Can You Sell a House As-Is in Peoria, IL? What It Really Means for Sellers

Yes. You can list your house as-is in Peoria, IL and say plainly, from day one, that you won't be making any repairs. It can be a good fit when you'd rather not take on repairs before or during a sale. One thing that confuses people: "as-is" means something a little different on the listing than it does on the sales contract. On the listing, it tells buyers you won't make repairs. On our local contract, it describes how the buyer accepts the home. I'll walk you through both.

I'm Shannan Werckle, a Broker-REALTOR® with eXp Realty in Peoria, Illinois, helping people starting a new chapter buy and sell with the full picture and no pressure, within 75 miles of Peoria. "Can I just sell it as-is?" is one of the questions I hear most, often about a family home or a house that's been lived in a long time. Here's how this works, and here's what I would do if I were you.

This post explains how the standard Peoria-area contract forms generally work. It's general information, not legal advice, and every contract is different. The terms in your own contract are what count. I'm not an attorney, so I'm not giving you legal advice. If you wish to seek legal advice, I absolutely advise you to contact an attorney.

On the listing. If you want to sell as-is, we say so clearly: the home is being sold only as-is, and you won't be making any repairs. Buyers and their agents know your terms before they ever write an offer.

On the contract. Every offer on a home here sets out how the buyer will accept the property. The buyer chooses one of a few options when they write the offer, and you decide whether to accept it. The options are:

• As-is. The buyer isn't conducting inspections. They simply take the property as it is, and there are no repair requests. A termite report is the one thing still handled separately.
• As-is with inspections. The buyer can still inspect the home. But they can only submit a repair request if the estimated cost of the material defects they're asking about adds up to more than $2,500, with written estimates attached. Termite treatment is handled separately.
• Limited warranties on major systems. Instead of as-is, the offer can be written around the home's major systems.

The contract can also list specific items being sold as-is, even when the rest of the house isn't. That's useful for something like an older appliance or an outbuilding you don't want to be responsible for.

A home listed as-is can still receive offers on any of these terms. When a seller tells me, "I want to sell it as-is," my first question is: what are you hoping to avoid? The answer changes how we price, prepare and compare offers.

If the buyer's offer is as-is, no. There are no inspections and no repair requests, termite report aside.

If it's as-is with inspections, sometimes. Smaller items stay with the house as it is. A repair request is only allowed when the estimated cost of material defects goes over the $2,500 amount on the form. When it does, the usual process applies:

1. The buyer's inspections happen within 14 days of the contract.
2. If the material defects add up to more than $2,500, the buyer submits a repair request with the estimates attached.
3. You and the buyer have 5 days to agree on a remedy.
4. If you can't agree, the buyer has 2 days to end the contract and get their earnest money back.
5. If the buyer doesn't act in that window, the inspection condition is treated as satisfied.

If you've said from the start that you won't make repairs, you can say no to a repair request. The buyer then decides whether to go ahead with the home as it is or end the contract in that 2-day window.

A buyer on an as-is with inspections offer can't simply walk away because they changed their mind about the house. They have to follow these steps, and if they skip them, they risk their earnest money.

It also helps to know what doesn't count as a material defect on our forms: minor repairs and routine maintenance, cosmetic items, a system's age by itself, a system near the end of its useful life, and things like outlets that met code when they were installed. My post on what inspections to expect when selling goes through the full inspection process.

When a repair request is allowed, there are a few ways it usually gets resolved:

• You make the repair before closing.
• You give the buyer a credit instead, and they handle it after closing.
• The buyer's lender requires the repair. Some loans won't close until certain items are fixed, whatever the offer says.
• An escrow holdback. Money is set aside at closing to cover a repair that will be finished afterward. The buyer's lender usually requires it to be funded at 1.5 times the highest estimate.

None of these is decided for you. You'll see every option, with the numbers, and the decision is yours.

No. When your listing says as-is, it means you won't be making repairs. It doesn't change the Illinois disclosure report. You complete it the same way any seller does, and we'll go through it together, question by question, before your home goes on the market.

Being open about the home works in your favor when you're not making repairs. Buyers who know what they're getting are less likely to be surprised at inspection, and surprises are what pull a sale apart.

Buyers price in what they see. A home that clearly needs work will draw offers that reflect that work, whether or not the word "as-is" is in the contract. In the Peoria market of the last several years, well-priced homes in good condition have usually sold quickly. When a home sits, it's almost always price, condition, or both.

The real question isn't "as-is or not." It's whether a repair would add more to your sale than it costs you in money, time and stress. Sometimes the answer is to fix one or two things that buyers notice right away and sell the rest as it is. My post on what to fix before listing your Peoria home shows how I think about that.

The appraisal still matters, too. A buyer with a loan has an appraisal within 21 days. If it comes in low and the buyer gives notice, the contract ends and their earnest money goes back to them, unless you accept the appraised price or you both agree on a new price within 5 days. As-is doesn't change that. Pricing the home for its actual condition from the start is what protects you. The pricing part of how I help you sell explains how I build that number.

Let's take it step by step. This is the order I work through with sellers:

1. Walk through the home together. I'll point out what buyers will notice first and what they'll likely overlook.
2. Know what you already know. Jot down what you know about the home, like the age of the roof and the furnace. That helps with pricing, and it's a good starting point when we go through your disclosure report together.
3. Price two ways. We look at what the home is likely to sell for as it is, and what it might sell for with a few targeted repairs. Then we compare the difference to what those repairs would cost.
4. Think about your time and distance. If you live out of town, or you're settling a family member's home, managing contractors may cost you more than it's worth.
5. Decide how you'll weigh offers. Even with the home listed as-is, offers can come in as-is, as-is with inspections, or with full inspections. Knowing your priorities ahead of time makes offer day calmer.

What about an inspection before you list? I don't suggest it often. I've recommended it only a few times, in unusual situations or when the market leans more toward buyers. But it can help a sale move along faster. You learn ahead of time about anything that might come up in the buyer's inspection, and if you're willing to share the report, buyers get a clear picture of the home's condition. That can make your home more appealing to them.

You don't have to decide today. My job is to make sure you have all the information. The decision is yours.

• Assuming an as-is listing means no inspection. Listing as-is tells buyers you won't make repairs. If the offer is as-is with inspections, the buyer can still inspect, and a repair request is still possible over the amount on the form.
• Pricing as if the home were updated. An as-is home priced like a move-in-ready one tends to sit, and a home that sits starts to look like it has a problem.
• Thinking an as-is listing changes disclosure. It doesn't. The disclosure report is the same either way.
• Judging offers by price alone. A slightly lower as-is offer with a strong loan approval can be worth more to you than a higher offer with full inspections and loose terms. My post on why the highest offer isn't always the best goes deeper.
• Forgetting the buyer's lender. Even on an as-is sale, a lender can require certain repairs before it makes the loan.

A sale of mine this year. I listed a home that we stated very clearly would be sold only as-is. The seller would not do any repairs. We were completely forthright in the disclosures about every issue the seller knew of. It sold for over the asking price. As-is, priced right and disclosed openly, can work very well.

The two examples below are illustrations of common situations, not stories about specific clients.

Example 1: a long-held home. Picture a seller in Peoria Heights settling a home that's been in the family for decades. It's solid, but dated, and the seller lives out of state. We walk through it, fix a dripping faucet and a broken window, have it cleaned, and price it for its true condition. An offer comes in as-is with inspections. The inspection finds a few small items, none of them over the amount on the form, so there's no repair request, and the sale closes on schedule.

Example 2: as-is without a plan. Now picture a seller in Pekin who lists as-is at the price of a recently updated home down the street. Weeks go by with showings and no offers. When an offer finally arrives with full inspections, the inspection turns up an older roof, and the seller ends up negotiating a credit anyway, at a lower price than if the home had been priced for its condition from day one.

I'm Shannan Werckle, a Broker-REALTOR® with eXp Realty in Peoria, Illinois, helping people starting a new chapter buy and sell with the full picture and no pressure, within 75 miles of Peoria. When you're thinking about an as-is sale, you'll see every number before you decide: what the home is likely to sell for as it is, what a few repairs might add, your costs to sell and your estimated net. Once you're under contract, I track every deadline and keep you updated at every milestone until closing.

Learn more about selling your home in Greater Peoria, see how I help with estate and inherited homes, or start with selling your home in Peoria.

Can I sell my house as-is in Illinois? Yes. You can list it as-is and state that you won't make repairs. On Peoria-area contracts, the buyer's offer then says how they'll accept the property: as-is, with no inspections, or as-is with inspections.

Can a buyer back out of an as-is with inspections offer? Not just because they changed their mind. If the material defects go over the amount on the form, the buyer submits a repair request. If you can't agree within 5 days, the buyer then has 2 days to end the contract with their earnest money returned.

Do I still need to fill out a disclosure report if I list as-is? Listing as-is doesn't change what you're required to disclose. If you're unsure whether the report applies to your situation, ask an attorney.

Do I have to fix anything before I list? No, but a few small, visible fixes can help a home sell faster and for more. We'll decide together what's worth it.

Will an appraisal still happen on an as-is sale? Yes, if the buyer has a loan. The appraisal happens within 21 days, and a low appraisal is handled the same way it is on any other sale.

If you're weighing an as-is sale, I'm glad to walk through the home with you and show you both sets of numbers. No pressure and no obligation. Start with your home's value, call (309) 740-0990, or get in touch here.