Should I Sell My House to a Home Investor?
Selling a house is not an easy task. There’s a lot of work that goes into the process. Before you knuckle down and commit to this endeavor, you should take the time to learn all your options. You probably know that you can hire a listing agent and sell your house on the open market. You might not know that you can skip that process and sell directly to a real estate investor. It’s a different process, and learning about it can help you make an informed decision.
The Pros of Selling to an Investor
Investor sales are dramatically different from traditional realty sales. You aren’t putting your house on the open market. You might not even enlist a realtor at all. Instead, you work directly with the investor to get an offer on your house. They do most of the work, and you just have to decide whether you like the offer. To give you a better idea of the process, let’s start with the benefits. These are the reasons you might want to go the investor route.
Faster Sales
Investors are much less picky about contingencies. They buy houses all the time, and they are more interested in closing the sale than haggling over every tiny item. Also, they typically have the cash or financing ready to go when they see the house. You don’t have to wait for repeat inspections, banks, and other factors that typically slow a home sale. Investors can go from first contact to a completed sale in just a week (or slower if you need more time).
Buying As Is
Minimal negotiation on the myriad little things that need fixing or attention is what makes investor sales fast. Investors know how to deal with houses in any condition. Rather than sweat the small stuff, they’re good at estimating how much money they’ll need to put into the house, and that is reflected in their offer. The idea of buying as is makes investor sales fast, but it also makes them easy. You get an offer, and if you like it, you close. It couldn’t get any simpler.
Cash
They’re investors. They already have the money for the purchase. When you sell this way, you get cash upon closing. It’s streamlined from what you’ll see dealing with banks.
Any Condition
Not every investor will buy a house in any condition, but investors are usually best at buying a home with serious problems. Even condemned houses are frequently purchased by investors, so you know that anything in better shape is also on the table.
The Catch
Fast, easy cash sales might sound too good to be true. In fairness, there’s a trade-off in every decision you ever make in life. These are the aspects of an investor sale that make some people hesitate, and you should consider them before selling your house.
Price
You might assume that investors are going to offer you a low price for your house. The truth is more complicated. Investors are absolutely trying to make money, so below-market-value offers do happen, but it’s more dependent on the markets themselves than you might think.
Basically, keeping a house on the market for an extended period can get you more money in a seller’s market but will lose you money in a buyer’s market. If housing prices are on the way down, you’re likely better off taking a fast offer. If prices are rising, you can take your chances on the open market. There’s no guarantee that you’ll get a better price, but you can only be sure if you wait. The “catch” of selling to an investor is that things move fast enough that you’ll never really know if it’s the absolute best price you could get or not.
Scams
It’s important to understand that investors are not scammers. Unfortunately, there are scammers in the world, and some of them pose as investors. You can get a great experience when you sell to an established, reputable investor, but you need to do your homework to avoid the risk of a scam, especially if they seek you out rather than you initiating contact.
If you’re ready to sell your home to a reputable home investor, contact We Buy Houses Tacoma. We have a proven track record of buying houses for fair cash offers. Fill out our contact form today to see what kind of offer we can give you for your house.