Selling a house is an exciting time with lots of emotions. You are busy keeping it clean for showings, dealing with multiple realtors and having to go through intense negations only to find many deals falling through. Once you get a qualified buyer, there is a lengthy process as they seek financing and get appraisals, which drags on. What about selling your home for cash?
A cash offer clears most standard hurdles and removes the middleman, so the process happens quickly. This makes a lot of sense for people putting offers on their next home and wanting to start their new living arrangements faster.
Here is the process for selling a house for cash.
1. Get a Home Appraisal
To sell your home, you need to know what it’s worth. Everyone, from new home buyers to investment buyers, wants to pay as little as possible, and if you don’t know your home’s real value, you could end up leaving money on the table.
Most realtors will give you a free appraisal to get the listing. There is nothing wrong with getting them to do it and not committing to them because you may end up using their services if you can’t find a cash buyer. Alternatively, you can pay for a professional appraiser to come in and assess your property’s worth.
2. Decide on Your Price
The price a home sells for is dictated by many factors, including:
- Comparable home prices in the neighbourhood
- Strength of the market
- Condition of the property
- Mortgage rates
- Motivation of the seller and buyer
- Strength of the offer
Ideally, your home should be in great shape, and you are not desperate to sell in the next week so you can command the highest and most realistic price for your home. Remember, a cash sale will usually be lower than an offer with a mortgage. Cash sales are strong because they can close fast without getting financing, so you should also factor that into your price.
3. Find Cash Offers
Cash offers are more common than you think, but you must put the word out to get them. This means telling your realtor that you only want a cash offer. This will dramatically lower the buying pool but qualify the right buyers for you to tour your property. A realtor typically knows these buyers who focus on cash sales. They help you find people or companies that buy houses for cash.
You can also contact an investment company that specializes in cash sales. There are quite a few, so speak with several and find a good fit for someone you want to work with. You may be speaking to a company that flips homes needing repair, and they do all the renovations to sell for a profit. Others have a network of cash buyers and match them to your property.
Some investors are building their real estate portfolio for rentals and have the cash to buy homes fast. Whatever path you choose, you need to attract cash buyers to make an offer on your place.
4. Evaluate Any Offers
When you bring in cash buyers, you will usually get multiple offers. They are in the business of buying a home, and unless your place is a really bad investment, you will get an offer for it. You may not like the offer, but this is where you need to take stock of your ultimate goal.
Evaluate the offer based on the following:
- If it is legitimate
- There are favourable terms
- The current condition of your home
- Your motivation to get the home sold
Match up any offers with the assessment you got from your realtor and see where it lands. Then, consider the standard selling process and decide what is best for you. Remember, you have a cash offer on the table, or maybe several, and it is a bird in the hand.
5. Make a Decision
Professional investment companies and cash buyers are fast movers. When they give you an offer, you need to decide fairly quickly before they move on to the next place. While some companies buy multiple homes and have a bigger well to draw from, others are looking to buy one home, and if you take too long, they will spend their limited funds on another place.
Once you commit to an offer, be happy about it. No one gets exactly what they want when selling a house; the same is true for a buyer. There may be a home inspection and title search, but these are the only hurdles to jump before the sale can be completed. If you both are satisfied with the final price, sign the papers and move forward with your life.
This is the process of selling a home for cash. Life is short, and a cash buyer is your best option if you want to sell your home fast. A professional will take care of you and have money in hand quickly. Then, you can pursue your next adventure wherever it takes you.
