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Options for selling a house that needs work

Posted on 10/6/25 at 4:33 pm
Posted by leftovergumbo
Member since May 2018
542 posts
Posted on 10/6/25 at 4:33 pm
I have a house in Baton Rouge that a family member was living in and needs quite a few repairs and updates. Do I need a realtor to help me sell this? I imagine it'll be bought by a flipper, but I at least want them bidding against each other.

I ask because the first 3 realtors I called did not respond and the 4th said "let me research and get back to you".

I know it has potential, but I'm ready to move on from it. How should I go about listing/selling it?
Posted by cgrand
HAMMOND
Member since Oct 2009
46224 posts
Posted on 10/6/25 at 4:44 pm to
there are companies that do nothing but flip houses usually it will be a real estate agent or contractor as the owner. Market directly to them, don’t take anyone’s first offer. However you do need to have a price in mind and it needs to be realistic
Posted by 9rocket
Member since Sep 2020
1620 posts
Posted on 10/6/25 at 7:39 pm to
What street ?
Posted by DMAN1968
Member since Apr 2019
12545 posts
Posted on 10/6/25 at 9:40 pm to
quote:

I ask because the first 3 realtors I called did not respond and the 4th said "let me research and get back to you".

Odd.

What area is it in?
Posted by idlewatcher
Planet Arium
Member since Jan 2012
92021 posts
Posted on 10/7/25 at 8:16 am to
quote:

I know it has potential, but I'm ready to move on from it. How should I go about listing/selling it?



Depends on what your threshold and overall goal is. Make money? Dump it? If it needs $5K in work to make $20K, do it. If not, sell as is.
Posted by leftovergumbo
Member since May 2018
542 posts
Posted on 10/7/25 at 8:58 am to
quote:

What area is it in?


Small neighborhood in St. George. I just want it gone, but I obviously want as much as I can get for it. I thought a realtor would help me figure that out, but they don't seem interested.
Posted by Weekend Warrior79
Member since Aug 2014
20596 posts
Posted on 10/7/25 at 9:49 am to
Jump on Zillow and check out the recently sold homes in the area. 2 key factors will be proximity to your house, and try to compare to similar bed/bath combos. Figure out price per sqft, and that should give you a ballpark for the asking price if the house was move in ready. You will need to adjust based on repairs you know that need to be made.

Realtors will do something similar, but they have access to a better inventory than jumping on zillow.

Regarding getting a realtor involved. That is a tough one, because they do not want to put in a lot of effort for something that will bring in low commission. You may need to just advertise as FSBO and watch the realtors reach out to you.
Make sure to get a google phone number that you can turn it off once sold
Posted by Spankum
Miss-sippi
Member since Jan 2007
60302 posts
Posted on 10/7/25 at 11:14 pm to
quote:

Options for selling a house that needs work


In my area, there are a lot of clay soils and that results in foundation problems on a lot of houses. When houses come up for sale in this area, people typically play the normal realtor game of inspections and fixing every little thing. However, houses occasionally go on the market “as is - no warranty”. Of course these houses sell at quite a discount, because they generally have foundation problems. If you buy one of these houses at the right price, and are willing to have the work done, you can come out pretty good.

ETA: Realtors don’t like to mess with this type of house, because they work on commission and they don’t make as much.
This post was edited on 10/7/25 at 11:28 pm
Posted by ItzMe1972
Member since Dec 2013
12138 posts
Posted on 10/8/25 at 3:59 pm to
Good realtors take the listing and advertiser as "Investor Special."

Either a realtor or appraiser can get you an "as is" price.

I've flipped dozens of fixer-uppers and was always looking for opportunities like this.
This post was edited on 10/8/25 at 4:02 pm
Posted by Clames
Member since Oct 2010
18797 posts
Posted on 10/8/25 at 4:33 pm to
quote:

I know it has potential, but I'm ready to move on from it. How should I go about listing/selling it?


This is a tricky thing to navigate and it really depends on how quickly you want to move the property to a closing vs how much you want to net from it. BLUF, it's a buyer's market and even investors looking for houses like yours are going to come in much lower than you'll expect. A listing with good real-estate agent will keep the worst of those buyers away from you, and you can have the rest deal with the agent. No matter what, you'll be doing a good bit of back and forth and that's just how it goes with offer/counter-offer negotiations.
Posted by leftovergumbo
Member since May 2018
542 posts
Posted on 10/8/25 at 5:41 pm to
Yeah, I've had some wildly varying cash offers. I know they have to make money, but one guy was at $71k. He could almost tear down the house and rebuild it and still make money.
Posted by cgrand
HAMMOND
Member since Oct 2009
46224 posts
Posted on 10/8/25 at 5:58 pm to
quote:

He could almost tear down the house and rebuild it and still make money.
unless you are in the business, you dont know that. make him a counter offer
Posted by ItzMe1972
Member since Dec 2013
12138 posts
Posted on 10/8/25 at 7:24 pm to
Yeah, I've had some wildly varying cash offers. I know they have to make money, but one guy was at $71k.
---

Sounds like you already have a price in mind. What is it?
Posted by leftovergumbo
Member since May 2018
542 posts
Posted on 10/8/25 at 8:15 pm to
Well the second lowest offer was $44k more than that, so I'm pretty sure he wasn't interested in a counter offer. I got a few other buyers to look. It's clearer now what it is worth in the current condition.
I'm going to get a few quotes on the roof before I move forward, since that seemed to be every buyers biggest issue.
Posted by couv1217
Baton Rouge, LA
Member since Sep 2007
3523 posts
Posted on 10/8/25 at 9:19 pm to
Call Trey Chavers and ask if it’s an option for a subject to
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