Should I Sell To An Investor Or List My House With a Realtor?
Hi! This is Eric Sztanyo from WeBuyNKYHouses.com where we buy houses for cash. And I am here today in Independence, Kentucky and I’m about to put this house up on the market.
And so a lot of times when we have sellers who need to sell their home quick, give us a call, they’re asking the same question, which is, “Should I list my house with a realtor or should I sell my house for cash to an investor?” And that’s a great question to ask and there may be multiple factors to consider there.
Advantages and Disadvantages of Selling Your House to an Investor for Cash
The advantages of selling a house for cash to an investor is that you don’t have to do anything to the house. You’re going to get a quick closing and you can just be done with it and walk away. Now the downside to a cash offer usually is you’re going to get a little bit less money. You’ve got to take a discount for the property because the investor wants to make some money if they fix up the house and resell it. So there’s got to be a little bit of margin there for them to get the house.
Advantages and Disadvantages of Listing Your House with a Realtor
Now the other consideration is, well, what if I list my house on the market with a Realtor? Well, now I’ve got to pay the real estate agent fee. However, if you can sell it to an owner occupant as opposed to an investor, they might want a little bit of force equity in the property, but they might not want as much as an investor might want who’s flipping it and looking for profit. So, usually what’s going to happen is if you put your house on the market, it’s going to take longer for sure, because you’ve got to get the house a little bit more ready. And then once you put it up on the market, you’ve got to find a buyer as opposed to having that cash buyer right there for you.
Now, those are both points to consider, but the third point to consider is you can usually put it on the market for a higher price than the offer you’re going to get from a cash investor.
Working with a Cash Buyer who is also a Realtor
So here I’m at Independence, Kentucky and that’s one of the things we’re doing with this house. So I don’t know if you can see this right behind me. One of the things that’s a unique advantage of working with We Buy NKY Houses is I, Eric Sztanyo, I’m also a Realtor with Keller Williams, so oftentimes what I will do, (I’ve got to switch hands here. My hand’s getting tired.)
What I’ll do when I come out and talk to a seller is say, “Hey look, here’s what the cash offer is. Here’s the numbers,” and I’m always upfront with the numbers saying like, “Here’s what I think the repairs will cost or the updates needed. Here’s our fixed costs while we’re holding and flipping the property and here’s the profit we want to make,” and we just kind of… it’s just a simple math problem, “and here’s the offer we can give you.” For some people they’re like, “Great, I don’t want this anymore. That would be awesome if I can close in two weeks, then yes, I will definitely take that cash offer.”
For other people when you… Then the other thing I do is show them the numbers. Okay, let’s look at the comps of other homes that have sold around you. Let’s get a good idea of the condition of your home compared to these other homes that have sold. And let’s say we sold it for X amount price and it’s going to be that much higher than the cash offer. And then I’ll bring a net sheet and show you, if you still back out the agent’s fees and the closing costs and the taxes you’re going to pay, here’s what you might net.
Now that might be, who knows, that could be 10, 15, 20 grand more. It just depends on the house and the neighborhood and things like that. But it’s generally going to be more than the cash offer you’re going to get. And so you’re losing out on the convenience and the speed. You’re losing out on those two things, but you might be gaining thousands more dollars net at the end of the day once you bring a buyer to the property.
Choose the Best Option for Your Situation and Work with Someone who has Your Best Interests in Mind
So those are things to consider. Those are things we talk through with you. Not all home buyers are going to do that. But as a realtor, we want what’s best for our sellers. And for some people that is going to be the cash offer. For others that might be, “Hey, you know what, why don’t we fix up a few things? Why don’t we clean it up?” And in the case of this home right here, they were able to paint it, which is great. It’s going to show well. And I have no doubt that this home is going to sell right away on the open market and end up netting the seller a lot more money than if they had just sold it as a cash buyer, which is how they originally contacted us.
So we want to help people no matter what, whatever choice you guys make, and that could be different choices, but check us out, check out our reviews, check out our testimonials, check out our about page. We’re a local cash investor. We live here in Northern Kentucky. I’ve lived in Anderson Township for eight years as well, so I’m an equal opportunity, a realtor and a cash home buyer. We buy in both Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky. Hope you guys have a great day and we will talk to you later.
Call Us to Learn About Your Options
At We Buy NKY Houses, we buy houses for cash in the Greater Cincinnati area, but Eric is also a Realtor at Keller Williams Advisors Realty. So, when we come and meet with you, we can run the numbers and give you the option of selling the home fast for cash, or listing the home on the local MLS. We will bring information on recent local sales (comps) and show you how the math works out for either situation.
No matter what, you won’t get any pressure from us. We will offer you a no-obligation, cash offer. We will also create a net sheet for you, so you know what you might make after putting it on the market, even after paying a commission to a real estate agent.