Selling A House With Polybutylene Pipes

Published on April 3rd, 2023

Selling a house with Polybutylene Pipes can be tricky, but it's not impossible. Polybutylene Pipes make selling a home more difficult due to the fact that building codes have changed in recent years, and these types of pipes have been banned by most local and state building codes.

This ban and aversion to homes with poly piping are so extensive that many real estate agents won't even show a house to a potential buyer if it has poly p pipes in the bathroom or around sinks, leaving many homeowners frustrated.

How, then, can a homeowner sell a home with polybutylene piping? Throughout this article, we will discuss five ways that you can sell your home fully disclosed with the presence of polybutylene pipes.

Polybutylene Pipes Make A Buyer Beware - Why?

irst produced for homes in the mid-1970, polybutylene plumbing was thought to be the best material for plumbing because it was cost-effective and held up under high water pressure in the kitchen, bathrooms, and around toilets. Once the 1990s hit, however, problems started to surface with poly b pipes.

Minerals, and chlorine, in particular, reacted poorly with the piping, causing leaky pipes, deterioration, and brittle insides. Once these pipes fail, they can cause major damage in the form of water leaks, various water damage, soil erosion, and property damage. Now homes with poly b piping have difficulty obtaining insurance from homeowners insurance companies without replacing those pipes with new pipes.

Selling To A Real Estate Investor That Specializes In Homes With Polybutylene Pipes

Real estate investors might just be the perfect buyer for your home. Investors are regularly looking to purchase homes with material defects where they are aware that items will need replacement.

As long as you can present the house with all of the issues in full to the investor, including the presence of polybutylene, they will be aware of the risk they are taking.

Investors will be able to purchase your home without proper coding or replacement piping because they most likely will not need to obtain a mortgage or go through a typical underwriting process. Investors can be thought of as house flippers, ready to update your home and re-present it to the real estate market once the pipes and plumbing system have been updated with galvanized steel or copper.

Houses with a material defect are always harder to sell on the general real estate market because most buyers will see this as a wasted investment and NOT their dream home.

Buyers walk in and see problems and over-exaggerate in their heads how costly repairs might be. As a seller, you need to be aware of this and realize you might not get a full-price purchase offer due to the plumbing.

Selling Your House Directly To Private Home Buyers

Selling your house to a private home buyer might be another excellent option for home sellers looking to sell their home if it has polybutylene pipes. Sellers can do this without having to replace or service the pipes like you would have to for most selling situations.

To sell your house directly to a private buyer, you can list your house as an FSBO or better known as for sale by owner, on a web page dedicated to these types of sales. When homeowners in your situation make this choice, they need to understand that they will be selling their home as is, but finding the right buyer might be more difficult.

Selling A Home That Contains Polybutylene Pipe At An Auction

Selling your home at an auction might be another alternative to a traditional sale. Not all homes that go up for auction are due to foreclosure or financial strain, and when marketed correctly can gain a lot of attention. Here are the steps you need to follow to properly auction a home:

• Hire a professional auctioneer
  
• Ask how the auctioneer gets paid
  
• Choose between an absolute auction or an auction with a reserve.
  
• Find out how the bidders will be qualified
  
• Determine how you will accept bids
  
• Proper Marketing

About a week before your planned auction with a professional auctioneer, you will want to advertise the sale on an auction webpage, Facebook, other social sites, and the local newspaper. 

On the day of the auction, potential buyers will look around your home, look at the pipes, the water meter, the water heater, and the water supply, and notice details about your house that could sway their decision in placing a bid. If you have an unfinished basement, run a dehumidifier to try and dry and leak moisture and a residual smell of dampness.

The highest bid will "win" your house, and the bidder will put down a pre-determined deposit amount at the time of bidding prior to obtaining the remainder of the funds within a set time period.

Yes, some companies buy houses with polybutylene, especially if your house is in the sun belt. These companies know exactly what your home's issue is, how to re-pipe and remove installed pipes, especially replacing polybutylene pipes.

To find a company that specializes in this type of purchase, do a quick Google search or ask local professionals in the plumbing industry.

Moving on and finally selling your home without having to replace polybutylene pipes can be hard, but it can be done. For more helpful tips and tricks for selling homes in less-than-perfect condition, keep following this blog.