Sell your house directly to investors who will prepare your home for the real estate market. This saves you the trouble and expense of doing it yourself AND cuts out the middleman. Avoid paying commission and wholesaler’s mark-up.
Once upon a time, fast cash real estate deals were only for the desperate
Originally, selling to a cash buyer or real estate investor was the only answer for people looking for a quick sale, hoping to avoid foreclosure. Other times, the home was in such disrepair, no one wanted it. Unfortunately, some unethical home buyers advertising a fast cash offer took advantage of distressed home sellers down on their luck.
Because of these negative stories, selling to an investor who offered to buy your home for cash earned the reputation of being a scam. However, selling your house to an investor isn’t always too good to be true. And it’s not just an option for homeowners facing unmanageable problems.
Off market vs. Traditional market listings
An off-market real estate transaction, known as selling your home without listing it publicly, offers a lot of benefits. It goes beyond the ability to sell a house fast. In current seller’s markets, homes no longer sit on the market for weeks and months at a time. But even quick sales take additional prep time and money if you do it the traditional way.
Traditional buyers searching for real estate listings look for curb appeal and move-in-ready condition. When you sell your house to an investor, you don’t have to clean, repair, stage, or advertise your home like you would for a traditional sale. This saves a ton of time and money. Without the real estate agent’s commission, you save even more in closing costs.
You don’t lose value when you sell off market
A private home sale doesn’t mean you lose money compared to a traditional sale. Selling your home to an investor doesn’t automatically mean they want to steal equity away from your home. What they are taking away from you is the effort and expense necessary to make your home attractive to traditional buyers.
Typically, real estate agents will share the selling prices of comparable homes recently sold on the market in your neighbourhood. This sets the expectation of what you hope to get for your house when you sell it. It’s attractive in a seller’s market when you read about all the houses sold over asking.
“Trends in the New Brunswick housing market are now being compared to those seen in Ontario, with the one-year increase in home prices the highest among all Canadian provinces” as explained in this CBC article.
Are you comparing apples to apples or oranges?
But how much money will you spend on cleaning and repairs? How long will it take to complete those tasks? Do you have the skills and tools to do the work yourself or will you need to hire someone? Can you find labourers available? What about staging your home? How much will storage cost to stow your belongings? And exactly how inconvenient will all this be?
Once your home is in the condition to appeal to buyers willing to pay those over asking prices, you still must show the home to prospective buyers. This means photography, listings, showings. Once you accept the offer of your dreams, how long must you wait until it closes? Will you need to pay for both your new home and your current one while you wait?
The dollar signs and inconvenience add up. In comparison, imagine selling off-market for the value of your home in its current condition without cleaning or repairing a thing. The selling price might be slightly lower, but so will your expenses plus you save a lot of time and remain in control of the closing date.
Save even more when you sell your house directly to investors
To earn the most value from your home, sell your house directly to investors. Not only will you save the cost of cleaning and making repairs, but you also avoid the expense of paying commission to an agent. Take it one step further and research what kind of investor you are selling to. Choose one who will do the work themselves.
Some investors operate as wholesalers. They make you a cash offer for your home to save you time, money, and hassles. But instead of doing the cleaning and repairs themselves, they sell to another investor for a slightly higher price than they paid you to earn a profit. If you sell your house directly to investors who complete the work, you can get that slightly higher price and keep the wholesaler’s profit yourself.
Call before you list to find out your options for saving money, time, and hassle
Instead of reaching out to a real estate agent to learn what houses are selling in your area, call us first. We can provide the same market research as the agent. Learn what your home’s value is in the current condition before lifting a finger or spending a dime. We can also advise what is necessary to compete for top dollar should you still want to list it on the market.
With this information, you can evaluate your options. Do you want to earn a higher price but do some work yourself or does the easy button sound like a better deal for you? We are happy to share market knowledge and our ideas with no cost or commitment to you at all. You’ve got nothing to lose.
