Guides for Louisville home sellers
Everything here is written for Louisville and Kentucky rules, with sources on every page.
Guides
Before you accept an offer
Read these first. They explain how buyers price a house and how to check who you are dealing with.
- Guide · 3 min readHow cash offers are calculated in LouisvilleA cash buyer's offer starts with what your Louisville house would sell for after repairs and works backward from there. Many buyers use a rule of thumb of 70 percent of that after-repair value, minus the cost of repairs, which leaves room for their closing, holding and resale costs and their profit. Knowing the math helps you judge whether an offer is reasonable and spot one that is not.Read the guide
- Guide · 3 min readHow to check a "we buy houses" company in LouisvilleYou can check any Louisville cash buyer in an afternoon. Ask for proof of funds, find out whether they will buy the house themselves or assign the contract to someone else, insist on a title company or attorney for the closing, and read the contract terms that let a buyer back out or cut the price. A buyer who resists those checks is telling you something.Read the guide
Common situations
Guides for specific situations
Each guide explains the steps, the paperwork, and what to watch for before you sign anything.
- Inherited a houseYou can sell an inherited Louisville house once someone has legal authority over the estate, which in Jefferson County usually means an executor or administrator appointed by the District Court's Probate Court. If the will grants a power of sale, the executor can sell without another court order. If it does not, District Court has to approve the sale first. A cash sale helps when the house needs work, sits empty, or the heirs live far away.Read the guide
- Behind on paymentsIf you are behind on your mortgage in Louisville, you usually have time to sell before you lose the house. Kentucky foreclosures must go through court: the lender sues in Jefferson Circuit Court, gets a judgment, and only then does the master commissioner auction the house. Selling for cash before that auction pays off the loan from the proceeds and keeps a foreclosure sale off your record, as long as the offer covers what you owe or the lender approves a short sale.Read the guide
- Needs major repairsYou can sell a Louisville house in any condition. Cash buyers purchase as-is, so you skip the roof, the foundation work and the cleanup, and the price reflects the repairs instead. Before you accept an offer, find out what is recorded against the property: Louisville Metro code liens grow at 18 percent a year, and they have to be paid, reduced or waived before the title company can close.Read the guide
- Tired landlordYou can sell a Louisville rental without waiting for the tenants to leave. Kentucky lets a landlord sell without the tenant's consent, and the lease stays in force with the new owner. Jefferson County has followed the Uniform Residential Landlord and Tenant Act since 1974, so the notice rules are set by statute: at least 30 days' written notice to end a month-to-month tenancy, and 7 days' written notice before filing for nonpayment.Read the guide
- Going through a divorceSelling the house is often the simplest way to divide it in a Kentucky divorce. Jefferson Family Court divides marital property in just proportions, and a house bought during the marriage is presumed marital no matter whose name is on the deed. Because a spouse who is not on title can still hold a dower interest, both spouses usually sign. A cash sale gives you a firm closing date and one number to split.Read the guide
- Title problemsA Louisville house with a title problem can still be sold, but the problem has to be cleared before or at closing. A title search of the Jefferson County Clerk's land records shows what is in the way: heirs of an owner whose estate was never opened, a paid-off mortgage that was never released, an old judgment lien, or a spouse who never signed away a dower interest. Many of these are fixed with a recorded affidavit, a release or a payoff at closing. Others, such as a quiet title or partition case in Jefferson Circuit Court, are lawsuits that need a lawyer and more time.Read the guide
- Fire or storm damageYou can sell a Louisville house damaged by fire, a storm, a flood or a burst pipe without rebuilding it, either before the insurance claim settles or after. Cash buyers price the damage into their offers. Three things shape the deal: who keeps the insurance money, since claim checks usually name your mortgage servicer too; whether the house is in the floodplain, where repairs costing half or more of the building's pre-damage value trigger current flood standards; and whether Louisville Metro has ordered the structure repaired or demolished.Read the guide
- Behind on property taxesYou can sell a Louisville house with delinquent property taxes, and the back taxes are paid from the sale proceeds at closing. Timing matters because the debt grows in steps. Jefferson County bills still unpaid when the Sheriff closes the books on April 15 go to the County Clerk as certificates of delinquency, which carry 12 percent annual interest plus a 10 percent clerk fee and a 20 percent county attorney fee. Each summer the Clerk sells certificates to third-party purchasers, who add their own fees and can file a foreclosure once the taxes have been delinquent for a year.Read the guide
See what cash buyers in Louisville would offer
It takes about two minutes. No fees, no obligation, and no pressure.