If you’re looking to move quickly, it can be tempting to consider the cash offer companies that operate in states like Colorado. When these companies are serious about their offers, they are well worth considering, but it’s valuable to make sure you know what you want from the sale before you choose them.
Home selling can feel like a huge amount of work, but when we compare how much most of us make per hour working a standard job with the amount we can make putting in a few hours on a home sale, often the ‘hourly’ rate for a little extra work may be in your best interest. Understanding what home appraisers look for in the house is also crucial in the process.
On the other hand, selling a home often occurs during a seriously busy season when we’re adjusting to a new place to live and new work, making every hour you can free up precious. Here are some considerations to help you decide between selling your home with a real estate agent and selling it for cash.
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Pros of Selling Your House for Cash
The biggest advantages of selling your house for cash involve lowering the amount of time and effort you need to put in: in general, a house buying company is going to know their terms, offer you a clear contract, and proceed quickly.
You won’t have to worry that the financing is up in the air, and you won’t have to show your house – they often can make an offer with minimal effort at cleaning up or staging. They come to this business knowing that their main advantage is their convenience for sellers, so it will be a top priority to make the process seamless for you.
Many times, these companies will approach you before you’ve even listed a property, but if you check with them before you work with an agent, you’ll often get a good “floor” for what you can make selling your home through a quote from these companies.
Cons of Selling Your House for Cash
Generally, selling your house to a buy-for-cash company is not going to net you as much money as selling it through an agent, and a good agent will take on a lot of the work of making the home ready for a top-dollar sale. Agents want to earn their percentage but also boost your own return, and in the case of top-selling agents, they accomplish this goal over and over.
One of the ways they do this is by understanding the buying market: there are a variety of people to whom your home could appeal, and a great agent will help you put in the necessary fixes and cosmetic improvements to yield an offer that offers great ROI on your work. They understand which additions aren’t adding much value in your area and won’t suggest expensive projects just to chase that one buyer who particularly wants a swimming pool; they’re focused on selling the home you already have and removing any red flags so that a wide variety of buyers will get interested.
As a result, the small amount of effort and money you put in to sell with an agent is likely to yield more resulting cash than if you sell for cash to a buyer who approaches you first or doesn’t want the home to go on the market at market value.
