3 Ways to Sell Your Home in a Bad Neighborhood

A distressed home for sale.

If you find yourself located in a less-than-desirable area of town, your home can easily become a hard-to-sell house. Whether the cause is heavy traffic, noisy surroundings, crime, or simply aesthetics, selling a house in a bad neighborhood comes with its own unique set of challenges.

Many homeowners find themselves in a situation like this when they decide to sell. Perhaps the area was lovely when you moved in but has since seen an increase in traffic or crime. Or maybe the surrounding homes have aged and fallen into disrepair, making the entire neighborhood look bad.

Whatever brought you here, the simple reality is that it’s harder to find buyers for a home in a neighborhood like yours. But not all hope is lost! You may not be sitting on property in the hippest part of town, but you still have a few viable options, including selling your house quickly for cash.

1. Drop the Price

It may pain you to realize this, but buyers won’t pay top dollar for a house in a bad neighborhood. Even if your house is in good shape, the downsides of your location remain. This is especially true if you live in a high-crime area.

There are buyers, however, who will accept the tradeoffs of a somewhat lackluster neighborhood if the price is right. Oftentimes when families are searching for small starter homes, they’re more willing to buy in the less ritzy part of town if it means they can stay under budget. They may also be willing to take on homes that need a little bit of TLC, which is often the case in more rundown neighborhoods.

Play around with the numbers, and see how much you’re willing and able to flex on your sale price. You might be surprised by how much interest you get.

2. Repair and Refresh

Doing some minor repairs and cosmetic touch-ups can make a hard-to-sell house come alive. Try applying a fresh coat of paint to brighten the walls, or plant some flowers in the front yard to enhance curb appeal. Small, affordable fixes like this can help potential buyers refocus on the positives of your home rather than fixating solely on the negatives of the surrounding neighborhood.

A word of caution here: Don’t spend too much. Many people think that doing expensive revamps of their homes will help cancel out the fact that it’s sitting in a bad neighborhood, but that’s not the case.

Costly upgrades will drive your asking price up and leave your wallet significantly lighter, and they still might not make enough difference to help the home sell. The name of the game here is keeping all changes minimal but impactful.

3. Sell As-Is to a Cash Homebuyer

If you’re not interested in investing time and money to make repairs or improvements to your home, but you’re also not ready to sell it for a loss, selling it as-is to a cash homebuying company could be a perfect fit. You’ll get a fair market price for your home but without having to set aside the time and money to go through the traditional real estate process.

If your neighborhood isn’t exactly known for its charms, it can be discouraging to figure out how you should go about selling your property. But selling a house in a bad neighborhood is possible! The Buy Guys have worked with many sellers in this exact situation to sell their homes quickly, and we’re happy to help you do the same. Call us today to learn more!