How does a professional homebuyer change the house-selling process?
The traditional method of listing your property with a real estate agent is tried and true, and there are plenty of incredibly talented agents who work diligently to aid homeowners during the selling process. However, listing your house can often be a long and difficult process. For some homeowners who want to offload properties quickly, it might be easier to consider selling a property without a realtor and without listing. Enter the professional homebuyer, who offers another choice for sellers looking for a quicker solution. Here are four ways that selling your house to a professional homebuyer is different from listing with a real estate agent.
What is a professional homebuyer?
A professional homebuyer, also called a real estate investor, is someone who buys houses as an investment. Different companies and individuals employ many different business models in order to turn profits, such as renting, flipping, or reselling. However, the buying process of real estate investing business are the same: the company makes offers on properties as-is, they pay in cash, and they close with the help of a local attorney.
The main goal of a professional homebuyer is to acquire as many local residential properties as possible, which offers them more opportunity of turning a profit. A good professional homebuyer does not need to have a real estate license, but they do need to be familiar with the local real estate market in order to provide fair offers.
Selling to a Professional Homebuyer vs. Listing with an Agent
There are two main factors that distinguish selling to a professional homebuyer from listing with an agent. Firstly, the steps of professional homebuying companies decrease the amount of time needed to close on your property. Secondly, while you’ll typically receive lower offers than you would from a traditional buyer, homebuyers still make fair market-value offers, and their process eliminates the additional costs of listing a property. Both of these things can have a huge impact on your selling experience in a number of ways.
1. No Repairs or Prep Work
When listing your property with an agent, you have to do a lot of prep work before even putting your house on the market. This includes making minor cosmetic or practical repairs, decluttering and depersonalizing the space, cleaning, taking listing photos, and even investing in major updates. Even after listing, sellers may have to invest in additional repairs before they can close with their buyer.
However, professional homebuyers make offers on houses as-is. This means that the seller doesn’t have to make any repairs on their house. Most homebuyers don’t even need the seller to clean the property, and they close on a “take what you want and leave the rest” basis. This allows the seller to avoid spending time, money, and energy on preparing their property to list.
2. No Showings
When listing with an agent, your property will be subject to multiple showings and open houses with potential buyers. Your agent can arrange the showings, but it will likely be up to you to ensure the property is clean and tidy. If your property says on the market for a long time (52 days is the median amount of time on the market in 2024), it can become stressful to handle that responsibility for several consecutive weeks.
When selling to a professional homebuyer, you only have to worry about one showing with you and the buyer. This showing can be scheduled at your discretion, and you will likely receive an offer within 48 hours after meeting with the buyer, no cleaning or tidying required.
3. Fast Closing
Selling to a professional homebuyer offers a much faster closing that the traditional listing method. First, you have to wait for an offer to roll in. Once you accept an offer, closing on your house can be delayed by a number of issues that are outside of your agent’s control, like inspections and appraisals. It can take up to 3 months to close, depending on banking loans or financing and inspection contingencies. All of this combined makes for a tedious process that a lot of homeowners don’t have the time for.
Professional homebuyers eliminate the hassle of a drawn-out closing. Most homebuying companies operate totally in-house, so they don’t have to wait for inspections or appraisals. After they see the property, they make an offer, and if you accept, you can close on whatever timeline works best for you.
4. Cash Payment
Professional homebuyers are completely different from listing agents in that they are not listing your house, they are actually buying your house. While agents just help you list and market your property, professional homebuyers provide the opportunity for a direct sale made in cash. This means that homeowners don’t have to worry about deals falling through or buyers backing out: the investor makes an cash offer, and if you, the seller, accept it, then you close. Most homebuying companies operate without bank financing, so it’s unlikely that bank loans will delay or stop the sale.
Something to keep in mind is that a good homebuyer will be completely upfront about how they calculate their offers. This is something that you should review after receiving your offer to be sure that you will be getting a fair price.
5. No Commissions or Closing Costs
Another way that selling to a professional homebuyer differs from listing with an agent is that there are no additional commissions when working with an investor. An agent listing your house can require around 6% of the final sale as a commission, whereas a professional homebuyer requires no commission for their services. Also, when listing with an agent, homeowners also pay on average 2% for closing costs, which is something that an professional homebuyer handles in a direct sale. This means that the homeowner avoids additional fees while offloading their property.
Summary
Selling your house by listing with an agent is a great option, but it might not be viable for homeowners looking to offload properties quickly with minimal cost. Selling to a professional homebuyer can help you save time and money if you are looking for a quick and easy closing.
If you’re trying to sell your house and want more information about professional homebuyers and agents to see which option will work best for you, we’ve got you covered. Check out this awesome Forbes article for more information about real estate investors, and here’s a great article about real estate agents, including how to interview an agent if you are considering listing with one.
We Buy Houses In West Georgia is a local homebuying company that makes fair cash offers on properties as-is. No matter your situation, we can help you offload your property as quickly as possible. Our process eliminates the hassle of the traditional home-selling process, allowing you to sell your house and move on, worry-free and with cash in-hand.
If you want to learn more, we invite you to visit our How It Works page. Here, we offer full transparency about our homebuying process, including details about exactly how we calculate our offers. You can also check out Our Company page to get to know our team, our credentials, and our experience. Fill out the form below to get a no-obligation cash offer started now!