We Buy Houses for Cash in Virginia

Virginia's disclosure form is unusual: instead of asking the seller to describe the house, it mostly tells the buyer what the seller is not representing and sends them off to do their own homework. That does not mean anything goes, because Virginia also has a list of specific facts a seller must disclose, and Northern Virginia sellers pay extra transfer fees that surprise newcomers. Whether your house is a Fairfax townhouse, a Hampton Roads home with a flood history or a farmhouse on a well and septic system, Swifty Home Buyers buys Virginia houses for cash, as-is, with no agent commissions and no repairs, on the closing date you choose. Here is how Virginia's taxes, disclosures and foreclosure rules work.

We buy houses in all 50 states. This guide covers the rules that matter in Virginia.

Virginia splits its deed taxes between buyer-side and seller-side charges. The grantor tax in Code Section 58.1-802 is 50 cents for each $500 or fraction of $500, which is $1 per $1,000, figured on the price or value, whichever is greater, not counting liens that stay on the property. The statute says it is paid by the grantor, the seller, and the clerk splits the money between the state and the locality. On a $400,000 sale that is $400. The state recordation tax on the deed, under Section 58.1-801, is 25 cents per $100 of the price or value, whichever is greater, and localities may add their own recordation tax equal to one-third of the state tax under Section 58.1-3800; who pays recordation tax is set by your contract. Northern Virginia is where seller costs jump. Section 58.1-802.3 adds a fee of 10 cents per $100 in localities that belong to the Northern Virginia Transportation Authority, and Section 58.1-802.4 adds a regional congestion relief fee of another 10 cents per $100 in the planning district that covers Northern Virginia. Both are paid by the grantor unless the parties agree otherwise. Add agent commissions in a traditional sale (negotiable, and usually the largest cost), settlement fees, loan payoffs and prorated real estate taxes. In a cash sale to Swifty there are no agent commissions and no repair credits, and your settlement agent's figures are shared with you before closing.

When a Virginia home is financed with a deed of trust, foreclosure is a trustee's sale held under the deed of trust rather than a court judgment. Section 55.1-321 requires written notice of the time, date and place of the sale to the owner, and a copy of the advertisement or notice must be mailed by certified or registered mail no less than 60 days before the sale for owner-occupied residential property, or 14 days for other deeds of trust. The notice has to include HUD housing counseling information and legal aid contacts, a statement that it is not an eviction notice, and, for owner-occupied homes, the last payment received, the amount in arrears and the remaining principal. Under Section 55.1-322, unless the deed of trust says otherwise, the trustee advertises once a week for four successive weeks, or on five different days in some areas, and the sale can be held no earlier than eight days after the first ad and no more than 30 days after the last. Whether a lender can pursue a deficiency after the sale depends on your loan, so ask a Virginia attorney. A HUD-approved housing counselor can walk through workout options with you. A sale that settles before the auction pays the loan from the proceeds and keeps the rest of your equity with you.

• Sell as-is
• Inherited house
• Foreclosure
• Tenants or rental property

Fairfax County and Northern Virginia

The Fairfax Circuit Court's land records fee sheet (CCR A-50, effective July 1, 2026) lists, for a deed of sale, the state recordation tax at $0.25 per $100, the county recordation tax at $0.083 per $100, the grantor tax at $0.50 per $500, a Regional Congestion Relief Fee of $0.10 per $100 under Section 58.1-802.4 and a Regional WMATA Capital Fee of $0.10 per $100 under Section 58.1-802.3. On a $600,000 sale, the grantor tax and the two regional fees come to $1,800, all on the seller's side by default. That is triple what the grantor tax alone would be in a locality without the regional fees.