Why might a homeowner consider a company that buys houses?
A homeowner might consider a company that buys houses for convenience, flexibility and speed. The convenience is that the house buying company will be the actual cash buyer of the house, meaning you won’t need an agent to show your house to multiple potential buyers to eventually find the end buyer. House buying companies offer greater flexibility because they buy the house in its current condition, you won’t have to do any repairs, or even cleaning. Finally, house buying companies can work on your timeline, you can sell your house fast, typically within a week, or you can sell on your own timeline, like in 3 months, and the house buying company can accommodate to that closing date.
How do homebuying companies work?
Home buying companies buy and re-sell houses for a profit. The most common example is the “fix and flip” concept where a company buys a house that needs repairs, the house is renovated and then re-sold on the market for a profit.
How is the process different from traditional home-selling?
The process differs from traditional home selling because there are no real estate agents required to look for the end buyer, you are selling directly to the end buyer, which is the company. With traditional home selling, you have to wait for the end buyer to get approved for a bank loan to purchase the house. The bank has strict requirements that the house must meet during inspection before it provides the money. This can cause the financing to fall through and causes the process to search for an end buyer to start over. The house buying company is the end buyer, and they use their funds to purchase the property on your timeline, and as soon as the title commitment clears, which is no more than a week. A house buying company buys houses in the as-is condition, and there are no inspections required.
What are the risks and what should you watch out for if you sell your house to a company?
The risks, if selling to a non-reputable company, include failure to close on the transaction due to not having adequate funds. This can be a waste of time for you, but to avoid this, make sure to research the company to verify that it’s a credible house buying company. Another thing to watch out for is the contracts used for the transaction, verify that they are using state regulated contracts. For example, in Texas, the Texas Real Estate Commission provides contracts for basically all real estate transactions which have most of the laws and regulations pre-written in the contract.
We buy houses in Houston TX in any condition or time frame. If you need to sell your house in Baytown, we can help as well because we also work in many of the surrounding Houston areas. We are local home buyers in Houston that offer cash for houses and can give you a fast, free offer to see if selling to us is right for you.
