suffocating due to the difficulties in breathing generally caused by the obstructions.

The fact that the rubbish and hoarded items fill up so much space inside the California home and restrict movement is another problem. There is a trip and fire threat from these hoarded items.

In a hoarder’s home, mold and infestations are also serious problems. If the hoarding gets out of hand, it can infections and other serious health issues.

To make matters worse, there may be human and animal waste on the property, which would encourage the spread of bacteria.

The interior of the house will smell awful because of its state of disrepair. It would be necessary for those cleaning the house to wear ventilation masks.

There’s also a possibility that the house has irreparable structural problems if it hasn’t been maintained for years.

Can You Sell a Hoarder House California?

can you sell a hoarder house in California

It is possible to sell a hoarder’s house. However, the process is not as quick and simple as listing a well-kept house for sale in California.

A hoarder’s house usually doesn’t sell for what it is on the real estate market. To make the property affordable for a single buyer or a family, you will need to clear out all the clutter and make any necessary repairs and renovations.

Hiring a cleaning crew, a contractor, and a rubbish removal company will cost money in order to complete the repairs and renovations.

The good news is that there is a simple way to sell your home even if it was once owned by a family of hoarders…

A reputable cash buyer company can provide you with a reasonable cash offer. You won’t need to do any repairs in this way. We’ll go into the details of this later on.

Reasons to Sell a Hoarder House California

The amount of labor needed to get a house ready for the market can overwhelm you if you inherited it from a relative who suffered from a hoarding issue. Although this makes sense, you need to move fast to sell a hoarder’s house in California for two reasons.

1. High Ownership Costs

If you are the rightful owner, you will be responsible for paying taxes and insurance, just like with any other property. Your monthly and yearly expenses will therefore go up if you acquired a hoarder’s home. In the event of an accident, such as a fire, your homeowner’s insurance rates would also go up. These monetary hazards come with being a homeowner, especially if the property is owned by a hoarder.

2. Legal Liability

Most often, hoarder houses are not up to a city or county’s code. This means you could be racking up fines. In the worst case, this means that the home could be unsafe to live in. However, if someone visited the home and got injured, the owner will be legally liable.

How to Sell a Hoarder House California

As was previously mentioned, selling a hoarder house involves an identical process to selling any other type of property, but it is more difficult due to the costly cleanups and restorations.
To help you sell a hoarder’s house on the California market, check out the following tips:

Clean and Make Repairs

In order to prepare a hoarder house for sale, the first thing an owner needs to do is get rid of everything that the hoarder left behind. This takes a lot of money and time.

First things first, the owner needs to employ a junk removal crew. A significant expense could result from this, especially if the team asks for extra money to move bulky or heavy hoarded goods.

In addition to clearing out rubbish, fixing damage to a house may cost thousands of dollars. This is especially true if there is structural damage from mildew and decay on the property.

Make Upgrades to the Hoarder House

A hoarder’s house is usually outdated because of years of disrepair.

In addition to discarding the hoarders’ belongings, the seller ought to be prepared to make improvements if he hopes to increase the amount of money they get when they sell the house.

Engaging a contractor is necessary for the house’s upgrade. Since this isn’t cheap, the owner should determine if it makes more sense to sell the hoarder house to a cash buyer or whether the costs will be recovered when it goes on the market.

Find Prospective Buyers of the Hoarder Home

Depending on whether the hoarder house is deep cleaned and repairs and upgrades have been made, will help the seller decide on a way to sell the house and find home buyers quickly.

This part may be tough, but generally, sellers have three options— hire a real estate agent, sell FSBO, or sell the hoarder house to a cash buyer company.

Real Estate Agent

It would be great if the seller could locate a real estate agent with prior hoarder home sales expertise. In addition to having a few tricks under their sleeves, these real estate brokers are familiar with the precise market for hoarder homes.

Real estate agents can also give the homeowner the best value for their hoarder house if it is cleaned up, repaired, and upgraded.

For Sale By Owner

Additionally, homeowners have the choice to individually sell their hoarded dwellings. This entails the hoarder listing, promoting, and setting the price of their California home alone.

Compared to selling a property with assistance, this is believed to result in a higher profit because there are no seller real estate agency commissions to pay. However, marketing a home is more costly and difficult.

Cash Home Buyer

Calling a cash buyer company and receiving a reasonable cash offer is the best course of action for the homeowner who believes that clearing out the clutter, fixing, and updating the hoarder house is not financially possible.

As they buy them as-is, several cash home buying companies specialize in rehabilitating hoarder homes. They won’t require you to clean up the rubbish or take care of any hoarder-related issues around the house.

The process of the sale is also not that complicated as these companies want to buy houses fast; the homeowner can walk away with cash in a matter of weeks instead of making repairs and waiting to find a buyer for months.

Why Do Owners Struggle Selling a Hoarder House California?

It’s important to control your expectations while selling a hoarder house in California, both in terms of the selling timeframe and the amount of money you’ll get paid. Because there are few marketing choices available, you cannot expect to get the most out of a hoarder house unless it is completely refurbished.

Here are two common struggles when selling your hoarder house on the real estate market.

No Interior Photos

According to the Washington Post, professional-looking photos of a home greatly impact the buyer’s decision.

However, taking photos in the inside of a hoarder house may turn off potential buyers. A professional real estate photographer can be hired by the owner of a conventional property to take several pictures, but this is not possible in a hoarder house.

For one, if the house is being sold on the market as-is, the pictures of trash and clutter won’t entice home buyers.

You may not be done getting rid of everything, but the pictures will still show things like mildew stains, worn-out carpets, and other problems. This means that a retail buyer won’t be able to sell your hoarder house quickly.

Open Houses aren’t Possible

When selling a hoarder house, you cannot have an open house since it will expose buyers to mold and bacteria. A hoarder’s house is also full of dangers, and you may be held accountable if someone gets hurt there.

It will be difficult to attract retail buyers without photos and open homes. There are now two choices: sell to cash buyers or make repairs.

How Much Does it Cost to Clean Up a Hoarder Home California

can i sell a hoarder house in California

The first thing you should consider is how much deep cleaning will cost unless you intend to sell your hoarder house as-is to a California cash buyer company.
One cleaning won’t be enough, given the accumulation of trash within the house.

Here are the specific costs of intensively cleaning a hoarder house:

Removal of animal or human feces: $25 to $30 per hour
Junk removal: $100 to $800 for a team, but can also be per person
Sewage backup: $9,000 to $15,000
Biohazard: $700 to $750 per hour

Note that these fees may vary based on the size of the house, its location, the junk left due to hoarding, etc.

However, one thing is certain: cleaning won’t be inexpensive. For this reason, a lot of hoarder home sellers choose to sell their properties to cash buyers by accepting a cash offer. Hoarder house owners now have the opportunity to leave the clutter and hassles to the investor and walk away with cash and a new beginning.

Final Thoughts: How to Sell a Hoarder House California

Finding buyers for a hoarder house in California and selling it may be quite difficult. It takes time, patience, and money to sell a hoarder’s house, regardless of whether the seller is the hoarder or someone who inherited it.

However, if the task of selling a hoarder house is really daunting for you, JiT Home Buyers is here to help! We will buy your home as-is (yes, this includes removing junk) and even cover closing costs for you.

Take the first step to starting fresh by filling out the form below. You can also give us a call at (510) 473-5885 to learn more about selling a hoarder house.

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We Buy Hoarder Houses in California Areas

Our fast home sale service gives you advantages that pay off in profits to you. We are a local company that buys houses and land as professional cash home buyers, not agents or brokers. You can sell your hoarder house for cash in California. Our goal is to serve homeowners with a simple selling experience and provides a financial solution for sellers. You can start to sell your hoarder house in California and surrounding areas by calling us or filling in the online form. Within days, you can schedule a closing date and get cash for your hoarder house.

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The Easiest Way To Sell a Hoarder House

You’re in the driver’s seat when you accept our cash offer for your house. We make the process simple, fast, and easy to follow when working with us. You have no obligation to accept our cash offer for your home when contacting us for a fair cash offer for your home. No matter the reason you want to sell your house, we want to buy your home as is. Remember that you get many benefits that include no real estate agent commissions, no cleaning, no improvements, and no stress. Our cash offer for your as-is house assures you of fast cash payment at closing with a reputable Title company. You can count on our company to give you a fair cash offer for your home! If you’re still thinking, “I need to sell my house fast”, calling us could be your best decision all day. 🙂

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Author: Saini

My name is Saini, and I founded the JiT Home Buyers team with years of experience in the real estate industry. I have assisted numerous sellers in selling their homes quickly, “AS-IS”, and for a fair price.

He’s been featured in multiple publications including Yahoo Finance, GoBankingRates, LegalZoom, The Mortgage Report, Apartment Therapy, US News and World Report, and SuperMoney among others.