Sell your Rhode Island house as-is, in any condition

What selling a house as-is means in Rhode Island

Selling a house as-is means selling it in the condition it's in today. You don't make repairs, and the buyer takes the house with whatever's wrong with it, whether that's a roof under a blue tarp or a kitchen nobody's touched since 1974. When I Buy Rhode Island Houses buys a Rhode Island house as-is, we pay cash, and the repairs become our job. That only covers the repairs, though. It doesn't change what Rhode Island law says a seller has to tell the buyer.

What you still have to disclose in Rhode Island

Rhode Island requires the seller of a one- to four-unit house, or of vacant land, to give the buyer a written disclosure before the purchase agreement is signed. The state's form asks about the roof, basement, heating, plumbing, building permits, minimum housing violations, mold and more. Selling as-is, even to a cash buyer like I Buy Rhode Island Houses, doesn't change that. It isn't a warranty, and you only report what you know.

Some sellers are exempt:

• Executors and administrators selling from an estate, and trustees or guardians selling for someone else
• Sales ordered by a court, including a probate court
• Sales from one co-owner to another, or to a spouse, parent, child or grandchild
• Foreclosure sales, and banks selling houses they took back

Extra rules for older Rhode Island houses

An as-is sale doesn't skip the lead rules. For a house built before 1978, federal law has the seller give the buyer an EPA lead pamphlet and disclose any lead paint, hazards and reports they know about. Rhode Island adds its own:

• Contracts for one- to four-family houses built before 2011 give the buyer 10 days to inspect for lead hazards, unless both sides agree otherwise.
• The seller provides any outstanding lead violation notice and lead inspection results.
• The seller discloses lead water service lines.

I Buy Rhode Island Houses buys older Rhode Island houses for cash, peeling paint and all. Pre-1978 rentals generally need a lead certificate too. How selling a Rhode Island rental with tenants works.

Selling with code violations, open permits or unpermitted work

You can sell a Rhode Island house with open code violations, as long as you first give the buyer a true copy of the violation notice and tell the code enforcement office in writing. I Buy Rhode Island Houses buys houses with open violations, so you don't make the repairs first.

• If the violations aren't corrected in time, the city or town can record a second notice in the land records. It binds the next owner until the work is done and the penalty is paid.
• Fines run up to $500 per violation per day. Cases go to District Court, or in Providence, the Providence Housing Court.
• The disclosure form asks about building permits and minimum housing violations, so known unpermitted work or open permits go on it.

Selling a vacant or abandoned house

An empty house still costs money every month in taxes, insurance and upkeep. I Buy Rhode Island Houses buys vacant houses for cash anywhere in Rhode Island, and you don't have to fix them up first.

Since 2025, each Rhode Island city and town publishes a yearly list of properties that may qualify as abandoned and mails the owner a notice. A court can appoint a receiver for an abandoned building that's a public nuisance, and the receiver can sell it. Under a 2026 law, a house under a valid purchase and sale agreement isn't treated as abandoned, and neither is an empty house kept up by a responsive owner. If the house is empty, ask your insurance agent how that affects your coverage.

How much less you get for an as-is house

A cash offer on an as-is house is less than a full retail sale, and there's no fixed percentage. Most of the gap is the repairs, the buyer's costs to hold and resell, and the buyer's profit, so a house that needs a new roof gets a lower offer than one that needs paint. How cash buyers figure an offer, line by line.

For that lower price, I Buy Rhode Island Houses takes the house in whatever shape it's in, pays cash and closes on your schedule. If your Rhode Island house is in good shape and you have time, listing it will probably net you more. What you'd net with a cash offer or a realtor.

Your options side by side

Three ways to sell a Rhode Island house that needs work:

What we can handle

I Buy Rhode Island Houses buys Rhode Island houses for cash in any condition, including houses with:

• A leaking roof, a cracked foundation or a heating system on its last legs
• A cesspool that has to be replaced after the sale
• Code violations, unpermitted work or open permits
• Fire, water or mold damage
• A house full of belongings, or one that's been empty for years
• Liens, back taxes or title problems

We're JB Jackson and his wife, Robin Adams, lifelong Rhode Islanders rather than a franchise, and we've bought more than 3,000 houses here since 1975.