Walls are not a deal breaker
They are a known quantity once somebody has looked at them. What stalls sales is finding out about them late.
Davis County
Sell your house fast in North Salt Lake.
North Salt Lake is the first Davis city you reach coming out of Salt Lake, and a lot of what has been built here in the last twenty years sits on the hillside. That puts things in a sale that flat-lot cities never have to think about.
What I see in North Salt Lake
The lot is part of what you are selling.
On a hillside build, the ground is engineered rather than found. There is a cut and fill pad under the house, there are retaining walls holding something back, and there is a drainage plan that is supposed to keep water moving away from all of it. When those are sound they are invisible. When they are not, they are the most expensive thing on the property.
That is why a buyer's inspector and a buyer's lender ask about walls and drainage here in a way they would not in a flat subdivision, and why a sale can stall over something that has nothing to do with the kitchen.
I would rather look at the walls and the grade myself than price around them. If they are fine, that is worth saying out loud in a listing. If they are not, it is better for you to know what it does to the number before a buyer's inspector tells you in the middle of a contract.
What I look at on a hillside lot
- Retaining walls and what they are holding
- Where the water goes in a storm
- Settlement cracking versus cosmetic cracking
- Deck and balcony footings
- Access and parking on a steep drive
- Views that a lender will not price
As-is means the grade too
If the walls need work, that is squarely the kind of thing I buy around. Selling a house that needs work.
Or fix the one thing and list it
Sometimes a single drainage repair is what stands between as-is and full retail, and that is worth pricing both ways before you decide.
Why North Salt Lake sellers call
Usually one of these.
- Behind on the mortgage, or a foreclosure date approaching
- A divorce that has to be settled
- An inherited house, or a death in the family
- Repairs that have got past what you can fund or manage
- A rental with tenants who have become the problem
- A job moving you out of state on short notice
- Needing to sell now but move later
- Simply wanting to know what it is worth before deciding anything
Nearby
Also buying across Davis County.
I also buy in Clinton, Fruit Heights, Sunset, West Point and the rest of Davis County. There is no page for every town, so if yours is not listed, call anyway.
North Salt Lake questions
Answered plainly.
There is a crack in my retaining wall. Will that stop a sale?
It will stop some buyers and it will not stop me. Whether it should change your price depends on what is behind the wall, which is why I want to look at it.
Do you buy the flat parts of the city as well as the hillside?
Yes. The hillside is what makes North Salt Lake different, not what limits what I buy here.
Would I get more listing it on the open market?
Often, yes, if the house is in reasonable shape and you have the time. I am a licensed agent with Omada Real Estate, so listing is a real option I can put in front of you, not one I have to talk you out of. I do not do the listing myself. An agent on my team does that full time, so the person pricing your house for the open market is not the person who might buy it. The comparison is here.
What does it cost me to get a number?
Nothing, and there is no obligation to accept it. I walk the property, then put the options in writing. The full process.
I will walk the grade, not just the house.
Send the address and I will come and look at it.