How to Sell a House As-Is in Texas (Even With Major Repairs Needed)
If you’re staring at a house that needs major repairs — or just doesn’t feel worth pouring money into before a sale — selling as-is is probably the cleanest way out. We’ve worked with sellers across Texas whose houses had foundation problems, fire damage, condemned status, decades of deferred maintenance, hoarder conditions, code violations, you name it. None of those things have to stop you from selling.
Quick Answer: Yes, you can sell a house as-is in Texas, in any condition — including condemned, fire-damaged, water-damaged, hoarder, or with major foundation issues. “As-is” means the buyer accepts the home in its current state and you make no repairs. You still owe Texas sellers’ disclosures, but a written cash offer from a buyer like TX Home Buying Pros lets you skip repairs, agent fees, inspections, and the traditional listing timeline.
What “as-is” actually means in a Texas home sale
“As-is” means the buyer takes the property in its current condition — no repairs, no concessions, no fixing things on a punch list before closing. It’s not a magic disclaimer that erases your legal duties. It’s a contract term that tells the buyer: what you see is what you get.
An as-is sale doesn’t mean “no inspection.” Buyers can still inspect. It doesn’t mean “no disclosures.” Texas law still requires you to fill out the seller’s disclosure form (more on that below). What it does mean is that if the inspection turns up a $20,000 foundation repair, you’re not on the hook to fix it. The buyer either accepts the property at the agreed price or walks.
This is huge if your house needs major repairs you can’t afford, or if you simply don’t have the time, energy, or capital to chase contractors before listing.
Why people sell as-is in Texas (the situations we see most)
Every situation is different, but the same handful of reasons come up again and again:
- Major structural issues — foundation problems, settling, sinking, or roof failure that would cost tens of thousands to fix.
- Fire or water damage — a fire-damaged house or one with water damage from a burst pipe, slab leak, or storm.
- Condemned or near-condemned — the city’s already posted a notice, or you know it’s coming. A condemned house is still sellable, just not through traditional channels.
- Hoarder situations — decades of accumulated belongings making the home unshowable. We buy hoarder houses as they sit.
- Code violations or unpermitted work — selling with code violations or unpermitted work doesn’t have to derail your sale.
- Inherited and run-down — you inherited a house that’s been vacant or neglected. If you’re also dealing with title issues, see our guide on selling an inherited house with title issues in Texas.
- Financial pressure — divorce, job loss, behind on payments, just don’t have the cash to make it market-ready.
If any of these sound like you — you’re not alone, and you’re not stuck.
The Texas seller’s disclosure — what you still have to tell buyers, even as-is
Selling as-is doesn’t get you out of disclosure. Under Texas Property Code Section 5.008, sellers of residential real estate (one to four units) must give the buyer a written disclosure of what they know about the property’s condition. The official form is the TREC Seller’s Disclosure Notice.
Here’s the thing: the form asks what you know. If you don’t know something, you check “unknown” — and that’s a valid answer. You’re not required to hire inspectors and dig up issues you weren’t aware of. You just can’t lie or hide things you do know.
Hiding known defects can come back on you years later. Texas buyers have four years to sue under the Deceptive Trade Practices Act, and damages can be tripled. The safer move is always to disclose. With us, the disclosure is more of a formality — we’ve already seen the worst, and we’re not going to back out over what’s on the form.
Should you fix anything before selling? When repairs make sense (and when they don’t)
This is the question every seller asks. The honest answer: it depends on the math.
For minor cosmetic stuff — a coat of paint, fresh landscaping, decluttering — sometimes a few hundred dollars of work can lift the listing price by thousands. For major repairs, the math usually flips. A $30,000 foundation fix rarely returns $30,000 at sale. A $40,000 roof replacement rarely returns $40,000.
If you’re trying to decide whether to fix or sell, our piece on making repairs before selling your DFW house walks through the trade-offs. Short version: when repairs run into five figures, selling as-is to a cash buyer almost always nets you more after you account for the time, contractor headaches, and carrying costs.
What kinds of damage and condition issues we buy
We’re not picky. Houses, land, vacant lots, agricultural acreage, small commercial — across Texas, in conditions that make most buyers pass:
- Damaged homes — storm damage, hail, broken windows, missing siding
- Fire-damaged houses — partial or total loss
- Water damage — slab leaks, flooding, busted pipes, mold
- Foundation problems — pier-and-beam settling, slab cracks, doors that won’t close
- Condemned houses — city-posted, uninhabitable, scheduled for demolition
- Hoarder houses — full of belongings, smell, animal issues
- Code-violation properties — open notices, fines, liens from the city
- Unpermitted work — additions, garage conversions, DIY electrical or plumbing
- Fixer-uppers — solid bones, decades of “we’ll get to it”
- Inspection failures — anything that just killed your last sale
We’ve also bought inherited properties stuffed with a lifetime of belongings — see our guide on selling an inherited hoarder house.
How selling as-is to TX Home Buying Pros works
It’s simpler than the traditional path, on purpose:
- You reach out — fill out our offer form or call (214) 296-2343. Tell us what you’ve got and what shape it’s in.
- We look at the property — sometimes in person, sometimes virtually. We don’t need it spotless.
- You get a written offer — could be a cash offer, or a structured deal where we take on the repairs, liens, taxes, or curative title work ourselves.
- You pick a closing date — sometimes as fast as 7-10 days, sometimes longer if you need time to move.
- You walk away with your funds — wired or by check. We take on whatever’s left to clean up.
No repairs. No staging. No agent commissions. No buyer financing falling through at the last minute. We’ve closed deals other investors walked away from. If another buyer told you the house was “too messy” or quoted you a number that felt insulting, that’s not a reflection of your house. That’s a reflection of their capability.
Costs: what you’d spend going traditional vs. what we cover
The sticker price isn’t the whole story. Selling traditionally — even on a house in good shape — comes with real costs that come out of your pocket or your proceeds:
- Realtor commissions — typically 5-6% of sale price ($15,000-$18,000 on a $300,000 home)
- Pre-listing repairs — anywhere from $2,000 for paint and cleanup to $40,000+ for major systems
- Cleaning, staging, photography — $1,000-$3,000
- Inspection-triggered repairs — once the buyer’s inspector finds issues, you negotiate or fix
- Holding costs — every month on the market is another mortgage payment, tax bill, insurance premium, and utility bill
- Closing costs — title insurance, escrow fees, attorney fees
When you sell to us as-is, you skip the agent fees, repairs, and holding costs, and we cover most of the standard closing costs out of our side. The number you see in the offer is much closer to the number you actually walk away with.
We work statewide
Our cash deals are concentrated in Dallas-Fort Worth, but our as-is and curative work runs statewide. If your property is in a smaller Texas county, on rural acreage, or somewhere outside the metros — we still want to talk. Our team handles in-house title curative work, so the harder cases (back taxes, missing heirs, old liens, deeds that were never recorded) are exactly the ones we’re built for.
Frequently Asked Questions
Yes. Selling as-is doesn’t waive the Texas seller’s disclosure requirement under Property Code 5.008. You fill out the form to the best of your knowledge. If you don’t know something, you can mark it “unknown” — that’s a valid answer. You just can’t hide things you do know.
Yes. Condemned doesn’t mean unsellable, it just means the city has determined the property isn’t fit for occupancy. Traditional buyers and most agents won’t touch it, but cash buyers like us regularly buy condemned houses. We handle the city paperwork and either rehab the property or arrange demolition.
Almost always less than the after-repair value, but usually more than your net after subtracting repair costs, agent commissions, holding costs, and inspection-triggered fixes. On a house that needs major repairs, the math typically favors selling as-is — especially when you factor in the months of stress and contractor management.
No. We buy hoarder houses, inherited homes full of belongings, and properties left in any condition. Take what’s important to you, leave the rest. We handle the cleanout.
As fast as 7-10 days for a straightforward cash deal, sometimes a little longer if there’s title work or curative issues to resolve. We can also slow it down if you need time to move out — we work around your schedule, not the other way around.
No. Buyers in an as-is sale can still inspect the property — they just can’t ask you to make repairs as a condition of closing. With us, our inspection is part of how we develop your offer, and we don’t come back asking for price reductions after the fact.
All of those are fine. We buy houses with tenants in place (we deal with the lease), hoarder situations as they sit, and houses with unpermitted additions or DIY work. We’ve seen the full spectrum of “messy” Texas properties — none of it scares us off.
Ready to talk?
Whatever shape your house is in, we’ll give you a straight answer on what it’s worth to us — no pressure, no obligation. The worst that happens is you find out where you stand. The best is you walk away from a property that’s been weighing on you, with money in hand, on your timeline.
If you’ve already had a bad experience with another buyer or an agent who didn’t want to deal with the condition, that’s not how this goes with us. We’ve seen worse. We can almost certainly help.