Sell My House As Is, in Any Condition

What "As Is" Actually Locks In on Your Contract

"As is" isn't a throwaway phrase real estate agents use to lower expectations — in Texas it's a specific contract term with a specific legal effect, and the Texas Supreme Court spelled out exactly what it does in Prudential Insurance Co. of America v. Jefferson Associates, Ltd., 896 S.W.2d 156 (Tex. 1995). Agree to sell "as is" and the buyer takes on the job of judging the property's condition and value for themselves — they can't come back later and claim they were misled about what they were buying, because the deal already priced in whatever they find (Prudential, 896 S.W.2d at 161).

That protection has a hard limit. The same opinion holds that an as-is clause falls apart if the seller talked the buyer into the deal through a lie or by hiding something they knew about (Prudential, 896 S.W.2d at 162). Selling as-is means you don't have to bring the house up to any particular standard before closing — it doesn't mean you get to stay quiet about a defect you're aware of.

The Seller's Disclosure Notice Doesn't Go Away Just Because You're Selling As Is

Plenty of sellers assume "as is" and "no disclosure" are the same thing. They aren't. Texas Property Code § 5.008(a) requires anyone selling residential property of one dwelling unit or fewer to hand the buyer a written disclosure notice — an as-is sale doesn't erase that requirement, it just changes what the buyer can do with the information once they have it.

When You Don't Have to Give the Notice

§ 5.008(e) carves out a specific list of transfers where no notice is owed at all — a sale ordered by a court or completed through foreclosure is one; a transfer handled by an executor, guardian, or trustee administering someone's estate is another. If your sale doesn't land on that list, the notice is still due, as-is clause or not.

The Clock the Notice Starts

Under § 5.008(f), the notice is supposed to reach the buyer on or before the date the contract becomes binding. Miss that window and hand it over after signing, and the buyer picks up a seven-day right to walk away from the deal, no reason required.

Selling a House With Fire, Storm, or Flood Damage

Harris County doesn't let anyone forget flooding is part of the deal — Hurricane Harvey dropped over 52 inches of rain at gauges around Webster and Bunker Hill Village in 2017, sending roughly 90% of the region's river forecast points past flood stage. The Harris County Flood Control District puts it plainly: "a major flood occurs somewhere in Harris County about every two years," and its own guidance is that everyone in the county lives in some kind of flood zone, not just the properties mapped closest to a bayou. Fire damage from a kitchen or electrical incident is no less real, and neither has to be repaired before you sell.

Disclosure works the same for storm or fire damage as it does for everything else on the form. The notice asks whether you know of problems with the roof, with "other structural components," and with prior water intrusion from a flood event (Tex. Prop. Code § 5.008(b)) — you check what you know, and the buyer prices the rest. An open insurance claim, a settled one, or one you never filed doesn't change that.

The House You've Been Meaning to Get To

A roof past its expected life, a water heater that's been "fine for now" for three years, plumbing patched instead of replaced — none of it forces a repair timeline before you can sell as-is. Texas courts have repeatedly held that a buyer who inspects the property and closes anyway can't later claim they relied on something the seller failed to mention, if the inspection itself would have turned up the same information (Lutfak v. Gainsborough, No. 01-15-01068-CV, 2017 WL 2180716 (Tex. App.—Houston [1st Dist.] 2017)). Practically, that's why an as-is buyer walks the house first and prices from what they see — deferred maintenance becomes a line item in the offer, not a reason the deal falls apart.

A House With Open Code Violations or a City Repair Order

An unpermitted room addition, a citation that's been sitting since before you thought about selling, a notice from the city ordering repairs or a vacate — none of it has to be resolved first. Texas Local Government Code § 214.001(a) gives municipalities the authority to require the "vacation, relocation of occupants, securing, repair, removal, or demolition" of a building found "dilapidated, substandard, or unfit for human habitation." That authority sits with the city whether or not the house is under contract, and a sale doesn't make it disappear — it just hands the job of clearing it to whoever closes on the property. We treat an open violation or an active repair order the way we treat a bad foundation: it's a number in the offer, not a condition of the sale.

Selling a Hoarder House or a Full Cleanout Situation

Rooms packed floor to ceiling, a garage that hasn't had a car in it in a decade, years of accumulation nobody's had the time or the heart to sort through — that's a labor problem, and Texas law doesn't make it a legal one. You're not required to empty a single room before closing. Leave the furniture, the boxes, the appliances that don't work — the cleanout gets built into the offer the same way a cracked slab or an old roof would be.

A full house like this can come with a story behind it, not just a condition problem. Maybe you're dealing with it because a house already in foreclosure is eating your timeline and the cleanout has to happen fast, or because you inherited it and the sorting-through never got done. Either way, the condition of the house and the paperwork behind it are two separate problems, and we're set up to handle both.

How We Actually Price a House When "As Is" Means Real Work

The starting point is the same one an appraiser would use: recent sales of comparable houses nearby, adjusted for size and location. From there we subtract what it costs to bring the house to a condition a retail buyer's lender would actually finance — roof, systems, structural repairs, code compliance, cleanout — based on real contractor pricing for that scope of work, not a guess pulled out of the air.

Sometimes that math lands on a number the seller doesn't love, especially when repair costs are stacked on top of what's still owed on the mortgage. When the numbers work out that way — owed more than the house can sell for once repairs are priced in — a short sale a Houston lender approves can close the gap instead, settling the debt as part of the sale rather than leaving you to cover the difference out of pocket. We'll tell you honestly which path the numbers point to before you sign anything.

We are a professional home buyer, not a law firm or a tax advisor. This page is general information about how Texas as-is sales and seller-disclosure law work — not legal advice about your specific contract or property. For the legal call on your situation, talk to a Texas attorney.