The blog
Notes on selling a house in Des Moines, what property is actually worth, and when a cash sale is the wrong idea.
What a Cash Offer Really Nets You vs Listing
A cash offer is a smaller number that keeps more of itself. On a $200,000 Des Moines house the gap is about $18,510, and almost all of it is one line: the commission.
How to Sell Your House Fast: Every Route, Honestly
Fast is a dial, and every notch costs money. On a median Des Moines house the gap between the quickest sale and the most patient one is about $19,800, which is roughly four years of carrying costs.
Short Sale vs Foreclosure: Which Hurts Less
Forget the credit score for a moment. The question that decides real money is whether the lender can still come after you for the shortfall, and in Iowa the answer is counter-intuitive.
Selling a House With Tenants in It
You can sell with tenants in place, and you do not need their permission. What you cannot do is sell the tenancy away: the lease goes with the house. What Iowa law requires, what it lets you skip, and whether to wait out the term.
Stopping a Foreclosure in Iowa: Your Options
Most people reading this should keep the house, and the law gives you more ways to do it than the letters suggest. The routes that work, the deadlines that bite, and the narrow case where selling is the right answer.
How We Buy Ugly Houses Actually Works
The offer is real and so is the discount, but the word ugly is doing almost no work. Polk County's own assessments show why, and in Iowa nobody buying your house this way needs a licence.
The Iowa Foreclosure Process, Step by Step
Iowa gives you months, not days. The federal 120 days, then thirty to cure, then court. Plus the one form that buys you six more months and can hand the lender back its right to bill you for the shortfall.
Selling a House That Needs Repairs in Des Moines
Start with how much of your assessed value is land, because that decides whether repairs can pay you back. Plus what an as-is clause does not switch off, and the lien a contractor can still put on a house you have already sold.
Cash Buyer Red Flags: What to Check Before You Sign
Iowa does not licence cash home buyers, so the checks are yours to run. The paperwork rules that do exist, the red flags in the order they cost you money, and seven checks you can do in an afternoon. Including the ones we would fail.
Selling an Inherited House Fast: What You Give Up
You can sell an inherited house in Iowa in about two weeks. The question is what the speed costs you, and which parts of the wait were never negotiable. Written by a cash buyer, including the parts that argue against selling to one.
Selling a House in Probate: The Iowa Procedure, Step by Step
Most guides to selling a house in probate describe California. Iowa has no overbid auction and no 90 per cent rule. It has a five step court process, and one clause in the will that can switch almost all of it off.
Do You Pay Taxes on an Inherited House? The Iowa Answer
Inheriting a house in Iowa is not a taxable event. Iowa's inheritance tax is gone and federal estate tax will not reach you. What actually costs money is the property tax, the homestead credit that falls off the year after the death, and gain if you hold on.
