While selling a house with mice is harder, it is not impossible. However, it requires more effort. Below are steps and tips for selling a house with mice.
Notify Your Real Estate Agent
If you are working with a real estate agent, notify them about the mice infestation early in your engagement. Some may opt not to go forward with overseeing the sale of the house, in which case you would have to hire a different one.
Others may insist that you deal with the infestation first. Yet, others may be open to selling the house as is.
Disclose in Your Listing
If you are aware of a mice infestation at the point of selling the house, you are required to disclose it to potential buyers. Fill out the relevant disclosure forms and provide details of the affected areas of the house.
Failure to do so can lead to a potential buyer opting out of the sale, or they can sue you for non-disclosure.
However, sometimes a rodent infestation may not be obvious. It could be in the early stages with a mouse or two in your attic that you are unaware of. If you are not aware of it, then you have no obligation to disclose it.
On the flip side, potential buyers will likely inspect the home as part of their due diligence before buying the house. If they discover that there are mice, they may drop their offer or lose interest in the house, making it difficult for you to sell.
Therefore, you should conduct a pest inspection before selling the house. That way, if there is an infestation, you can get ahead of it to ensure it does not affect your sale process.
Sell to Non-Traditional Buyers
The best chance of selling a house with mice infestation as is is to non-traditional buyers such as cash buyers. The process is straightforward as the buyer may not request an inspection.
They will inspect and assess the house themselves and decide how much they are willing to pay for it. In most cases, they will offer a much lower price than the house’s market value.
However, considering you can sell my house fast for cash independently, there is minimal paperwork, and the sale process will cost less than a traditional sale. Therefore, you will sell fast and walk away from the mice problem with cash in hand.
Do your due diligence to find a legit cash buyer. Beware of scammers. Use an escrow service to process payments and close the sale. If you are unsure how to go about the sale, hire a real estate agent or lawyer to facilitate the process.