Selling a home in today’s market is not like it used to be. For one thing, property values fluctuate. It’s also a buyer’s market, which means sellers are competing with one another. Right off the bat, you’re looking at a longer “days on market” average and other challenges that can send homeowners into a tizzy.

You can understand why staging, showings, and negotiations would frustrate the average person trying to sell their home. So be average no longer. Don’t do DIY.

No longer.

Here are some items to consider when selling a home. While many people think, “I can do this myself!” home pricing is not something to venture into with reckless abandon. One option is to call a local “house buying” company.

We offer only one service for folks trying to sell their home faster, and it’s simple – we pay cash. There’s no complexity about donating that special “house” item. The service “house buying” companies provide is a breakthrough for those struggling with “what to do with this house.” We buy homes from people who no longer want them.

What is a House Buying Company?

A house buying company just does what it says: We buy houses directly from sellers, often for cash. It’s one way to completely bypass the traditional house selling system. If you’re taking a big risk by not going through the traditional route, why would you sell your house to a cash house buyer?

The first reason that makes homebuyers favorable is that they’re able to work on your timeline. If you need to sell your home because you’re moving for work but have exhausted your FSBO chances, working with homebuyers might be a good last resort. They can also offer to buy homes that need so many repairs that they can’t be listed on the open market. This gives the home seller the flexibility to ask for an offer in a matter of days.

Benefits of Using House Buying Companies

Quick house sale companies have a straightforward process that allows anyone to quickly sell their homes. No longer will you need to go through the usual weeks to months of back-and-forth with multiple potential buyers.

These companies are the “Walmart” of the home buying industry, where speed and convenience are the name of the game.

It’s a great advantage for anyone struggling to keep afloat in the middle of a pandemic, where lockdowns have everyone tightening the belt.

Speed and Convenience

A quick house sale company is an efficient method of selling a home because it significantly cuts down on time. These companies provide cash offers that get homeowners their money fast. Instead of waiting for a condo or townhome to sell, you can get an offer in as a little as a few days.

There are plenty of people that don’t record an album or write a book and still sell copies — why not do the same with your house? If you love the idea of those services but can’t stomach the idea of more complicated paperwork, the alternative takes care of the paperwork for you. If you want to cut a middleman out from somewhere, the title company might just be a good place to start.

Fair Cash Offers

Also known as property buying companies, these firms work by cutting out most of the long-winded home-selling process from the get-go. With a cash offer, they assess the property you are selling using a tried and tested automated model. Combining market analysis, the property’s location, and an evaluation of the property’s current condition, they can create a cash quote that reflects its value.

Homebuying companies are honest, clear, and open about this. Great firms will sit and map out the entire costing process with you in as much detail as you would like. It is always important when getting a cash offer to have sellers tell you how much their average offer is. Stick with companies that have a good rating with the BBB but are also upfront with fees and costs—chances are, this attitude will continue throughout the entire business-consumer relationship!

No Hidden Fees

Real estate agents typically get a big fat commission, usually 5-6% of your home’s sale price. Then there might also be closing costs to worry about. Closing costs are just an umbrella term for a bunch of fees: title insurance fees, appraisal fees, notary fees, attorney fees, and home inspection fees. Your profit is obviously getting smaller and smaller with each new little fee.

Luckily, we buy houses companies, for the most part, don’t operate with a real estate agent, so there won’t be any annoying costs there. And there certainly won’t be any cash commissions to pay up. Because how these companies work is quite simple; you give them your house, and they give you the cash. So you’ll receive a cash-offer for what the home is estimated to be worth, allowing you to pocket an enormous portion of your home’s actual value.

How to Choose the Best House Buying Company

Doing your due diligence to research the best house buying companies is essential. By choosing a reputable company, you set yourself up to get good offers, deal with clear processes, and have someone on your side you know you can look to for help if need be. In effect, you set yourself up for a potentially hassle-free experience. As with any research, make sure to look up reviews. Real estate investors are no different. Try to understand their reputation online before working with them (if you do at all).

Read their reviews. Google reviews are fantastic. The same is true with websites such as Yelp. Other platforms you might like more could include various real estate forums. Regardless of your platform of choice, make sure you read both the positive testimonials and negative testimonials. They both carry valuable information. Also, try your best to take a “macro” approach to assessing the reviews. In other words, you should try to get a general reading of the company’s predicted performance over time. Are most reviews positive? Or do you see a good portion of negative reviews? At the end of the day, performing rigorous reviews will help you significantly in the long run. Why? Because doing so will allow you to avoid problems initially with “bad apple” companies (i.e., those who scam) and will allow you to choose companies to engage with that are known for being the best.

Research and Reviews

Looking up the best house buying companies is a good idea, and looking for a company with a strong reputation is incredibly important. A reputable company will be able to provide a much more reliable service that will include fair offers, transparent practices, and tension-free customer support.

Take the time researching a reputable company to ensure your overall service is much more likely to be satisfactory, and therefore, it’s extremely important that remain diligent through your search. One scam can result in thousands of pounds lost, so never underestimate the tension and stress that comes with hidden fees.

Of course, reading reviews and testimonials is relatively straight forward, so consider looking at a company’s reputation as a marker for the quality of service. Check for mentions of communication, adverse business tactics, or even professional dissatisfaction, for example, and always lean to the side of caution, especially when these claims begin to feel consistent across more than a handful of negative reviews.

Compare Offers

Don’t just reach out to one buying company—get multiple offers. This strategy allows you to understand the actual value of your house based on several professional valuations. It also pitches house-buying companies against one another, which will benefit you financially. Additionally, obtaining multiple offers allows you to compare the sale price to the terms of the deal, which may have much better or worse terms, depending on what you are looking for.

When contemplating this list of offers, try not to focus solely on the sale price. Rather, think about the contingencies, the closing timeframes, and the fees associated with each deal to assess which one will be your favorite. Understand the business nature and the credibility of the cash-buying companies, too. Keep these factors in your mind to perform a useful analysis and figure out what route offers the most profit.

Check Credentials

Selling a home? Be sure to check the legitimacy of house buying companies. Some might try to sucker you in with tantalizing “we buy houses for cash” offers, but not all operate on the right side of the law. Make sure you look into things before you submit your information. You might just be either A) shocked by the results, or B) thankful that you took my advice.

Check to see if they’re licensed to buy homes in your state; the House Heroes Team and I most certainly are — right here in Florida. The average cash home buyer is not actually “registered” to buy homes. Sure, virtually anyone can flip real estate if they know the right people (and have the right language in the paperwork they use), as wholesaling has shown us. But those “Joe The Plumber” types are exactly who you have to watch out for if you’re not careful.

Read customer reviews. Make sure the company you’re contacting to potentially sell your house to has a good business history. If it has too much of a “dark past,” don’t bother explaining anything to him (or her). You might as well not waste your time.

Make sure your ass is covered every time you send out information through a contact form. Even something as simple as an email.

Top House Buying Companies to Consider

There are several house buying companies that I think have interesting unique selling points. Here are some things I’ve learned:

• Opendoor. They want to make it easy for you to find out how much you can sell your home for. You can get an instant offer on your home. If you decide to sell to them, then, you don’t have to deal with any of the typical house showing headaches. (Although they will require a separate home assessment before finalizing the purchase). Who is this for? If you value efficiency and you’re on top of your technology game, then using sites like Opendoor might be an exciting idea. You conduct the transaction online, making this an appealing option if you enjoy using technology like some of us do.
• Offerpad. They give a nice, custom approach to the process. They give you your own personal contact for support. You can also choose your own closing date. They’re very upfront about the fees. Who is this for? There’s a nice commitment to transparency, which is a nice selling point in this space.
• Zillow Offers. They also use an expert real estate agent, as well as Zillow’s lovely big data set to make their assessments about the valuation of your home. They figure integration with their home browsing platform is a seamless feature. (If you like to use Zillow, they can make you an offer.)

Overview of Leading Firms

House buying companies each have their own unique selling points. For instance, Opendoor has digitized the process of selling a home—you can receive an offer on your property instantly online. This eliminates the process of traditional showings and minimizes the amount of negotiating with buyers. Their platform is meant to be user-friendly and appeal to a tech-savvy seller.

Offerpad, on the other hand, differentiates themselves with their flexible close. If you sell to them, you’re able to move out on your own timeline. Their personalized customer service is top-notch and will make you feel like you aren’t alone in the home-selling process.

Zillow Offers uses their well-known, brand-name home database to their advantage. The ability to make competitive offers to sellers allows them to meet most sellers where they’re comfortable. Many people have heard of Zillow and would likely trust selling to them.

What Sets Them Apart?

Customer service is a defining trait for many successful companies. In fact, most of their recurring fan base remains loyal because they know that their voice will be heard. Having that on-demand robo-email that pops up in your customer’s inboxes is quite alright. Good customer service can come in many different forms. Some people define good customer service as being personable–not just one of those one-size-fits-all type of customer responses.

Gotta-Go-Go-Go! Speed is the name of the game, no one plays the price-shopping-game anymore. If the company that you are buying from does not help you to seal the deal, onto the next company’s site–at lightning speed! Most people (myself included) nearly always only check the price before I purchase something after-the-fact; after I have built a strong, established preference for the product offering itself and not based on the price.

If you subscribe to the “time is money” theory, one less tangible benefit to consider is that a house buying company can significantly take (what some consider being) the headache out of selling your home. It will be a very short list of things you need to personally handle during the life of your “pre-sell” contract. Here are a few examples:

visits/contacts from prospective buyers legal negotiations waiting, waiting, waiting, “I need it yesterday” prep work that agents always want, etc.