Fact and Fiction About “We Buy Houses”
This is the first of three blogs illustrating the pros, cons and helpful tips to get the most out of real estate investors who buy homes quickly.
Investors and companies that buy homes quickly for cash, like the ones you see on diner placemat ads and on telephone poles, sound too good to be true. Are they? Here’s the fact and fiction you need to know about “We Buy Houses.”
There are a multitude of reasons to sell a home to a “We Buy Houses” rehabber. Perhaps you’re entering your Golden Years and are fed up with the high cost of living and ridiculous property taxes. My older son in Middlesex plans selling his home to an investor since he lives on a flag lot and wants to move to the country.
Some homeowners lose their jobs, divorce or suffer other misfortune. Divorces, for example, occur more often than we’d like to admit and sometimes it’s beneficial to divide the marital assets quickly to avoid drawing out the legal process.
Whatever the reason, it’s tough to keep up with household maintenance and it doesn’t take long before the property falls into disrepair. Or, they simply don’t care. When it comes time to relocate, the expense to repair the house isn’t worth the investment or their time and effort. So they sell the home to an investor at a discount to get out from underneath it quickly.
The other course is to sell it retail through a real estate agent to potentially get more money. It might stay on the market for six months to a year or more and be listed multiple times, without ever getting an offer.
Quick sales also help homeowners who have bought another home and can’t wait any longer to sell their old home due to the burden of two mortgages. Having an investor buy a house in less than 30 days is music to a motivated seller’s ears. Keep in mind, the investor doesn’t pay the retail price for the property because there is value to the homeowner in selling it quickly. When it’s all said and done, the homeowner decides how much he or she values a quick sale versus trying to sell for more money.
Reputable investors and home buying companies are a great help to military Veterans who oftentimes purchase property via the Veteran Affairs Home Loan Guarantee—a special loan that allows Veterans to purchase homes with no money down provided they meet a few requirements. When the Veteran is ready to sell the property and wants to move quickly, the Veteran Affairs Home Loan Guarantee can be used again and any extra equity left over from the sale is money in the bank, so to speak.
Selling a house quickly is also a wise move in the event of family emergencies. Sometimes a home that’s part of an estate needs to be sold quickly to meet other obligations, or those listed in the will agree that an expedient sale benefits everyone. The folks behind “We Buy Houses” really do save the day from time to time.
These examples are just a fraction of the benefits home buying investors provide to motivated sellers. In the next blog, we’ll explore some of the myths and rumors about selling to a cash buyer.
For more information on selling your property quickly, please email Jim@FirstTeamRealtyExchange.com or call 609-701-1000.