Selling Your Minnesota Home: Investor vs. Real Estate Agent Selling a home can be a hassle under the best of circumstances, even in today’s seller’s market. But when you need to get out from under a home quickly, working with a real estate agent can complicate the process even further. One popular alternative to selling a home with a real estate agent is working directly with a cash home buyer. But is selling your home to an investor the right move for you? In this blog post from Bill Buys Houses in Minnesota, we’re breaking down everything you need to know about selling your home to an agent or an investor. To learn more about our cash home buyer sales, give us a call today. Who Are the Cash Home Buyers, Anyway? Cash home buyers are investors that specialize in cash real estate deals. Their goal is to provide sellers with a fast and easy way to move their property regardless of any issues with the home. In return for purchasing the house at a great price, they agree to take on some of those difficult issues the home buyer doesn’t have time or energy to deal with. After completing the purchase, they’ll resolve any problems with the property and handle any other challenges that might have otherwise slowed down the sale process. These are just a few things you DON’T have to worry about when you sell your home to a cash investor: ● Staging the home ● Preparing the home for sale ● Showing the home ● Working with a lengthy closing timeline ● Waiting for the buyer’s loan to get approved ● Having the sale fall through ● Paying a real estate agent Reasons to Sell Your House to a Cash Home Buyer There’s really no single reason why people decide to work with a cash home buyer, and selling to a cash investor doesn’t necessarily mean it’s not a perfectly fine home. The truth is that many different life circumstances could make working with a real estate agent too prohibitive or challenging for a seller. No matter your reason for selling a home, working with a cash buyer will make it happen faster. These are just a few reasons sellers may choose to sell to an investor. Inherited Home When you’ve inherited a home from someone unexpectedly, you may rather have cash than a real estate investment. There can be extra stress added on to an inherited home situation, like tax law and real estate sales. If you’re not looking to keep the home in the family, selling it for cash can get the home off your plate, and you can avoid extra stress during a difficult time. Low Appraisal If you’re concerned about a low appraisal causing a hitch in the listing process, try working with an investor instead of an agent. A low appraisal can interfere with your sale through conventional methods. A bank won’t lend as much money to purchase a home with a low appraisal, which can put the seller and buyer in a difficult situation. Avoid this situation by selling for cash. Less Risk If you’ve had an offer fall through in the past, you don’t want to risk it again. Like the previous reason, selling your home comes with risk. If you’re concerned about a sale falling through, you can sell for cash. It’s unlikely that selling your home for cash will fall through like a conventional real estate sale. Sell As Is What happens when you don’t have the financial means or time to make significant repairs or improvements to the property? You can sell the property “as is.” Selling your home “as is” means that any work that should be done or needs to be done can be put off. You won’t have to deal with that extra cost by choosing this route. Moving NOW Maybe you’re selling your home to relocate for work or school in the next 60 days. The conventional real estate process can take longer than 60 days, depending on many different factors. Selling your home for cash can take a few days. Then you have a lump sum of money to put down on a new home in your new location. Cash Payment Another reason to sell for cash is when you could use the cash for a purchase you want to make. This could mean a new home, a plot of land, or anything, really. Debt or Foreclosure If you’re facing foreclosure or struggling with debt, selling your home for cash can help you get out of debt and avoid foreclosure. Bankruptcy can hit your credit and last for a long time, which makes future purchases even more difficult. Selling for cash can get you out of that difficult situation without your credit taking a hit. Fast Sale When you’re going through a life transition, such as divorce, you may need to sell your old home as fast as possible. If neither party wants to keep the house, selling it for cash can make divorce easier. Both of you get the money you deserve from the home. Benefits of Selling Your Home to an Investor Selling a house quickly is the main benefit of working with a cash home buyer. Whereas a traditional home sale can take a few weeks to a year or longer, a cash investor can get you cash in as little as a week. But that’s just one of many reasons many sellers choose to work with an investor. Here are a few more! Selling for Cash is Faster If you’re concerned about the length of time or the current market, selling your home for cash is much faster. The local housing market, the economy, the condition of the home, and the time of year can all affect how quickly a real estate sale takes. Plus, if you haven’t had a showing in a while or no one is moving forward with providing an offer, then that could be a sign that your home isn’t going to sell quickly. If you don’t have time to wait around, then sell your home for cash. No Pressure to Show Your Home Living in your home while it’s on the market is an unavoidable fact of life for many sellers. If you need to complete home repairs or remodeling during the sale process, you’ll end up living with dust and chaos at some point. Even if you don’t have to do anything to get your home ready to sell, you’ll have to stage it and keep it ready to show at all times. That can mean having to keep some of your belongings in storage, keeping your home super clean, and dealing with strangers in your home and disruptions to your life. With a cash home buyer, you don’t have to worry about staging your home or working on curb appeal. You don’t even have to move your belongings until after the sale is complete. Fewer Expenses While it’s true that you’ll get a much lower offer when you sell your home to an investor than you would if you’re selling it with an agent, in some cases, you may still end up financially ahead. This isn’t true with every home, but if your home needs significant work to be ready to show and improvements won’t give you a hefty profit, you may be better off selling it outright. Selling your home the conventional way also means that your real estate agent gets a cut of the profits. The average rate of realtor’s commission in Minnesota is 5.48% of your home’s sale price. So a home that sells for $350,000 means your realtor gets $19,000. This is due to the paperwork and work that goes into selling a home. Selling the home yourself is always possible, but that can be just as stressful. Selling for cash is much simpler, and no one is taking a cut of your profits. Guaranteed Sale One of the best things about working with a cash home buyer is the guarantee that the sale will go through. You’ll never have to worry about accepting an offer on a home only to have a problem with the buyer’s loan jam up the sale after investing all of your time and energy into the deal. With a cash investor, you’ll receive an offer on your home no matter what condition and walk away with cash so you can move on to better things. Why Choose Bill Buys Houses to Sell Your Home? At Bill Buys Houses, we separate ourselves from the others because we’re local home buyers in Minnesota, not an investment firm. That means you can meet us face to face rather than talking to someone over the phone. We’ll physically look at your home to give you the fairest price possible. Plus, selling to a local buyer means the home stays within the local community rather than ending up as an Airbnb or part of an investment company’s inventory of homes. Bill Buys Houses also has many years of experience working with sellers who need cash right away. We don’t care about your personal situation because we’ll buy houses that are in the middle of many of life’s difficult situations. We’re compassionate and understanding—there’s no situation we haven’t seen. If you’ve found yourself in a money pit, Bill Buys Houses can give you a lifeline out of it. Our process is also very straightforward, and you’ll be informed every step of the way. No secrets. We’ll provide you with an estimate for the house, and you’ll get your money in a few days. There are no realtor fees, and you get your cash right away. Sell Your Minnesota Home Today! Are you stuck with an inherited home that’s turning out to be more of a headache than it’s worth? Have you been waiting for someone to make an offer on a home you listed ages ago, and you’ve still received no bites? Whether your house is run-down, ugly, or even haunted, we’ll give you an offer fast at Bill Buys Houses! Call our investors at 651-270-9191 or visit us online to get a cash offer and sell your home fast. You’ll be glad you did!