How Clinton Sold His Lithonia House After Moving to Assisted Living

From our files: Clinton called us after one of our letters showed up in his mailbox. He had lived in his Lithonia ranch house for nearly three decades, but a couple of weeks earlier he had moved into an assisted living community. The house was sitting mostly empty, with a good amount of his things still inside.

He was clear about what he wanted. He did not want to take on repairs and updates from a distance, he did not want to become a landlord, and he needed the money from the house for this next chapter of his life. He asked for a closing in about 45 days.

Why a house like this is hard to sell in Lithonia

Lithonia has plenty of solid one-level ranch homes from decades back. Buyers like them, but the ones that have not been updated in years tend to scare off the typical retail buyer. A buyer using a standard FHA or VA loan often cannot close on a house with a broken air conditioner or roof-line damage, because the lender's appraiser will call for repairs first. That leaves the owner with two choices: fix everything before listing, or sell to someone who will take it as it is.

For an owner who has already moved out, especially into assisted living, fixing everything first is usually not realistic. Someone has to meet contractors, let people in, and manage the work, and the house keeps costing money every month it sits.

What made this one tricky

• The air conditioning did not work. The furnace ran, but the AC unit needed repair.
• There was staining on the ceiling near the fireplace from an old leak, and that section needed new sheetrock and paint.
• The gutters were missing, which had damaged the fascia and soffit along the roof line.
• The floors and the garage ceiling needed work, and the interior needed updating throughout.
• Clinton had moved out, but his belongings were still in the house, so it could not be shown like a normal vacant listing.
• The title search showed a mortgage to pay off and a possible judgment that had to be checked before closing.

How we solved it

• We agreed on a price and a 45-day closing timeline in our first conversation, and Clinton did not have to make a single repair.
• We sent the file to the closing attorney within days, and the title work came back within a few days so the payoff was lined up early.
• We had a full home inspection done and a 3D virtual tour made, so serious buyers could see every room without walking through Clinton's things.
• We handled every showing by appointment ourselves, so no one went into the house without a plan.
• We marketed the house to buyers who want an older home they can update, and we kept pushing until it was under contract and closed.
• At closing, the mortgage was paid off and Clinton received the full price we agreed on, with no repair bills and no commissions coming out of his pocket.

Promised 45 days, closed in 38

We told Clinton we would close in about 45 days. We closed in 38, a full week early. For someone settling into a new place and counting on the money from the sale, that week mattered.

Thank you, Clinton, for trusting us with the house you called home for so long. It was an honor to help you close that chapter the easy way.

Own a house in Lithonia you have already moved out of?

If you or a parent has moved into assisted living or a family member's home and the old house is sitting there needing work, you do not have to fix it, clean it out, or list it yourself. We buy houses in Lithonia and across Georgia, as-is, on your timeline. See how our process works, read our common questions, or see what other Georgia homeowners say about us.