When it comes to selling a home, most home sellers work with realtors for their listing and sale process. Some other home sellers might even work independently to find a traditional buyer. Sure, both of these ways might be great for some people but there are sellers who aren’t in a condition to opt for either of these. For example, there might be some homeowners who simply cannot afford to maintain the home and get it fixed before selling it. In such cases, selling your home to a real estate investor might be one of the best options out there.
There are some common concerns that surround the dealings with real estate investors. For instance, when you sell your home to an investor, you probably have to sacrifice a certain percentage of the home as these sellings do not actually follow the market’s values. Some people might even be concerned about not finding a reliable investor and rather get entangled in the traps of scam artists.
However, when you actually find and sell your house to an investor that is not only legit but also is honest about the whole process, they might turn out to be your perfect buyer. With legit real estate investors, selling your home can be quick and hassle-free, and you will benefit from the process in many other ways.
Here are some benefits of selling your home to a real estate investor;
As-is home buying
Usually, real estate agents do not want to work with home sellers who own damaged houses. This is because selling such houses is a big challenge. So, if your home is run down, it might get difficult to find and work with a good realtor who will list your home and promote it for sale. Even when realtors work with such homes, they tend to give the owner a list of all the repairs that are crucial for the home to be finally sold. So, to get your home actually listed, you have to go through all the hassles of repairing the damages and spend your time and money doing it.
Similarly, a traditional buyer will also expect you to take care of all the repairing costs before there is any kind of dealing as they want to make the most out of their money.
Fortunately, working with real estate investors is easier than that. When selling to an investor, you will not have to deal with any costly repairs. While purchasing, they already know what is the approximate repair value and thus they offer you a price according to it.
Real estate investors, especially house flippers don’t really care about how damaged the home is. In fact, house flippers may actually prefer buying severely damaged houses and distressed properties that they can rebuild. So, no matter what the damage is, water damage, fire damage, mold, or infestations, selling your house is easy when you sell it to a home investor.
Can help with foreclosure
Foreclosures are one of the biggest reasons for home sales. The homeowner has a time frame of about 90 days to sell the house quickly before the foreclosure actually takes place. There are not many real estate agents that are willing to work on cases like this as there is a need for a quick sale.
When you know that settling the debt is impossible, you will have to sell quickly. This quick sale done to avoid paying the debt can affect your credit score, obviously. But when there is a full foreclosure on a house, the damage to the owner’s credit scores will be even more massive.
Because of the need for a quick sale, selling your house to an investor becomes a very sensible option in such situations. Unlike traditional buyers and realtors, reputable investors frequently buy homes that are in the process of foreclosure. Thus, naturally, they have a lot of experience in handling such cases.
It is nearly impossible to find a good realtor on short notice and there is also no guarantee that the realtor will be able to sell your home before the foreclosure period ends. However, when you work with a home investor, you ensure a quick sale before the given time so that the disastrous effects on your credit scores are not as drastic. Even if you don’t know what to do during a foreclosure, the home investors are bound to know things well.
‘Bad’ neighborhood is not a problem
Most buyers are concerned about the neighborhood while buying a house. Reasonably so, the people who are going to live in the house will be directly affected by the neighbors and the neighborhood.
However, as a home seller, the condition of the neighborhood is beyond your control. So, if your house is located in a ‘bad’ neighborhood, for example, an aesthetically unpleasing location, an area where the crime rates are high, or locations surrounded by loud honking traffic, finding a buyer might become difficult for you. Even dealing with a realtor will become quite difficult as most of them might not be willing to take such a case.
A local investor will not actually care about the neighborhood simply because they are not going to live in the house themselves. The purchase for them is an investment that will help them make money in the future. The main goal of a private investor or an investment company is to buy a property that they can improve and beautify enough to find the perfect buyer who wouldn’t care about the neighborhood as well.
No need for re-listing
Real estate agents or realtors do not buy your house themselves. They are only a medium to find a buyer for your house. Realtors usually give you a specific time frame in which the house is supposed to be sold out. However, if the house isn’t sold, you have to re-list the house. Re-listing can be done with the same realtor or can be done with a new realtor if you find the earlier one to be “not enough” for the job.
When you deal with a real estate investor, things are quite different. Real estate investors aren’t helping you list your house for sale and find you a buyer. They are the buyers themselves. Be it an individual cash buyer or a home buying company, investors make the process easier for you. As there is no ‘listing’ process while dealing with such a cash home buyer, there is no need to re-list if the house isn’t sold within a specific time frame.
In simpler words, investors will buy your house directly from you. After the purchase, most investors will repair the property and beautify it enough for it to be sold easily. They will either make it a rental property or find a buyer for a traditional sale. By the time your home is actually listed in the real estate market, the property will not be your concern anymore.
Quick cash offers
Even though a realtor is a professional who knows their job and can find you a great buyer, they cannot make sure that you get paid as quickly as possible. Most buyers during a traditional home sale do not pay cash to the seller. Rather, they have to rely on bank loans to pay the purchase price. At times, the chances are that you will go through the whole process of finding a realtor, listing your home, and then dealing with a buyer only to find out that the buyer isn’t able to pay you the fair market value for your house. Thus, you might have to go through the entire process again to find other investors and buyers.
Real estate investors on the other hand do not rely on banks. They have their own money that they use as an investment. Many investment companies depend on foreign investors and thus have a secured financial future during the sale process. While dealing with the investor, you can opt for a bunch of real estate transaction options, including, pre-scheduled cash payments, certified funds, on-spot cash offers, etc.
The market doesn’t matter
The sale success rate of a real estate agent in a specific area depends on the condition of the local market value for the area. In simple words, when the home buyers are not interested in buying houses in a particular area, the market falls down. If the area that your house is located in suddenly goes down in the market, your realtor might not be able to sell your home at all. Since the market is not actually under anyone’s control, there is no guarantee on if the market value will go up or down for a certain area.
A reliable investor from a home buying company will, however, be ready to buy a house quickly no matter what the condition of the market is. Investors buy properties and make them beautiful enough so that they can be sold even when the market is bumpy.
Some investors also wait for the market to go up before they can sell the property to a traditional buyer, so you don’t have to wait for yourself.
Skip the paperwork
Traditional home sales come with a lot of complicated paperwork. You are required to single-handedly deal with your realtor, home buyers, and their agents during the sale process. There is a need for you to carefully read many documents and sign one dotted line after another. There might even be home inspections, approved financing, appraised values, and much more to consider that increases the paperwork significantly.
Selling to an investor can reduce the amount of paperwork. An investor will buy property as-is directly from the owner, that is you. Put in simple words, your property will be directly transferred from your hands to the investor’s hands and thus there won’t be much paperwork to handle.
Avoid the hassles of home inspection
Working with realtors or a traditional potential buyer will require you to have a house in perfect living conditions. To provide data to your realtor about the livability of your house, you might be required to opt for a thorough home inspection by a licensed inspector. This can be a complex and costly process that might also involve a lot of paperwork. In fact, many times deals even get sabotaged because of home inspection reports.
Investors, however, do not care about home inspections. For an investor to buy your house, your house doesn’t necessarily have to be in a showable condition since investors buy properties as they are.
No commission fee
When you work with a realtor, you might expect to get the whole price of your home according to its market value. However, realtors do not work for free. They are agents who work for commission. Usually, realtors can take up to 6%-10% commission for each sale they make. This money is either taken by your realtor alone or is split between you and your buyer’s agent.
With an investment company or private investors, there is no commission fee. The deal is directly between you and the investor, and thus there are no third parties that have to be satisfied. Selling your home to an investor can be as simple and easy as any general transaction where the buyer will simply pay for what they have purchased.
No closing costs
During a deal with a traditional buyer, there might be surprising expenses that spawn at every stage of the closing process. There will be escrows and paperwork fees.
But when you are selling your home to an investor, the price you get in your hand will be exactly what the investor’s offer was initially. If there are any new expenses that have arisen during the process, the investors will pay for it all so that you don’t have to worry about it.
Quick selling process and closing
Last but not the least, selling to an investor means selling quickly. For people who are in a situation that requires them to sell their homes quickly, dealing with an investor is one of the best options. Since there are no third parties, agents, complex paperwork, appraisals, inspections, etc involved, the sale process becomes way more convenient and simple. The simplicity of the process can help you reduce the time of the sale and the closing significantly.
Conclusion
Opting to sell your house to a great, reputable, and reliable home investment company can be a good option when you want to sell your home as quickly as possible. All you need to do for such a real estate transaction is to get started by finding and contacting reliable investors with some minimal research online about house selling tips and sending them the details of your house so that they can offer you the best offers in no time.
