Should I sell my trashed rental house to a "flipper".

If you stand to make a profit on the trashed house, then why not? It’s not really any concern of yours whether they flip it or not.

Just don’t be in a position of losing money.

It sounds like the best option for you. If you can’t fix it up yourself and would have to hire contractors, it’s hard to tell how much they would charge you and what they might uncover that would cost you extra. I’m assuming you have to pay real estate taxes on the property also. If you have someone willing to buy it “as is” I would go for it.

I’m trying to imagine a house-any house worth less than 30 grand. Have you considered having the house appraised? At bare minimum, dig through your memory for someone who knows about such things.

If it was in good condition would you keep it, and continue renting it? Or, were you ready to sell anyway?

If you were ready to sell, and you might not get the $30k back if you fix it up, then selling it to the flipper sounds reasonable, and less hassle.

Another way to think about it is, let’s say you can make $20k more if you invest the $30k, do you want to do it? Or, is it still not enough for you to bother? If you wouldn’t want to make the effort even if it was fairly guaranteed you would profit more, then you really have your answer.

Remember you will pay capital gains tax on the sale, unless it was your primary household recently, and you only rented it two years or less. It’s a low tax, but still cuts into your gain.

@stanleybmanly She didn’t say the house is worth less than $30k. She said if she spends $30k to fix it up, she may not get that money back.

@stanleybmanly The $ figure means that amount over the as is price. As is would Pay off our balance, fixed up might pay for the improvement costs, plus a profit, but might not.
As is = $100,000 (our balance) fixes cost $30,000 – $40 For maybe a sale price of $175,000.

@YARNLADY That sounds like you could make an extra $30k-ish with the renovation. That’s kind of getting up there. Hard decision. Every month you carry it you are paying the mortgage, plus, you pay a little more to the realtor at the higher price, plus the headache of the renovation, unless there is a reason it might be rather painless.

Tough decision. Any way you can put just $5k in and sell for $20k more? Paint and carpet?

Let us know what you decide.

@JLeslie It requires far more than paint and flooring. The linoleum we put in two years ago is still good, but they have nearly demolished the kitchen cabinets with the idea they could do the work, and never got past the tearing down part.
The plumbing is in very bad repair and needs extensive work. The house is infested with mice and cockroaches and the exterminator said the place was so cluttered he couldn’t do anything. There are piles of trash everywhere. a couple of the doors have been torn off their hinges, and the list goes on.
We are talking to a real estate agent Saturday
and ask his opinion.

If I could sell it to a flipper I probably would. It sounds overwhelming.

Although, if your $30k estimate is from a company that can coordinate it all, I can see why you might consider it. I used to work for a construction company that handled rentals for a large company that owned multiple houses, and once in a while we did big clean ups and replaced kitchens, etc. We had all the contacts to get the work done, and the owner didn’t do anything, but pay us. It was no stress for the owner, because we already had their formula for rentals. We knew paint colors, carpet colors, cabinets, everything.

I still lean towards the flipper though, even after what I wrote. Two reasons, you’re planning on selling anyway, and I wouldn’t want to deal with the stress.

I’ll be interested to know if the realtor tells you you still should at minimum clean out the trash, and do a few other things. If you need to do the worst of it even to sell to a flipper, then that changes the equation.

We sold it AS IS to a flipper. We did the math, and the fast, no hassle sale turns out to be best.

Thanks for letting us know!