It’s a seller’s market, which means you don’t need to have a plan to get your home sold quickly and for the most money, right? WRONG! Selling your home requires time and a working strategy to maximize your returns. This has never been truer than in the current market. You hopefully know that doing things like cleaning, painting, and removing clutter is necessary before listing your home for sale. However, want to know what the first thing every homeowner should do before selling in today’s market? This may surprise you – the first thing you should do is get a cash offer from an iBuyer.
Not sure what an iBuyer is? That’s okay! It’s a relatively new way of buying and selling real estate.
Let’s discuss what an iBuyer is and how the process works.
What Is An iBuyer?
iBuyer stands for “instant” buyer. However, to better understand what an iBuyer is, think of the “I” as “Institutional” Buyer. These companies buy and sell homes quickly. Most of them can make a cash offer on your house in as quickly as 24-72 hours. The closing process can happen faster or slower depending on your timeline. Some iBuyers will also allow you to rent the house back from them, so you have an easier time purchasing your next home and only have to move once.
Working with an iBuyer is mostly about convenience and certainty, not about getting the highest price for your home. It can be an attractive option since you would not have to set up showings or open houses and have people coming through your home all day long. That sounds kind of tempting – some sellers are reporting over 50 showings in the first couple of days on the market! You will also have a set price and know how much you will walk away from closing right away. That can help with making future plans.
How Does The Process Work?
iBuyers like Opendoor and Offerpad make the selling process easy and convenient by doing all of the work online. You’ll submit information about your home through their website. They will want to know how many bedrooms, bathrooms, upgrades, special features, and so forth your home has. The company will look over your information, compare it to other similar homes, and determine the value of your home. They will also estimate how much repair work will be needed on the home and factor that into their value. Once they have figured that out, they will send you an offer.
If you accept their offer, they will send someone out to physically inspect the home. If everything is as they thought it would be, they’ll move forward, and you can close in a matter of days. If they find that they overvalued the home, they may ask to reduce the price or walk away and cancel the transaction.
Should I Accept Their Offer?
Since we are in a red hot seller’s market, accepting the first offer you receive may not be the best plan of action. There are many iBuyers, just like there are many traditional buyers in the market. One thing to remember about iBuyers is they are a business, and they are buying your house to make a profit. They are, in most cases, glorified flippers and just like other buyers in the market, it is folly to simply allow one person the chance to buy your home and exclude all other buyers. The way to get the most money for your property is to have people bid on the property. That means submitting your home to many of the iBuyers and negotiating the best offer possible, not simply the highest offer.
If the cash offer you receive from an iBuyer is too good to pass up, make sure you look at the fees they are charging. Many iBuyers have an excessive amount of fees which will take away from the amount of money that gets deposited into your bank account.
Thinking About Selling Your Home?
If you’re thinking about selling your home, I am here to help! I’ll show you how to make the most money with the fewest headaches. We have connections with iBuyers that are not available to the general public as well as all the iBuyers you have heard of. My clients receive much higher offers and lower fees when they work with me and I submit their homes to the iBuyers. For one, you are armed with the information you need to fully value your home, second, you have an option to immediately list the home if the iBuyers do not give their best offer and that causes them to act faster and with higher offers and lower fees because you are not solely dependent on them. Give me a call so we can put together a game plan together, I will show you all your options and you can then choose what you believe is best for your unique situation.