As-is means you fix nothing. It does not mean you say nothing. Those are two different things in Ohio, and mixing them up is where sellers get into trouble.
What as-is actually means
It means the house transfers in its current condition and the buyer accepts responsibility for repairs. You do not replace the roof. You do not fix the furnace. You do not paint, patch, clean or stage.
What it does not do is erase the disclosure rules that apply to the sale.
The Ohio disclosure form, and who is exempt from it
Ohio Revised Code 5302.30 requires most owners of residential property of one to four units to give the buyer a Residential Property Disclosure Form covering the condition of the house as the owner knows it.
The statute lists exemptions. Among them are transfers by a fiduciary administering a decedent estate, a guardianship or a trust, court-ordered transfers, and foreclosure transfers. So the executor selling a parent house is commonly exempt from the form.
The distinction that matters: an exemption from the form is not a license to conceal a known material defect. Ohio recognizes a duty around known latent defects independently of the form. Whether a given sale is exempt, and what that leaves you responsible for, is a question for a real estate attorney or the title company handling the closing.
Why repairs rarely pay for themselves
The instinct is that $15,000 of roof adds $15,000 of value. It usually does not. Most repairs return a portion of their cost, and the ones that return the most are cosmetic rather than structural. Meanwhile the money leaves your account today and the return, if any, arrives at closing months later.
There is also the version of this that traps people entirely: you cannot sell it for what it is worth until you fix it, and you cannot fix it because you do not have the money. So nothing happens and the list grows. That one has its own post: repairs you cannot afford.
As-is on the open market vs as-is to a direct buyer
Listing it as-is
You can list as-is with an agent. Two things follow. Financed buyers still inspect, and their lender still appraises, so the roof and the furnace come back as a price renegotiation even though the listing said as-is. And some loan programs will not fund a house with certain conditions at all, which quietly removes a share of your buyer pool.
Selling as-is to a direct buyer
No lender, so no appraisal and no financing condition. The condition is priced into the offer up front rather than discovered later, which is the whole reason the number does not move after an inspection.
What we take as-is, concretely
- Roof, furnace, electrical, plumbing, foundation settling, the whole mechanical list
- Water damage and mold
- Fire damage
- A house full of belongings. You take what you want and leave the rest
- A house that has been vacant for years
- Open code violations from the City of Toledo
- Tenants still living there, and back taxes still owed
What we do not take: severe structural damage or a condemned house, and a foreclosure with a sheriff sale date already set. That boundary is real, and we would rather say it here than after you have spent two weeks on us.
The rest of it
- No agent commission. Zero
- No showings, no open houses, no photographs of your kitchen on the internet
- Closing in 7 to 14 days, or a later date if you need one
- Closing costs handled case by case and written into the offer before you sign
- Toledo, Maumee, Perrysburg and Sylvania only
Tell us about the property, as it sits, with nothing done to it. No obligation.
General information, not legal advice. Whether a particular transfer is exempt under ORC 5302.30, and what disclosure duties remain, depends on the facts. Ask a real estate attorney or your title company.