Check This Out Before You Sell Your House for Cash

Check This Out Before You Sell Your House for Cash

Doesn’t it seem like no matter how much planning you do, something always messes it up? You could have a time frame in mind about how long you’ll stay in your house and when you’d like to sell. However, life happens and you may be in a position where you need to sell your house like yesterday. Yikes! What do you do?

You could always go with a real estate agent, but that can take longer than you’d like. You could sell your house to someone you know, but even that has a few hurdles that could mess things up. 

Another option you can consider is selling a home for cash. If this piques your interest, here are some things you should know about this process. 

1. Sell as-is

If you’re using a real estate agent, you’ll be advised to make your home ready for showings. That means decluttering and deep cleaning your home. It also means you may have to make some repairs or complete renovations. However, if you are going to sell your house by using a house-buying company or selling directly, you may not have to go through all of that rigamarole. 

Do keep in mind that because the house will be in as-is condition, that will be taken into consideration when someone is making you an offer. If you want to get the most money possible, you could try using a net proceeds calculator to get an estimate of what you could get selling as-is and compare it to what you could get if you made some upgrades and repairs.

2. Avoiding contingencies

Typically when you sell your home with an agent, the buyer can ask their agent to include contingencies to the contract. These contingencies gives the buyer an out in case something goes awry and they need to terminate the transaction. 

The most common contingencies you’d find in a contract include: 

  • Failing a home inspection
  • Financing problems
  • Negative home appraisal
  • Problems with the title
  • They need to sell their home first

For the most part, when you’re selling for cash, you don’t really have to worry about stringent requirements for a home inspection or appraisal. They’ll still be required, but they aren’t likely to make or break the deal.

3. Financial woes be gone

Transactions can be put on hold if the buyer runs into problems getting approved for financing. However, when you’re selling to a company for cash, they already have the funds available and that won’t be an issue that would hold up the sale.

4. Fast and simple sales

From the moment you hire a real estate agent to the moment you’re signing closing papers… There are a lot of things that need to take place. It all takes a long time and the stress could get overwhelming. Yet, when you sell for cash, the sale is quick and painless. In most cases, all you’ll need to do is contact an investor or a “we buy houses for cash” company and ask for some information. They’ll ask for information about the property, do some market research, run the numbers and make an offer. This could take as little as seven days!

5. Beware of scammers

While selling for cash sounds pretty awesome, there are always going to be people who will take advantage of those who are in a tight spot. Because there’s a potential to be taken advantage of, you need to do your research first. You need to make sure you’re working with a reputable company with a good track record and positive reviews. Oh, and a good rule of thumb is if a company asks you to pay a fee upfront, do not do business with them. That’s a big red flag!

Selling your house is a big decision and you need to weigh your options carefully. It’s not uncommon to find people who decide to sell their homes for cash because they need a fast sale and they’re not keen on getting less money from the sale after reading information on an agent’s commission. It’s important to remember that if you don’t need to sell quickly, hiring a real estate agent would probably be in your best interest. Yes, the sale will take longer and you’ll need to do more things to prepare for showings, but in the long run, you could walk away with more money than you expected, thanks to an agent’s hard work. Whatever you decide to do, make sure it feels right to you. Listen to your gut and trust your instincts – they rarely steer you wrong!