Selling As Is Is Not Free. Here Is What Buyers Charge You For It.

By Brenden Rendo, Realtor · Updated September 2, 2026

Almost every seller I sit down with in Orange, Seminole, Lake or Volusia asks some version of the same question. The house needs work, the work costs money they would rather not spend on a house they are leaving, so can they just sell it as is? The answer is yes, of course. What nobody tells them is that as is is not free. It is a price, and the buyer sets it.

Buyer and seller figures from the National Association of Realtors 2025 Profile of Home Buyers and Sellers, covering transactions from July 2024 through June 2025. National figures, not Central Florida specific.

What as is actually means in Florida

An as is contract means you are not agreeing in advance to make repairs. The buyer still inspects, and the buyer can still walk away during their inspection period. What changes is that you are not obligated to fix what they find.

Here is the part sellers get wrong, and it matters. As is does not remove your duty to disclose. In Florida that duty comes from a 1985 Florida Supreme Court decision, Johnson v. Davis, and it requires a seller to disclose known facts that materially affect the value of the property and are not readily observable by the buyer. Signing an as is contract does not switch that off. On top of it, since October 1, 2024, Florida residential sellers have had to give the buyer a written flood disclosure at or before the contract is signed, under the Flood Disclosure in the Sale of Real Property Act.

So as is is a repair position, not a silence position. You still have to say what you know.

The two numbers that explain the discount

The National Association of Realtors surveys buyers and sellers every year. In the 2025 report, covering transactions from July 2024 through June 2025, two findings sit right next to each other and explain the entire as is problem.

57 percent of sellers made no repairs before listing. More than half of the market does exactly what you are considering.

84 percent of buyers bought a home that needed no repairs or only minor ones. Thirty-nine percent bought one that needed nothing at all, and another 45 percent bought one needing only minor work.

Put those together. Most sellers are offering unrepaired houses, and most buyers are buying repaired ones. The sellers in the first group who succeed are meeting the second group somewhere, and where they meet is on price. That is not a market opinion. It is arithmetic on the survey.

Why buyers overcharge you for unknowns

A buyer looking at a house with an obvious problem does not deduct the cost of the repair. They deduct the cost of the worst version of the repair, plus something for the risk that there are others they have not spotted.

Think about a roof with no documented age. You might know it has years left. The buyer does not, their inspector will not certify it, and their insurance carrier may ask questions about it. So the offer comes in reduced as though the roof needs replacing, because that is the only number the buyer can defend to themselves. The same logic applies to a water heater, a panel, a slab crack, a stained ceiling.

This is why unknowns are more expensive than problems. A known four thousand dollar problem costs you about four thousand dollars. An unknown costs you whatever the buyer fears it might be.

The third option nobody offers you

Sellers are usually presented with two doors. Fix everything, which requires money you would rather not spend, or sell as is and eat the discount. There is a third.

First, find out what is actually wrong. On my listings I cover a pre-listing inspection before the house goes live. It is called The No Surprises Listing, and the point is simple: we learn what a buyer's inspector is going to find, on our schedule instead of theirs, while you still have leverage. Once the report exists, the unknowns stop being unknowns, and unknowns are the expensive part.

Then fund only the work that pays. Not everything on an inspection report is worth fixing. Some items you repair, some you price in, some you disclose and move past. For the ones worth doing, NextHome Refresh, powered by Notable, is a line of credit of up to 50,000 dollars for pre-listing work with nothing due until closing. You use your own contractors, interest accrues only on what you actually spend, and the balance is repaid out of the sale. The inspection itself is an eligible expense.

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When as is really is the right call

Sometimes it is, and I will tell you so. As is tends to be right when:

• You inherited the property and have never lived in it, so you cannot speak to its history anyway
• The problems are structural or systemic, large enough that partial repair does not change how the house is perceived
• Your timeline is genuinely short, for a job, a closing on the next house, or a family situation
• There is a tenant in place and access for contractors is unrealistic
• The numbers say so after you have priced the work, rather than before

That last one is the whole point of this article. As is as a strategy is fine. As is as a default, chosen because repairs felt unaffordable and nobody showed you another way to pay for them, usually costs more than the repairs would have.

Questions sellers ask about as is

Does selling as is mean I do not have to disclose problems?
No. In Florida the duty to disclose known defects that materially affect value and are not readily observable comes from case law, Johnson v. Davis, and an as is contract does not remove it. As is governs who pays for repairs, not what you have to tell a buyer. Since October 2024 residential sellers also have to provide a written flood disclosure at or before the contract is signed.

How much less does an as is house sell for?
There is no fixed number, and anyone quoting one is guessing. What is predictable is the direction. Buyers price unknowns pessimistically, so a roof of uncertain age gets deducted as if it needs replacing rather than as if it has five years left. The discount tracks the buyer's worst case, not your actual repair cost.

Is it ever right to sell as is?
Yes. An inherited house you have never lived in, a property with real structural problems, a tight timeline, or a tenant in place can all make as is the correct call. The mistake is not selling as is. The mistake is selling as is by default because the repairs felt unaffordable, without ever pricing them.

What if I cannot afford the repairs before listing?
That is the situation NextHome Refresh exists for. It is a line of credit of up to 50,000 dollars for pre-listing work with nothing due until closing, so the work gets done without you writing a check first. Interest and fees apply and loan eligibility is not guaranteed.

Start with the report, not the price

If you are weighing an as is sale anywhere in Orange, Seminole, Lake or Volusia county, do not start by discounting. Start by finding out what the house actually needs, because that single piece of information changes every decision after it.

You can see the whole process I run, from the first pricing conversation through closing, on my selling page. The covered inspection is step two of it.

Call or text me at 407-616-9019 and we will price the work before you price the house.