Typically, selling a home involves hiring the best real estate agent you can find in your area to handle the sale for you. The agent values the house and helps you set the right asking price. They also take care of advertising it and other things such as arranging viewings. However, this process has a few disadvantages such as that it can take a long time to sell, potential buyers may pull out midway sending you back to step one, and you incur fees that eat into the sale proceeds.
Fortunately, homeowners can consider getting cash offers for their houses by selling to cash buyers and avoiding the longer traditional selling route. This article looks at the various things you need to know about getting ‘cash for houses’ to help you make informed decisions.
What does the ‘cash for houses’ mean?
Perhaps you are asking yourself, “What is cash for houses all about?” The concept of ‘cash for houses’ is a genuine business model where homeowners sell their homes to buyers who pay cash as soon as the entire sale process is completed.
As a seller, you must still carry out due diligence on the individuals or companies that you consider selling your house to in cash before you get too far into the sale process.
How does the ‘cash for houses’ work?
Every ‘cash for houses’ buyer is different, so sellers should ask important questions about the process that the buyer they are dealing with wants to follow. However, the following are the main steps that the cash for house selling process goes through:
1. The seller gets in touch with the buyer
The first thing is to contact the buying companies to express an interest in selling your property to them. You can visit the buying company’s website, go to their office, or call them. You need to provide the buyer with some important details about your home such as its location, size, age, and so on. The buyer’s representative will probably ask more questions to get a clearer picture of the home.
2. The buyer inspects the home
Most of the time, a person from the ‘cash for houses’ company will come to survey your house, take you through their process and make you an offer. However, some cash buyers will make offers without visiting the house and only depend on their online evaluation tools. Another thing to note is most of these buyers buy the house “as-is” so you don’t need to repair or clean it at all, but others may need you to repair or get paid an amount less the repair costs.
3. The parties close the sale
Because buyers in cash deals have the money in cash ready and do not need to secure funding after the seller accepts the offer, and the papers are processed, they close the sale by settling the amount agreed in cash. The good news is that the closing can happen in a short period, often as little as 14 days.
What are the advantages of ‘cash for houses’ deals?
So, why should you consider dealing with companies such as HomeFlippers that pay ‘cash for houses’?
Below are some of the benefits of selling to these buyers:
- Quick sale
Every homeowner would like to sell their home as fast as possible and get their hands on their cash to settle obligations such overdue debts, buy another home, pay medical expenses and so on. Cash buyers allow sellers to get their sale proceeds faster without any inconveniences that may be too costly.
- Reduced expenses
The home selling process can attract many expenses that reduce the final figure that the sellers get. Some of these expenses include real estate commission, repair costs, and others. Luckily, if you choose to sell to the cash buyers, you avoid most or all of these expenses. However, those involved in cash houses deals may not pay the market value of your home, but you save some costs.
- No worry over home showings
If you don’t want to deal with strangers invading your space to view the house as potential buyers, you need to look for buyers who pay ‘cash for houses’. This way you will avoid the time-consuming preparations and showings.
- Fewer chances of the sale falling through
With the conventional home selling process, it is common for buyers to change their minds or for the lender to cancel the funding. Such issues make the sale fall through or abort midway forcing the seller to go back to the start of the process. However, if you get buyers who pay ‘cash for houses’, you should not worry about the sale aborting because they have ready cash so no chances of lenders not processing their loans.
- Some buy houses in extreme conditions
Selling houses may seem hard, for example, where the properties need extensive repairs, and so on. The good news is that some cash buyers happily buy such properties and pay you a reasonable amount.
What are some of the red flags when dealing with ‘cash for houses’ companies?
Selling to ‘cash for houses’ companies has many benefits, but at the same time, it poses some serious risks to sellers because the investors in these deals are not well regulated. As such, there are risks of scams and it’s up to the seller to do background checks on the buyers to avoid losing their properties and money.
Below are some of the red flags to look out for when dealing with cash houses companies:
- If the buyer or their representative shows any unprofessional behaviour or sends alarming signals like using free email services, so on.
- If the buyer provides vague details about phone numbers but no physical address.
- If the buyer seems to want to rush things or appears too eager to close the deal.
- If your instincts tell you something is fishy about the buyers and you are not comfortable dealing with them, you should trust it.
Conclusion
Selling your home to ‘cash for houses’ investors or buyers is a quick way to get cash, save costs, and avoid many hassles. You need to do your homework well to get a good buyer and you will close the sale in a few days.
