How to Sell my House that needs
Repairs in Louisville KY
Numerous
years ago, I bought a house in Louisville with no knowledge of what I was
doing. To me it was simple. Call a realtor, tell him what I wanted, and do as I
am told. Not realizing for years of all the mistakes made along the way. Now it
is time for me to sell my starter home and move on to the next step of my life.
A journey that I was unknowingly going to learn more about the buy and sell
process than ever expected. So, let us talk about what I learned, so that you do
not have to go through the painful learning curve that I did.
Typical process of selling a home in Louisville KY
What’s the easier way to sell my home in Louisville?
How to find a Cash Buyer in Louisville
The process
of selling your home in Louisville can be a long and stressful situation. Not
knowing the steps involved only adds more uncertainty and worry during every
step of the way. So, in this article, we will go over the typical steps
involved in selling your home and the alternative steps recommended to save
hassle, time, and money from fees.
Typical process of selling a home in
Louisville KY
When I say
the typical process, keep in mind what I mean. The typical process is to go
with what you are told and do what you are told. Typically to sell your house,
most people would just type some to the regards of ‘How to sell my house’ into
to google and click on the first link that was not a paid link. After the paid
ads comes up a seven step ‘quick’ guide to sell your home. The not so
surprising first step is to call and real estate agent or a realtor. This is
the most common solution to the problem. Realtors are quick to get your home
under contract and start a process. So, you must wonder what makes them so
happy to help. Well, the money, duh!
First the
realtor will talk to you in such a way to build a relationship and pretend to
not have the focus primarily on the property. Once a solid relationship is
built between this realtor and yourself, they will offer a contract to begin
the selling process. This contract gives them the legal right to represent you regarding
selling your property. This includes things like dealing with all the
communication of incoming potential buyers, any negotiations, and taking the
property to closing with your approval.
Now that
your home is under contract with a real estate agent, the long process can
begin. The real estate agent will take a variety of pictures and ask a
multitude of questions regarding the property. Things like: How old is the
roof, furnace, and AC unit? When was it built?, Approximate square footage of
the household?, or About how much do you want to list it on the market for?.
After what feels like an interrogation about a house, the agent will list your
home on the MLS and any other online site to make sure everyone knows that it
is for sale.
Then you and
your house wait…. And wait…. And wait. It could range from a couple days to a
year or more before you find a buyer that wants to buy your property. So, the
buyer comes over and takes a look around. He/she will attempt to picture what
it is like to live in your home. They will ask more questions that are remarkably
similar to what your real estate agent likely already including online, as well
as many more that the realtor did not think needed to be asked. They will ask
about the neighborhood. They will ask about the average utility cost. When the
trash picks up. Any issues you may have had or seen nearby regarding crime. In
the moment, you want to be honest about every little detail but at the same
time part of you knows that your omission of certain details may help you sell
this place that much faster.
Buyer after
buyer will come buy and waste your time. Until one buyer will finally get
serious and say, “I want to buy your house!”. It is the most beautiful music
your ears have ever heard. You want to run up and hug them for making this
situation so easy and simple. The realtor steps in to make sure the price is
negotiated in your favor. Afterall, the more you sell the property for, the
more the agent will make. The buyer signs a contract to make sure he/she has
the rights to buy the property and no one else does.
This
contract typically will also give the buyer a right to have ten days for an
inspection period. The buyer knows he is no specialist when it comes to the
condition of the indoors and outdoors of a house. This is a noticeably big purchase,
and he/she cannot take any chances. The buyer will call the best inspector
he/she can find. The inspector will come to your house and go over every square
inch with a magnifying glass. The inspector will verify the square footage. The
foundation will be checked and inspected for cracks, erosion, or any damage.
The roof will be scaled to check for any wind damage, hail damage, or any
reason it should leak or need to be repaired or replaced any time soon. The AC
unit and furnace will be tested and inspected. Water lines and sewage will be
followed and inspected. The inspector will crawl underneath your house, walk
through every room several times, and scale the side of the building. It is
literally his/her job to make sure that nothing is overlooked everything is
written down.
All this
information will be documented in a lengthy detailed report called the
Inspection Report. Quite often the report will also include recommended repairs
and estimated repair cost for each issue with the property at hand. This
inspection report is typically thirty to seventy pages long. It will have
picture of everything from every angle. Unfortunately, this is not the only
professional the buyer will need to get out to the property. The buyer will
have an Appraiser come out and give an estimate of what the property is worth
in its present condition, and its current location.
Then the
buyer will come back to your and your real estate agent with a list of demands.
The buyer looks at all these professional reports and sees nothing dollar signs
flashing before his/her eyes. The cost of a mortgage payment can be burdensome
enough. Throw in the cost of potential financially crippling repairs and the
buyer is convinced that there are some things that need to change before you
hand the keys over. The buyer’s demands for repairs will likely be lengthy and
expensive.
Since the
repairs usually need to be made before the property is signed over, you will
have to pay for all repairs out of pocket. If you neglect the buyer’s worry
driven repairs, you could drive him away and not sell the house at all. Then it
is back to day one with no one under contract to buy your home. After some nail-biting
negotiations, you settle on some repairs that you can presently afford to pay
out of pocket and a reduction in your selling price for the house in return for
the repairs you cannot afford.
Meanwhile,
the buyer has been jumping through hoop after hoop with the bank. If he/she
could buy your home with cash out of pocket, there would not be a concern for
repairs. The repairs needed on the property would just be one more small
obstacle for the buyer, but that is not the case. Your buyer needs a loan to
purchase this property. It is not something that is realistically finically
viable for most people to buy all at once or even in a couple of years. So, the
buyer is working diligently to prove to the bank, or any other lender, that
he/she can afford to pay the loan back and will not default. For most buyers,
this results in a thirty-year mortgage with the interest rate being dependent
on the buyer’s credit score and the amount the buyer can put down initially on
the purchase.
Chances are
that if this buyer is fighting so hard for so many repairs, he/she will not be
putting down a substantial amount up front. If through this lengthy process
anything goes wrong, the buyer will have to default on the contract put in
place previously and you will have to start this dreadfully long process all
over again from day one. Unfortunately, this happens more time than anyone on
either side would ever want to happen. Obviously, no one wants this to occur
ever, for any reason, in any scenario.
The days
drag onto weeks. The weeks turn into months. Then the silver lining appears
from the dark cloud that is the typical process of selling a home. The day has
finally arrived. It is time to close on selling your home. Time to give up this
house that has been your home for however long. You, the buyer, your real estate
agent, members of the title company, and if your buyer has a real estate agent
of his/her own, all crowd into a room with a small mountain of paperwork. Over
the next couple of hours, form after form after form after form will be signed
by yourself and the buyer, far more for the buyer.
Once all the
necessary forms have been filled out, checked and rechecked, it is just about
over. The title company hands the buy a large folder containing everything
he/she just signed and proof of ownership. Next is the most exciting part for
everyone in the room. Checks get passed out discreetly to yourself and all real
estate agents involved. What you thought your originally sale price of the
house was going to be has been slashed down considerable. Through the negotiations
about repairs, you lost more than you had hope to. Then the real estate agent
takes a cut for the services provided. These services are usually about six
percent of the value of the property being represented.
The typical
process took many weeks in a best-case scenario and many months or more in a
bad scenario. All the hard work from listing, finding a willing buyer, to
negotiations on price and repairs, and finally closing; You are left with a
check noticeably less than you had hoped for but at least it is over. As you
walk out of the title company, the same thought two thoughts cross every single
person’s mind. ‘I am so glad that painfully long and exhausting process is
finally over so I can get on with my life!’ and ‘There has to have been an
easier and faster way to do this…’
What’s the easier way to sell my home
in Louisville?
Time and
time again, we go through many annoying steps on a process that seems like it
should be easy and straight forward. If you wanted a pack of gum you would walk
into the store and pick out your favorite brand and flavor. Walk up to the
cashier and pay for the gum. Walk out of the store and enjoy this new purchase.
Why cannot selling your home be as easy as selling a pack of gum? Even the most
detailed oriented individuals would only spend a few minutes at most inspecting
the various gum selections before picking out one to purchase.
Well, these
quick easy buyers do exist. There are real people out there that want to go up
to you and buy your home with cash. Usually these select groups of people want
all the same things you want. These cash buyers want a home quickly with as
little hassle as possible. Cash buyers do not want to take up months of time to
talk about a property. Cash buyers want the property to either flip, rent, or
sell. For a cash buyer this is not a home; This is another investment. So, if
you as the seller wants to go through all the difficult hoops involved in the
typical home buying process, the cash buyer will usually just move on to
another potential property that can make him/her money sooner.
With a cash
buyer, you get to talk to a real person. There is no going through a real
estate agent as a chain of command for communication. By cutting out the
realtor, you cut down the time wasted tremendously. This type of buyer does not
need to go through a bank for approval because he/she already has the funds
waiting around. This is how short and sweet the first conversation can go with
a cash buyer. (casual names and address are inputted for effect)
Cash Buyer:
“Hello, my name is Kyle. I hear you wanted to sell you property at 123 Court Avenue,
is that right?”
Seller: “Hi
Kyle, my name is John. Yes, I want to sell it.”
Cash Buyer:
“Great. It shows me online that it’s a three-bedroom, one bathroom home, it
that right?”
Seller:
“That is correct. I’ve had it for a few years and it’s just time for a change.”
Cash Buyer:
“I totally understand. Can I come by and look at it sometime?”
Seller:
“Absolutely you can but it needs some repairs and I’d like to sell it AS-IS.”
Cash Buyer:
“That is perfectly fine with me. I’ll come look at it and should be able to
make you an offer on the spot.”
Seller:
“That’s great! Can you stop by Tuesday at six?”
Cash Buyer:
“That works for me. I look forward to meeting you.”
Seller:
“Thank you very much, see you Tuesday.”
The cash
buyer shows up promptly at six. A formally greeting occurs before you show the
cash buyer around the house. Now this cash buyer is still going to ask a lot of
the same questions that a regular buyer would. He/she is after making an
awfully expensive and important transaction.
You worry
that there many be too many repairs needed on the property. There is no way
anyone would want to buy this house in the condition that its in. The floors
need to be replaced. A leak coming though the ceiling in the spare bedroom make
the roof seem to be in not all that good of condition. The furnace and AC unit
have not been replaced since well before you moved in. In general, the house
needs more updating than any regular buyer would be able or willing to invest. Not
to mention that the yard desperately needs a team to do landscaping for an
entire summer before it is not an eye sore for whole neighborhood.
On such
short notice you were not able to deep clean your house, which only furthers
the growing insecurity that this cash buyer will want nothing to do with you or
your home. The cash buyer seems relaxed as can be. Almost as he/she is just
taking a stroll through a park on a brisk afternoon. Auras vibrate from cash
buyers than let you know that the condition of the house is not a concern, but
you cannot be certain just yet.
The cash
buyer tells you that he/she thinks your home would make a great addition to
his/her portfolio and makes you an offer on the spot. Such a simple and bold
conversation sends chills of excitement down your spine. Of course, you ask for
just a little bit more. No one would ever accept the first offer. To your heart
stopping surprise, this cash buyer agrees and pulls out a contract.
The contract
is not for the transaction of purchasing the property. To switch the title to
another person’s name, it must go through a title company. Always. No matter
what. So, what is this contract? This contract is just giving the cash buyer
the right to purchase the property and making sure that you will not sell it to
someone else while he/she takes care of a few things. The contract will include
an inspection period. An inspection period will give the cash buyer a timeframe
to have the property professionally inspected.
Professional
inspections add security to the investment and does not mean repairs will be
negotiated later. On the contract as well will be written the words AS-IS.
AS-IS means no repairs. It means taking the property exactly how it is right
now without any changes, cleaning, or repairs. A cash buyer also does not need
to have the property appraised. Just one more added perk of not having to go
through a lender.
Closing date
will be posted on the contract as well. Since a cash buyer is just an
individual that has no plans one moving into the property, the closing date is
usually left up to the seller to pick what works best for you. If you need two
months to get all your ducks in a row, so be it. If you only need seven days,
then so be it. A cash buyer will almost always let you pick the closing date.
Most of the time closing is within thirty days or less.
Real Estate Agent |
Cash Buyer |
·
Average
closing is in 60-90 days |
·
Average
closing is in 14 days but up to you |
·
Buyer funded
though lender. Appraisal needed. |
·
Funds ready
and available now |
·
Communication
slower through a realtor chain, |
·
Real face to
face conversation quickly |
·
Average 6%
real estate agent fee |
·
Buy AS-IS,
no need to make repairs |
·
Dependent on
buyer for closing |
·
No fees |
·
Banks may
delay timeframe |
·
Closed on
your timeline |
Lacking a real estate agent has made the process go
by much faster than it
would of. If that was not a great enough perk, there is more. Without a real
estate agent ‘working’ for you, there is no realtor fees to be paid at closing.
The cost of repairs goes from a nail-biting negotiation to absolutely zero
dollars out of pocket. The cost of selling the property goes from a stern six
percent realtor fee to a cool zero percent. The cash buyer will pay any and all
fees from the title company as well. What a cash buyer offers to you is what
you will receive a check for at closing. Here is a basic side by side
comparison to keep the primary points simple and clear.
How to find a Cash Buyer in
Louisville
Cash buyers
might almost seem like an impossible feat to find. Especially when a hoard of
real estate agents is pressing down on you like a pack of hungry lions on a
fresh zebra. Cash buyers are harder to find because they are busy people that do
not usually have the time to go look for properties on the market all the time.
The interest of a cash buyer lies in finding the property for sale before a
real estate agent can get a contract in to claim a six percent stake in the
deal.
Therefore a
cash buyer won’t call you about your property publicly listed for the world to
see. He/she knows that by the time the house is on the market, there is already
a real estate agent involved. It is not financially a smart move for a cash
buyer to pay an addition six percent for a property if it can be avoided. So,
for that logic it is avoided. There is one super easy way to find a cash buyer
just by making it to the end of this article.
Hello, my
name is Kyle and I am a cash buyer in Louisville KY. Please contact me if you
wish to sell your property AS-IS. Call me, text me, email me, or just fill out
my form. All the things spoken of cash buyers in this article will remain true
and I look forward to doing business with you.
Kyle
(502) 200 –
9903
https://www.louisvillesellmyhousefast.com/
Thanks for a very interesting blog. Selling a house in Louisville can be very stressful. My knowledge one of the famous website is anotherwayrei.com. They offer the easiest and most guaranteed way to sell your house fast in Louisville and finally be rid of your unwanted property. If you’re ready to sell your house fast in Louisville you can contact them.
ReplyDelete