Sell a Hoarder House As-Is in PA and NJ

The short version

At Vivid Properties, we buy hoarder houses as they are. You don't have to clean out a thing.
Before anything gets thrown out, look for the deed, the will, insurance policies and bank papers. They hide in the piles.
In Philadelphia, residents can drop off household items at a City sanitation convenience center once a day and big items once a week. Bring proof you live in the city.
If someone you love is still living with hoarding, the Philadelphia Hoarding Task Force can point you to help, and it warns that a full cleanout often makes hoarding worse.
Pennsylvania's disclosure form asks about the house, not the person. Executors, administrators and guardians selling in that role don't fill it out.

Maybe it's your mom's house. Maybe it's an uncle's, or maybe it's yours and it got away from you. If you're standing in the doorway wondering where to even start, start here: you don't have to empty it to sell it, and nobody needs to know more than you want them to.

Can you sell a hoarder house without cleaning it out?

Yes. At Vivid Properties, we buy hoarder houses with everything still inside. Take what matters to you and leave the rest. The cleanout becomes our job.

Worried about what's under the piles, like a roof leak, soft floors, mice or a heater that hasn't run in years? You don't have to find it or fix it before you sell to us. Just tell us what you know, and we'll take it from there.

Is the person safe, and do they need help first?

If someone still lives there, start with them, not the stuff. The Philadelphia Hoarding Task Force, a local network that works on hoarding, says hoarding is a mental health condition affecting about 2 to 5% of people, which it counts as 30,000 to 75,000 Philadelphians. It also says simply telling someone to change doesn't help, but resources and support do.

Go slow on the cleanout. The Task Force warns that completely cleaning out a home often makes hoarding worse. If safety can't wait, it suggests targeted cleaning that goes at the person's pace, starting with the riskiest spots, like near the stove, a heater or the bathroom.
Get help finding help. The Task Force's site points to the hoarding program at Jewish Family and Children's Service of Greater Philadelphia. Community Legal Services, a nonprofit law office, lists phone intake for hoarding help: 215-751-1800 if the person is under 60, or 215-545-5728 if they're 60 or older. The page says it can point you to professional organizers, heavy cleaning, home health care, financial counseling, mental health services and legal help.
For an older adult in Philadelphia, the Philadelphia Corporation for Aging (PCA) helpline is 215-765-9040, and it takes reports of older adult abuse at any hour. The Task Force says that if someone is in crisis, or their hoarding gets dramatically worse, it may be time to bring in protective services.

Outside Philadelphia, our guide to selling an elderly parent's house lists the aging office for each county we serve.

What should you find before anything is thrown away?

The papers, first. Important documents tend to end up in the same piles as junk mail, so go through paper before anything gets hauled. Keep one box for everything below, and check pockets, books, envelopes and drawers as you go.

Papers and things to find first
Look for	Why it matters
The deed, and any settlement papers from when the house was bought	Shows whose name the house is in, and who has to sign to sell it
A will, trust papers or a power of attorney	Shows who can act for the owner, or for the estate
Mortgage, home equity or reverse mortgage statements	Anything owed is paid off at closing, so you need the account numbers
Property tax bills, water bills and any City or town notices	Back taxes, water bills and open violations all come up when the house sells
The homeowners insurance policy	Keep it paid while the house is being sorted and sold
Bank, retirement and brokerage statements, and life insurance policies	Accounts the family may not know about
Car titles, savings bonds and stock certificates	Often needed to settle an estate
Cash, jewelry, coins and keepsakes	Easy to lose in a cleanout, and impossible to get back
Photos, letters and family records	Often the hardest things to replace
Keys, alarm codes and utility account numbers	You'll need them to show, secure and close on the house

If you sell to us, there's no deadline to have it empty. Sort the papers at your own pace.

How do you clear out a hoarder house, and who does it?

Any way you like, or not at all. Here's how the usual choices compare:

Ways to clear the house. Prices vary a lot, so get written quotes.
Who does it	Effort for you	Privacy	Watch out for
Family and friends	Heavy, often over many weekends	High	Injuries, burnout and family arguments
A junk hauler	Low once they arrive	Medium	Papers and valuables thrown out with the junk. Pull them first.
A hoarding cleanup company	Low	Medium	Ask whether they sort for papers and valuables, and get the price in writing
An estate sale company, then a hauler	Medium	Low, since the public comes through	Many items may not be worth selling
Sell to us as-is	Only what you choose to take	High	Nothing to clear. What you leave behind becomes ours.

Doing some of it yourself in Philadelphia? The City runs six sanitation convenience centers for residents:

Philadelphia drop-off rules, from the City's sanitation convenience centers page
Rule	Details
Days and hours	Monday through Saturday, 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. Closed on City holidays.
Who can use them	Philadelphia residents with proof they live in the city. Commercial contractors and commercial loads can't use them.
How often	Regular household items once a day, oversized items once a week
How much	Trash up to six cans or 12 bags. Bulk items, big metal items and appliances, two a day.
Your vehicle	Personal or commercial, under 6,000 pounds total vehicle weight
Not accepted	Construction debris. Take it to a private facility, which charges a fee.
Also accepted	Unwrapped mattresses and box springs, computers, TVs and other electronics, and latex paint once it's dried out with kitty litter or newspaper

The City also picks up big furniture and appliances by appointment for homes with up to six units. A hired hauler can't bring a commercial load to the City centers, so they'll take it to a private facility instead. In the suburbs and South Jersey, trash and drop-off rules vary by town, so check with your township or borough before you rent a dumpster.

What do you have to disclose when you sell?

What you know about the house, and nothing you'd have to dig for. Pennsylvania's disclosure law doesn't make you investigate, but you can't leave out a defect you know about or say anything you know is false. The form asks about the house, not the person who lived there. The questions that most often come up in a hoarder house:

Termites, wood-destroying insects, dry rot or pests, and any damage they've caused
Past or present water leakage, and water or dampness in the basement
Movement, shifting or other problems with walls, foundations or other structural parts
Housing, building safety or fire code violations that haven't been corrected

Selling as an executor, administrator, trustee or guardian? Pennsylvania's disclosure law doesn't apply to those sales. When you sell to us, it's simple: we're buying the house as it is, and what you tell us just helps us make a fair offer. New Jersey sellers answer the state's flood-risk questions on the property condition disclosure statement before the contract is binding. Our guide to selling a house as-is covers disclosure in both states.

What if the clutter has caused code violations or damage?

We still buy. Open violations, pest problems and water damage change the price, not whether we'll buy. Here's what to know in Philadelphia:

L&I can step in when neighbors are at risk. If garbage, rubbish or an infestation puts the people next door in immediate danger, L&I can issue a Cease Operations Order, closing the property until it's fixed.
City cleanup bills can become liens. If the City cleans a lot, cuts weeds or seals a vacant building, it bills the owner, and a bill left unpaid for 30 days may become a lien. Liens are paid off from the sale at closing.
An empty house needs a license. If the owner has moved out and nobody lives there, Philadelphia requires a Vacant Residential Property License, $202 a year, unless the house is being renovated.

Our guide to selling a house with L&I violations covers looking up and appealing violations, and our guide to selling with liens or back taxes explains how payoffs work.

What if the owner has died or moved into care?

Then the first question is who can sign. A living owner signs for themselves, or someone they named in a power of attorney can sign for them, or a court-appointed guardian. If the owner has died, the executor or administrator of the estate signs once the estate is opened. These guides cover each case:

Selling an elderly parent's house: powers of attorney, dementia, guardianship and nursing home questions
Selling an inherited house in Philadelphia: probate, inheritance tax and siblings
Selling an inherited house in New Jersey: probate and the tax waiver
Selling from out of state: signing without the trip, and looking after an empty house from far away

What are your options?

Your options for a hoarder or cluttered house
Option	Works when	The catch
Clear it, fix it up and list it	The house is in good shape under the clutter, and you have time and money	Cleanout and repair costs come first, then showings and a commission
Clear the worst and list it as-is	The house shows decently once it's partly cleared	You still pay for hauling, and inspections can turn up more
Estate sale, then sell	There's furniture or collections worth selling	Strangers come through the house, and it adds weeks
Sell it to us as-is	You don't want to clear it, or can't, or the family just wants it done	You give up the chance to fix it up yourself and list it
Keep it	Someone's still living there and getting help	Taxes, insurance and upkeep keep coming

Our price will be less than a fixed-up, cleaned-out house would list for, because we take on the cleanout, the repairs and whatever turns up under the piles. If clearing it and listing it would put more money in your pocket, we'll tell you. No pressure either way. See how we calculate our offer.

How does selling a hoarder house to us work?

Call or text us. Reach us at (267) 551-5554, or use the form on this page. A real local person answers, and you can tell us as much or as little as you like.
We see the house as it is. No need to clear a path or tidy up. We'll look at what we can safely reach.
You get our written offer, usually within 24 hours. It shows what you walk away with after any mortgage, liens or back taxes are paid off.
Take what you want. Papers, photos, keepsakes, anything. Leave the rest.
We close on the day you pick. We pay all the closing costs, and there are no fees or commissions.

There's no sign in the yard and no open house, so the neighbors don't have to know anything. We're a local, family-owned company, and we buy in Philadelphia, Delaware County, PA, Bucks County, PA, Montgomery County, PA and South Jersey. Curious about the steps in more detail? See how we buy houses.

Get my cash offer Text or call (267) 551-5554

“I had a very pleasant experience selling my house with Vivid Properties. Their representative, Aaron, was extremely professional and guided me through the entire process, even though the house was in my grandmother's name. I even referred a childhood friend, who is now selling his house with them. On a scale of 1 to 10, I would definitely give them a 10.”
Keithrollin T. · Google review

Questions families ask

Do I have to clean out a hoarder house before I sell it?

Not if you sell it to us. We buy hoarder houses with everything inside. Take what you want and leave the rest. If you list it with an agent, you'll usually need to clear at least enough for people to walk through and for an inspection.

What happens to everything left inside?

When you sell to us, whatever you leave becomes ours to deal with after closing. Go through papers, photos and valuables first, since once it's hauled, it's gone.

Can an executor sell a hoarder house?

Yes, once the estate is opened and the executor or administrator has authority to sell. In Pennsylvania, sales by an executor, administrator or trustee while settling an estate are exempt from the seller disclosure law.

Do I have to disclose the hoarding?

Pennsylvania's form asks about the house, not the person. You disclose defects you know about, like pests, leaks, structural problems or open code violations, whether or not clutter caused them.

Where can I get help for a parent who hoards in Philadelphia?

Start with the Philadelphia Hoarding Task Force's site, philadelphiahoarding.org, or Community Legal Services' phone intake: 215-751-1800 for someone under 60, or 215-545-5728 for someone 60 or older. For an older adult in danger, call the PCA helpline at 215-765-9040.

This guide is general information, not legal or tax advice. For your situation, talk to a Pennsylvania or New Jersey attorney or tax professional.

How to Sell a Hoarder or Cluttered House