Selling a Minnesota House With Structural Issues: What the Law Asks of You
Published by Cash Flow Deals · Last updated 2026-10-08
You can sell a Minnesota house with structural issues, but you owe the buyer a written disclosure first. Minnesota Statutes section 513.55 has you give it before you sign an agreement to sell. If a closing date matters more to you than an open-ended listing, Cash Flow Deals makes you two offers to choose between. With the Cash offer, we buy the house as-is and close. The Premium offer pays more through novation: the home may be listed for the 15 business days of inspection, and a licensed agent brings each buyer.
| List it yourself | Cash offer | Premium offer | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Who buys | A buyer your listing finds | Cash Flow Deals buys the house as-is | A real FHA or conventional buyer, through novation |
| Your number | What a buyer offers and you accept | Our as-is number | A higher number than the Cash offer |
| Listing and showings | Listed, with showings, until a buyer signs | No listing. One walk-through by our team | May be listed during the 15 business days of inspection. A licensed agent brings each buyer; showings are scheduled with you ahead of time and take 10 to 15 minutes |
| Inspection period | Whatever your purchase agreement sets | 15 business days | 15 business days |
| Closing date | Set once a buyer signs a purchase agreement | 45 days or less, on a date you help pick | 45 days or less, on a date you help pick |
| What you pay | Commission and costs set by your listing agreement and purchase agreement | No listing commission to Cash Flow Deals | Cash Flow Deals is paid as a separate line item on the closing statement |
| If the buyer's financing falls through | Your purchase agreement decides what happens next | Not applicable: we're the buyer | You can still take the Cash offer |
Who Puts the Problem in Writing: You or a Qualified Third Party
Decide who describes the structural problem in writing. Minnesota law gives you two routes.
Route one is your own written disclosure. Under Minnesota Statutes section 513.55, you give it to the buyer before you sign an agreement to sell. It has to include all the material facts you're aware of that could adversely and significantly affect an ordinary buyer's use and enjoyment of the house. You make it in good faith, based on the best of your knowledge at the time.
Route two is a report, and it only works for the information it covers. Minnesota Statutes section 513.56, subdivision 3, says you don't have to disclose information that a qualified third party's written report already discloses, once that report has been given to the buyer.
The statute counts a government agency as a qualified third party, along with anyone you or the buyer reasonably believe has the expertise to meet the industry's standards of practice for that kind of inspection. A report has one limit. If you're given a copy and you know material facts that contradict it, the same subdivision has you disclose those facts.
Fix the Structure First, or Price the House As It Stands
Next, decide whether you repair the structural problem before you sell, or sell the house with it. Our view: a buyer who tours the house walks away from a price its condition doesn't support. So the repair and the price are one decision.
If you skip the repair, set the price against as-is sales of comparable homes. Never renovated ones. We'd rather your number come from what the market paid for houses like yours than from a formula.
Realtor.com put the median days on market for Minnesota listings at 47 in September 2026: a statewide median from the monthly series FRED publishes, counted from the list date to the closing, pending or off-market date, depending on the data available. It's not a forecast for your house.
We read a listing's days on market as the market grading its price against the homes buyers picked instead. When a house draws no interest, we take that as a price set too high. Our advice: correct it to the as-is evidence.
List the House, or Choose One of Our Two Offers
Last, decide how the house gets sold. Our view: listing it buys a chance at a higher price, and you pay for that chance in time. No signed purchase agreement, no closing date. If a date you help set now is worth more to you, Cash Flow Deals makes two offers for the house, and the pick is yours.
1. Cash offer: Cash Flow Deals buys the Minnesota house as-is and closes on it. No listing goes up. Our team does one walk-through.
2. Premium offer: a real FHA or conventional buyer, brought in through novation, pays more than our Cash offer. You agree on a number with us and let us bring that buyer in our place. While the 15 business days of inspection run, the home may be listed, and a licensed agent brings each buyer. Every showing is set up with you in advance and lasts 10 to 15 minutes. That buyer signs a new contract with you. Title passes one time, straight from you to them. Their lender funds the purchase. We're paid on a separate line of the closing statement.
3. Inspection: 15 business days under either offer.
4. Closing: 45 days or less. You help choose the day.
5. Financing: should the Premium buyer's financing fall through, our Cash offer is still yours to take.
6. Costs: You get the amount you agree to, and we'll handle any costs on top of that. The one exception: if something structural surfaces that was not visible or disclosed before we signed — foundation issues, hidden moisture, old wiring, cast-iron drain failure — we re-cost it and bring the number back to you. You decide. You can walk away. We disclose what we know at offer time so this almost never happens.
Common questions
Does every Minnesota home sale need this disclosure?
No. Section 513.54 lists 14 exceptions. Two of them: a transfer to a tenant who's already living in the house, and a transfer to your spouse, parent, grandparent, child or grandchild.
Is it a violation to miss structural damage I couldn't see?
Not under Minnesota's disclosure law. Section 513.57, subdivision 1, says it isn't a violation to leave out information that could be obtained only by inspecting or observing inaccessible parts of the house. The same goes for what only someone with expertise in a science or trade beyond yours could discover.
What if I find out my disclosure was wrong?
Tell the buyer in writing. If you learn your disclosure was inaccurate, section 513.58 has you notify them as soon as reasonably possible, and always before closing.
Can the buyer and I agree to skip the disclosure?
Yes, in writing, under Minnesota Statutes section 513.60. The waiver doesn't change any disclosure duty another law puts on you. And section 513.57 says nothing in these disclosure sections rules out liability for fraud or negligent misrepresentation.
How long can a buyer sue under Minnesota's disclosure law?
Two years from the day the buyer closed. That's the window section 513.57, subdivision 2, sets for a claim against a seller who didn't make a required disclosure while aware of material facts about the property.
Can I compare both offers before anything binds me?
Yes. Nothing binds either side until both of you sign a written contract, and an attorney can read it first. Anyone on the title can join the call.
Keep reading
What this means for your options
Every path to selling a house has real tradeoffs. Cash Flow Deals is built for the middle: faster than a traditional listing, more money than a cash investor.
Wait and see
Keep the property as-is and hope conditions improve. The mortgage, insurance, and upkeep keep costing money while you wait, with no set date for things to turn around.
List with a traditional agent
Standard MLS listing, typically 5-6% in commission, and a financed buyer whose deal depends on appraisal, inspection, and lender approval — any of which can fall through after weeks on market.
Sell to Cash Flow Deals
No repairs, no showings, no financing contingency on your side — our novation structure connects you with a bank-financed buyer at a price locked at signing. Usually within one business day.
See your selling options before you decide anything.