Are you thinking about selling your house? You might be approached by a bunch of different people who all offer to help you sell. But not everyone who offers to help will help in the same way. Some are real estate agents, others are real estate investors and they each have unique approaches to helping you. Here are five ways to tell real estate agents and investors apart in Roanoke.
#1 Way To Tell Real Estate Agents And Investors Apart In Roanoke: List Versus Buy
The easiest way to tell agents from investors is to ask what they are going to do with your house – list it or buy it. A real estate agent will list your house on a listing service and have you sign a listing agreement. At this point they’ll try to find a buyer. They will likely need to show it to multiple people in order to get offers and find a buyer.
As investors, JPHomeBuyers, we buy houses in Roanoke. We are not going to list your house – since we are the buyer – we buy your house from you directly. (That’s what we do at JPHomeBuyers – we’re buyers and we buy houses in Roanoke. If you want to sell your house, click here and try our free calculator to find out how much we can pay).
#2 Way To Tell Real Estate Agents And Investors Apart In Roanoke: Timeline To Sell
The next way to tell an agent apart from an investor is to ask about their timeline to buy. An agent won’t know because they have to find the buyer first. In many cases, they might be looking at 3-12 months during which time they’ll show the house to potential buyers.
Since we buy houses as an investor, you will know exactly how long it will take to buy your house since they’re the ones who will buy it. We will have an exact timeline which can be set based on your schedule.
#3 Way To Tell Real Estate Agents And Investors Apart In Roanoke: Commission Versus No Commission
This one is crucial! An agent makes their money when they find a buyer and then you have to pay them a commission on the house (which could be somewhere around 6% of the sale price… or $100,000 sale price minus $6,000 commission = $94,000 net to you).
JPHomeBuyers, however, isn’t listing your house so there aren’t any commissions. That’s because as investors we will make money by either renting the house to a tenant or fixing up the house and selling it… so we make our money in a different way.
#4 Way To Tell Real Estate Agents And Investors Apart In Roanoke: Listing Agreement vs Purchase Contract
We mentioned the listing agreement above but it is worth noting here in more detail. Agents will require a listing agreement to be signed before they list your house, before they market your house, and before they have a buyer. Listing agreements legally bind you and an agent together regarding the sale of your house. You are stuck, even if it turns out you have a bad agent who fails to adequately list, properly market, or find a buyer.
If you want to sell your house fast in Roanoke, signing a purchase contract is the way to go. JPHomeBuyers does not have listing agreements, we only have purchase contracts. Since we are buying your house we do not need to list, market or find buyers. We are the buyer.
#5 Way To Tell Real Estate Agents And Investors Apart In Roanoke: Renovate Your House or Sell As-Is
Agents will normally provide a list of things you can do to your house to make it easier for them to sell your house. This may be as basic as painting or cleaning up the yard, to a complete renovation. A friend was told by an agent they were considering to list their house that they needed to remodel their kitchen and two bathrooms. Their first quote was for over $40,000!
Assuming you’re more interested in selling your house fast in Roanoke than remodelling it, JPHomeBuyers buys houses in any condition. We do not expect you to fix anything. We look for projects and no amount of repairs scares us away.
You should have a much better idea of what your options are now and know at least five ways to verify if your house is a better fit for listing with an agent or selling direct to an investor.
