Cash Home Buyer

It can. Philadelphia's Department of Licenses and Inspections cites Section 9-3905 of the Philadelphia Code where a structure has been vacant for three or more months and there is no record of a construction permit or a valid license, in which case a Vacant Property License is required.

L&I cites Section PM-901.1 of the Philadelphia Code, under which the interior and exterior of a vacant building must be free of garbage and rubbish. Where a vacant building is open and not secured, L&I states that it may conduct abatement actions, cleaning or sealing, and bill the owner for all associated costs.

It can be. L&I cites Section PM-304.7 of the Philadelphia Code, under which the roof and flashing must be sound, tight and not have defects that can permit rain. A roof defect described as a maintenance item may also be on record as a code item, which is worth checking before terms are agreed.

The Philadelphia Water Department states that if your deed is recorded, your account will be updated by the City and you will begin to receive bills in your name. It also states that where there is no meter on the property, a water meter must be installed within 30 days after the settlement date.

The Philadelphia Sheriff's Office states that the plaintiff's attorney submits an Upset Price, the least amount the plaintiff will accept, at least one hour before the start of the auction, and that the Sheriff's costs are added to it to determine the reserve. Bidders are shown when the reserve has been met rather than the figure itself.

For a mortgage foreclosure sale the Sheriff's Office requires a $10,000 deposit plus a $35 non-refundable processing fee before the auction starts, 10% of the price plus a 1.5% buyer's premium by close of the next business day, and the 90% balance plus a $35 fee by 5:00PM EST on the fifteenth calendar day after the auction.

A cash offer is a set of terms with a number attached to it, and the number is the part people read first and understand least. Read the buyer's legal name, the property description, the deposit, inspection rights, the closing date, the possession date, and any condition that permits a change or a cancellation. Then read what happens if the review finds something unexpected.

Ask how each of those terms would change in the situations you can already foresee. If an occupant will not have moved, if a document cannot be located, if a payoff figure arrives higher than expected, what happens. A buyer who has thought about the answer will give you one; a buyer who has not will offer reassurance instead, and reassurance is not a term you can hold anyone to.

Then compare what you would receive rather than what the offer says at the top. Ask the closing professional to identify the payoffs, recorded claims, taxes and other proposed deductions relevant to your file, and ask when a proposed settlement statement will reach you. Subtracting an old monthly statement balance from a purchase price does not produce a net figure anyone should rely on.

An empty house is not simply a house with nobody in it, as far as the City is concerned. Philadelphia's Department of Licenses and Inspections cites Section 9-3905 of the Philadelphia Code where a structure has been vacant for three or more months and there is no record of a construction permit or a valid license; in that situation a Vacant Property License is required.

Condition requirements follow. L&I cites Section PM-901.1, under which the interior and exterior of a vacant building must be free of garbage and rubbish. Where a vacant building is open and has not been secured, L&I states that failure to act immediately may result in the Department conducting abatement actions, cleaning or sealing, and billing the owner for all associated costs.

If your property has been standing empty, say how long and whether anything has already been served on you. That is not a disqualifier for a sale in current condition, and it is not a judgment about how the situation arose. It is a fact that belongs in the file at the start, because it can carry both a cost and a timetable that a buyer needs to know about.

A roof problem can be a repair item and a code item at the same time. L&I cites Section PM-304.7 of the Philadelphia Code, under which the roof and flashing must be sound, tight and not have defects that can permit rain. Two descriptions of the same defect, one from a builder and one from the code, can produce very different conversations.

For a seller that is useful rather than alarming. If a defect is on record, it is better to know before terms are agreed than to have it appear during a review. If it is not on record, saying what you have observed still helps, because a buyer reviewing a property in current condition is trying to understand the building rather than to build a case about it.

Describe rather than diagnose. Water showing on a ceiling below a flat roof is an observation. A failed membrane is a conclusion, and it may be the wrong one. Say where you saw it, when you first saw it, and whether anything has been done since. That is enough to start with, and it is more useful than a confident word that later turns out to be inaccurate.

One practical item belongs on the checklist for after settlement rather than before it. The Philadelphia Water Department states that if your deed is recorded, your account will be updated by the City and you will begin to receive bills in your name. The account moves with the recorded document, which means the recording date, not the handshake, is what the utility responds to.

There is a second requirement where no meter exists. The Water Department states that a water meter must be installed within 30 days after the settlement date. If you know the property has no meter, or you are not sure, say so, because that is a post-settlement obligation with a date attached and it is better raised while terms are still being written.

Ask your closing professional how the water account is being handled in your transaction, and ask for the answer in the settlement documents rather than in conversation. Utilities are a small item that is easy to overlook before closing and hard to reconstruct afterwards, which is exactly why it belongs in writing.

It is worth knowing what the alternative route costs, because it is a published benchmark and the figures behind it are on the record. The Philadelphia Sheriff's Office states that the plaintiff's attorney submits an Upset Price, the least amount the plaintiff will accept, at least one hour before the auction starts, and that the Sheriff's costs are added to it to determine a reserve price that bidders never see.

The money terms are demanding. For a mortgage foreclosure sale, all bidders must submit a $10,000 deposit plus a $35 non-refundable processing fee before the auction begins. The purchaser owes 10% of the price plus a 1.5% buyer's premium by close of business the next business day, and the 90% balance plus a $35 processing fee by 5:00PM EST on the fifteenth calendar day after the auction date.

Tax sales run on different numbers: a $1,500 deposit plus a $35 processing fee, with the opening bid for all tax delinquent properties set at $1,600 while opening bids at tax lien auctions vary by auction. None of that is a reason to sell to anyone. It is context for judging what a bid at auction represents compared with a negotiated purchase.

Ask for the offer in writing, then read it twice: once for the number and once for everything that could change the number. Deposits, inspection rights, the conditions that permit a cancellation and the treatment of anything found during the review are the terms that decide what actually happens. None of them are visible in a headline figure.

Ask who pays which cost at settlement, and ask for that to appear in the agreement rather than in an email. Ask the closing professional which payoffs and recorded claims apply to your file and who is obtaining each current figure. Ask when you will see the proposed settlement statement, and give yourself time to read it before the date rather than at the table.

The number above and the offer form on this page are both ways in, and a question is a perfectly good reason to use either. You are entitled to establish whether a direct purchase suits this property before you consider whether it suits you, and to bring an adviser into that at whatever point you choose. Neither step turns a review into a sale.

Look closely at the deposit and at what happens to it. How much is it, when is it paid, who holds it, and under which conditions is it returned or retained. A deposit is the part of an agreement that shows how seriously each side takes the date, and its treatment on cancellation is where a document either protects you or quietly does not.

Then read the conditions that allow either party to change or end the agreement. If you cannot find any, that is a reason to ask where they are rather than a reason to relax, because the wording may not be the wording you expected. Ask which of them are the buyer's, which are yours, how long each one lasts, and what notice has to be given for any of them to be used.

Ask the same question about anything the review turns up. If a document is missing, a figure comes back higher than expected, or a condition is found that nobody had described, does the agreement adjust, pause or end. Get that answer from the text rather than from the conversation, because the conversation is not what either side will be reading if it happens.