A code enforcement case or an unpermitted addition can make a normal sale nearly impossible: lenders balk, appraisers flag it, and retail buyers walk. Investors don’t. Our buyer network purchases San Diego homes with open cases, red tags, and decades-old unpermitted work — and takes on the fixes and the paperwork after closing.
You don’t cure the violations. You disclose them, and the buyer prices and inherits them.
Citation letters, open permit numbers, the unpermitted garage conversion from 1987 — whatever it is, share what you know. Nobody expects a homeowner to have it all figured out.
Buyers estimate what it costs to legalize, repair, or remove the issues and make a transparent as-is offer with that work priced in. No fixing anything first.
Code enforcement liens and fines attached to the property are paid from proceeds at closing like any other lien. After closing, resolving the violations is the new owner’s project, not yours.
Most retail buyers need a loan, and lenders are wary of properties with active enforcement cases or obviously unpermitted square footage that appraisers must exclude from value. Meanwhile, city and county code enforcement can record liens and assess accruing penalties while a case stays open — so waiting costs money. San Diego’s older neighborhoods are full of converted garages, add-on bedrooms, and granny flats built long before today’s ADU rules, and owners often discover the problem only when they try to sell or refinance.
An experienced investor looks at the same property differently: legal square footage plus upside. They buy on today’s condition, then handle permits, corrections, or demolition on their own schedule and budget after closing.
California sellers disclose known material facts regardless of how they sell — and that’s fine, because in this market the disclosure doesn’t scare the buyer, it just informs the price. You’ll describe what you know, the buyer prices the cure, and escrow documents everything cleanly. That combination — full disclosure, as-is purchase — is exactly how these properties are supposed to change hands.
Wondering how buyers get to their number on a flagged property? Our guide on how cash buyers price San Diego homes lays the formula out plainly, and if the violations turn out to be minor, the 1% listing option may still be on the table — we’ll tell you straight which path nets you more.
Yes. The case and any recorded liens don’t prevent a sale — liens are paid from proceeds through escrow, and responsibility for resolving the case passes with the property to the buyer, who priced it in.
Buyers price primarily on legal square footage and condition, but usable unpermitted space isn’t worthless — it’s upside a renovator can often legalize or rework. Every offer spells out how the property was valued.
Usually no. Curing violations yourself means permits, contractors, and months — often costing more than it returns. Investors expect to do that work and have crews and expediters who handle it routinely.
Fines and penalties that attach to the property are settled at closing, and once the property transfers, the ongoing case belongs to the new owner. For fines assessed personally against you, ask escrow or an attorney how they’ll be handled — most are resolved as part of closing.
Tell us the address and a little about the property. You'll get competitive, no-obligation cash offers within 24 hours. Prefer to aim for top dollar? Ask about listing for a flat 1%.
Prefer email? Write to us at sandiegocashforhouses@gmail.com