If you are looking to sell your house you will quickly see that there are several ways to do it. The two most common things you can do are to sell your house on the market. That is, list it with an agent and use the agents time and resources. Get your house in front of as many qualified buyers as possible.
The second way is to sell your house directly to a company or individual that invests in properties like yours. These are people in the real estate business looking to turn your house into a rental property. Or they want to fix it up and sell it on as a profit.
Choosing one route over another might seem a little confusing at first. After all, all you want to do is to sell your house. Do you really care who buys it?
Each of these routes can be a very different experience. They have outcomes that may or not be beneficial to your current situation. So let’s take a look at the pros and cons of each.
Selling your house on the market with an agent
Listing your house on the real estate market is the traditional way to market and sell your house. If you want to get the absolute top dollar sales price for your house, then there is no doubt that going the traditional route is your best option.
Listing your house on the market means that your house will get a lot more attention and traffic and the more potential buyers that see your house, the greater your chances of getting a better price for your home.
You will also get the benefit of an agent’s resources, contacts and experience. Good agents will steer people to your property that they see as a good match, further increasing the chances of a favorable sale, and your agent will help to guide you through the labyrinth of paperwork and decisions you will have to take care of throughout the sales process.
Selling your house off market directly to an investor
Sometimes getting every penny you can from the sale of a property is not the most important thing. Sure, you want the bet price you can get but maybe there are other things influencing this home sale. Selling your home directly to an investor for cash can give you more options as well as make the sales process work better for you.
Privacy
Whereas listing with an agent will get you a lot more traffic for your house and this increases the chance of a better sales price. But, maybe that’s not something you are looking for.
Having a constant stream of people coming through your house may not suit your current situation. Maybe you value your privacy or maybe you are a bit embarrassed about the condition of the house you are selling. Maybe you just don’t want to advertise with a sign in your yard as an invitation for every curious passer-by to com poke their head into your house.
Keeping your business private is a valid reason to go off market to sell your house.
Realtors
Often, working with a realtor and listing your property on market can make a difficult process much harder than it needs to be. There are a great many good realtors out there but there is also a significant number of them that give the rest a bad name.
You will be working on the realtors schedule and if they don’t have your back then you could be in for a rough time. A realtor that does not return your calls or sells your house according to their procedures and not your personal situation can be a nightmare to work with.
If you are working directly with an investor you’re talking to the buyer. There is no go between so you have first hand information without it being filtered through a third party.
An investor is also motivated to buy your house as quickly as possible, so they will be a lot more flexible when it comes to your time table.
Speed
In the current housing market it can take months to close on a house even after the buyer agrees to the purchase. You are dealing with not only the home buyer, but the agent, the agents broker, and the closing attorney.
Any one of these choke points could delay the ultimate sale of your house. With each delay in closing on a property there are more chances there are for the deal to fall through, and now you have to start the entire process again from the start.
The entire time you are waiting for the sale to go through you could still be paying for the utilities and upkeep on the property. Those months of delay could cost you a lot of money.
Investors usually move fast. They have the financial set up and relationships with closing attorneys that let them close on a property in somewhere between two weeks and thirty days.
Selling as-is
If you want to sell on market then you are going to have to put in effort. Lets face it, none of us keep our houses in pristine condition. Lots of little things go undone over the years and you eventually get used to them.
Unfortunately, a buyer is looking at your house with fresh eyes. All those little “nothings” will stand out and ultimately effect the time it will take to sell it.
If you have inherited this home from someone that has lived in it even longer than the problems can multiply.
If the buyer loves the home, they may not be able to get the financing they need to purchase it. Most types of home loans can be denied if the banks don’t see the house fit. If you want to attract a great price be prepared to offer time and money.
If you can’t see yourself doing the rehab, the only people that can justify purchasing your house just as it is are the real estate investors.
One thing to remember is that someone buying your home to live in it is not profit motivated. Whereas, an investor is. This means that they have to make money between buying it from your and selling it on or renting it out, so there could be a significant gap between the price you could get for your house, retail and what an investor is willing to pay.
There are other differences to consider between these two types of home sale. I covered some of the high level ones here. As always, do your research and be clear about your priorities.
If you want the best price and someone to be beside you during a long sales process then you might want to go the conventional route by listing your home with the help of an agent. If you just want to move the property without investing more time and money into it. And are willing to take a lower price maybe look for a reputable real estate investor in your area.