An as-is sale limits repairs,
not disclosure.
An as-is sale is one where the seller is not making repairs or giving credits for condition. In New Jersey that takes a change to the contract rather than a checkbox, and it does not change what the seller puts on the disclosure statement.
- An as-is sale is one where the seller is not making repairs or giving credits for the condition of the property
- The New Jersey state form has the seller representing that the systems work at closing and that there are no known leaks, so selling as is means editing those terms rather than checking a box
- As is limits repairs. It does not change what belongs on the property condition disclosure statement, which the seller still completes for what they know about
- A buyer can still inspect an as-is property. What changes is what the seller has agreed to do about the results
Term. Written by The JK Realty Group.
An as-is sale is one where the seller is not making repairs or giving credits for the condition of the property. Buyers meet it most often on an estate sale, a rental a landlord is selling out of, or a house someone inherited and never lived in. Sellers meet it when they want the certainty of a price that will not move at the inspection.
In New Jersey it is not a box you check. The standard state form has the seller representing that the systems will be working at closing and that there are no known leaks, so selling as is means those printed terms get edited. That is a drafting question, which is why it belongs in front of a licensed New Jersey attorney during attorney review rather than being handled by a note in the listing. It also has a limit worth knowing: as is governs repairs, and it does not change what belongs on the property condition disclosure statement. A seller who knows about a problem still discloses it.
Say an executor in Gloucester County is selling a house nobody in the family has lived in for years. They can list it as is, because they cannot answer for systems they have never run. They still complete the disclosure statement for everything the family does know about, and the buyer is still free to inspect. What as is changes is what happens after that report comes back, not whether one gets ordered.
What to ask, and who answers it. Your agent can tell you how as-is listings are being received in your town and price band, and what it does to the offers you see. Your attorney is the one who edits the contract terms and can say what those edits mean for you. If the property runs on a septic system or a well, ask early, because the town may want those certifications before it will issue a certificate of occupancy, and we can line up the testing while the contract is still being settled.
Our take
As is is a change to the contract's repair terms, not a box, so it gets settled in the writing rather than at the inspection. If you are selling a house you never lived in, decide it before the listing.
Selling a house you never lived in? Let's talk.
General information about how the standard New Jersey contract handles condition. What your own contract says, and what any edit to it means for you, is a question for a licensed New Jersey attorney. General information, not advice about any specific property. The JK Realty Group, brokered with OMNI Real Estate Professionals. Equal Housing Opportunity. See our Terms of Use for how we source and credit these posts.