Code issues and violations can be some of the biggest challenges to selling a home, especially in the current market. Do you know what liens and fines are really being levied against your home? Did you know that violations can prevent you from selling your home or buying one?
Keeping up with regular maintenance and ensuring all improvements and changes to a property are permitted is essential to being able to sell a home. Cities are on the war path as foreclosures rot and neglected homes bring down neighborhoods. Buyers need to think twice about buying homes with potential issues, such as those with garage conversions and those which have been split into multiple rental units and sellers need to be aware of just how big of a problem these issues can be.
Even if you thought you could get away with something for a while disgruntled tenants and nosy neighbors will be the first to pick up the phone and turn you in.
You may not even be aware of some code violations that have been there since you purchased your property or for things as seemingly idiotic as getting violated and fined for a tree blown down in a storm which the city actually removed from your property.
Unless fixed selling a home can be impossible. These often aren’t easy fixes either. Remedying them can mean submitting plans, obtaining permits and paying for the changes too.
Ignoring them means huge fines, outrageous daily interest rates and potentially hundreds of thousands of dollars due at the closing table. This can put homeowners underwater who weren’t already, sink sellers further underwater and this doesn’t even include additional items such as association liens and taxes or insurance payments made by lenders.
What to do? Remember fixing or paying these items down doesn’t always guarantee a sale either. However you may be able to find an attorney or title company who can help negotiate these items with the city on your behalf so that you can sell for cash to an investor or complete a short sale.
