Selling a House That Needs Major Repairs in Richmond, VA

No repairs. No cleanout. No commissions. We buy inherited and probate properties across Central Virginia.

If you have inherited a house in Richmond, Henrico, Chesterfield or anywhere in Central Virginia, you are probably being told you have to wait for probate to finish before you can do anything with it. In Virginia, that is usually not true.

The repairs you are worried about are the reason we are interested

Most buyers walk into a house and mentally subtract the cost of everything that needs fixing, then subtract again for the hassle. We do the work ourselves, so we are pricing the repair, not the fear of it. A house that scares off a retail buyer is a normal Tuesday for us.

You do not need to fix anything, clean anything out, or get an estimate before you call. We would genuinely rather see it as it is.

What we buy

• Roofs at the end of their life, or already leaking.
• Failed HVAC, old boilers, no working heat.
• Foundation movement, settling, cracked block, sagging floors.
• Water damage, past flooding, mold.
• Failed or non-compliant septic systems, and well water problems.
• Knob-and-tube or aluminum wiring, and panels no insurer will write a policy on.
• Additions, decks or basement finishes done without permits.
• Houses full of belongings, including full hoarder conditions.
• Fire and smoke damage.

Why a normal sale gets difficult when a house needs work

It usually is not the buyer who kills the deal. It is the buyer’s lender. Most retail buyers are financed, and an appraiser working on an FHA or VA loan has to flag health and safety items such as peeling paint, missing handrails, exposed wiring, an inoperable furnace or a roof near failure. Those get written up as required repairs, and the loan will not close until someone pays to fix them. That someone is usually you, before you have received a dollar.

Then there is the inspection. Even on a conventional loan, a long inspection report reopens the price two weeks after you thought you had agreed on one. Deals on houses that need work fall apart at that stage constantly, and each time you are back to square one having lost a month.

Un-permitted work is its own headache

Additions, converted garages, finished basements and decks built without permits are common across the Richmond area. On a retail sale they can stall everything, because the buyer’s lender or insurer wants to know the square footage is legal and the work was inspected. Bringing it into compliance after the fact means dealing with the county, sometimes opening walls, and occasionally removing the work entirely.

We buy it as it stands and deal with the locality ourselves after closing. It becomes our problem, not something you have to resolve before you can sell.

You do not need to empty the house

Take what matters to you and leave the rest. Furniture, appliances, a garage packed to the ceiling, a basement nobody has been into for years. We handle the clear-out. For a lot of people this is the single biggest relief, particularly when the house belonged to a parent.

Get a cash offer on the property

Tell us the address and a little about the situation. There is no obligation and no pressure, and if selling to us is not your best option we will say that.

This page is general information about Virginia law and is not legal or tax advice. James River Homes is a real estate investment company, not a law firm or a licensed real estate brokerage. For advice about your specific estate, speak with a Virginia attorney or CPA.