Selling A House With Dry Rot

Published on April 3rd, 2023

Getting ready to sell your home is a big decision that can lead to uncertainties, especially when your home isn't in perfect condition. Before you run to your local real estate agent, you should check to see if your home has been infected with dry rot.

Dry rot is bad news for homeowners. Dry rot develops when there is an excess of moisture or wet rot in your home. This can cause damage to the structural integrity of your home, dry rot spores, which can cause health problems, wet rot fungus, brown rot fungus, and other fungal growth.

To have a house with dry rot problems, you only need to have the wood soaked with moisture over acceptable moisture content levels once. After that water incident, dry rot will start to grow and can spread throughout the entire building, causing decayed wood, further structural damage, and destroying your home sale values.

If your home is affected by dry rot, what can you do to have a successful sale? There are five different ways you can approach selling your home with dry rot to potential buyers, which we will discuss below.

Selling To A Real Estate Investor That Specializes In Dry Rot Damaged Properties

Real estate investors are a great type of buyer for a house with dry rot. Investors look at a property's potential and less of its current state. Wood discolouration, bumpy wood, and dam timber might cause normal buyers to run, but not investors.

That being said, you will most likely not get full market value for your home due to its condition, even if the affected area is small because if left untreated, dry rot can cause a large problem.

Dry rot spread can happen rapidly on places like wood decks and other pressure-treated lumber from blocked gutters - make sure to pay attention to places around your home if you are considering selling it to an investor soon.

Selling Through A Real Estate Agent On The MLS

Selling your home in a more traditional manner through a real estate agent is still possible, even with dry rot. Depending on the level of dry rot growth, dry rot treatment you have started, and serious damage that has happened, you might be able to either make repairs or sell your home as is.

If you decide to make repairs to the dry rot and dry rot growth, be sure to hire a licensed professional. To treat dry rot, a professional might try one of the below methods.

• Removing or chipping wood discoloration, which would include a chemical treatment with a fungicide to the affected area and then replacing the wood. 

• Drying out the wood and replacing the affected wood rot timbers with new timbers, which is common for older or DIY decks. 

These are just two of the options available to help treat dry rot around your home. If fixing the dry rot isn't something you want to do before listing your home with a real estate agent, you will need to be prepared for when the buyer's inspection finds problems.

No home sale goes perfectly smooth, but one with dry rot can be especially bumpy if you don't make any repairs.

Selling directly to private home buyers might help you avoid costly repair work too leaking gutters, leaking pipes, and other structural problems caused by both dry rot and wet rot.

Private buyers typically go into a house-buying situation like this aware of problems that will need to be addressed under their ownership - usually making them cash buyers because of this. If you are looking to get more money for your home when selling to a private buyer, you should try to detect dry rot throughout your home and try some dry rot treatments to damp timber and mycelium growth spots.

It will only take a few seconds to find damp conditions, fungal spores, and other dry rot warning signs if you know what you're looking for. Check out this informative list for how to find dry rot in your house. 

Selling At An Auction

If dry rot is found in your house, you can opt to sell your home at an auction for a reduced price.

Dry rot fungus and dry rot spread at a rapid pace. If you are aware of dry rot in your home before a sale, you can conduct a dry rot survey to up your chances of a higher sales price during the auction. To fix dry rot, you will need to completely replace the affected area, not just cover dry rot up with new boards.

Potential buyers at an auction will go through your home looking for something wrong with it, and dry rot destroys timber which is very easy to see from a buyer's eye. Proper caulking around windows, cleaning gutters, replacing damaged lead flashings, and running a dehumidifier will all help create an environment with less moisture and less of a risk for dry rot to occur.

Selling your home to a home-buying company is another way to have a house sale if your home has dry rot.

As a cash buyers, home buying companies are willing to take the risk on homes with dry rot as they repair them and sell them later for an investment.

Home buying companies know what they are looking for with dry rot, including evidence of a burst pipe, areas of replacement wood, large mushroom-like structures growing on the exterior of your home, and other tell-tale signs on wood.

Selling your home with dry or wet rot is possible - it might just take some hard work and patience to do so. Working with the right local professionals is the first and most important step.