Selling a home and having a child are two very different things, yet sellers often compare the stress they endure while selling their home to that of having a child. You would be justified in asking how the sale of real estate possibly reaches comparable stress levels of procreation. Reproducing a human being requires responsibility and is almost certain to turn life upside down, a transaction, especially one involving a home should not be as difficult of a journey, right? Similar to child birth, selling real estate today leads to uncertainty and a sense of responsibility, often resulting in many surprises and sleepless nights. Fortunately, homeowners overwhelmed with the process have more solutions than struggling parents. Unlike parenthood, if you have the right resources, your real estate situation can be alleviated; so much so it is comparable to selling your problem child for money and spending that money on a properly trained child.
Obviously selling one’s child for a better behaved one is a cruel and ludicrous solution to a significant issue, but in real estate a similar fix is more than acceptable, and possible. Problem properties in real estate can be sold for cash quickly, while the proceeds from that sale are transferred to the purchase of a perfect property. The process of selling a home can be as simple or difficult as one wishes to make it, buyers play a significant role in this. Today’s real estate market is stronger than ever, people are paying more than they have before; as a result, they want to make sure their investment is sound. This sense of protecting their investment sometimes leads to a mile long list of inspections, putting sellers on edge for weeks on end until the process is over. God forbid something negative is revealed on one of those inspections, buyers threaten backing out, just as sellers have begun setting up plans of relocation, many of which are contingent upon the sale of their home. Transferring a piece of real estate sounds like a straight forward transaction, but once you begin to dive into the inter-workings of this process, the comparison between selling a home and raising a child becomes apparent.
The lengthy home selling process is guaranteed to give those a headache that have a conventional home with minor issues, but how does if affect those with vacant or problem properties facing major repairs? The answer will encourage owners of problem properties to bank on an insurance check as they begin pouring gasoline around their home’s foundation. A realtor once told me of their experience with selling a 100 year old home that needed some TLC for a “discount.” By discount he meant overpriced but cheap for homes in today’s market. Once the home hit the open market he began fielding offers that were close to the asking price, however the loans funding those offers were backed by the government (FHA), and required extensive repairs. Anticipating an “as is” sale, the sellers held out for a loan with less stipulations; only to find that those in the lower price range could only obtain stricter FHA loans and didn’t have the money to cover the needed repairs. The home went through several price reductions before showings from investors began rolling in. The investors proceeded to offer less than the already price reduced home. After turning the investor’s offers away, eventually a buyer came along that had a loan that would qualify without repairs. At the end of the transaction, the seller ended up taking much less for the property than he initially expected, and then had to pay 6% commission and closing costs out of his proceeds. Selling his home at the top of the market with a realtor put him in a stressful situation and left him with much less money than he had hoped.
Selling a home to an investor is typically seen as a giving the home away as investors typically buy homes at a discount to make room for the needed repairs. What many fail to acknowledge is the money sellers throw away on realtors when once of these investors will be the end buyer anyway. Investors have cash and may be the only people that are able to take the home in its current condition without repairs. Going through a realtor to obtain top dollar typically results in the same sales price and a commission debited to the seller at closing. Not to mention the stress and drawn out process where the sellers is aiming for the moon on price but is reduced to reality.
Selling a home today is no easy feat and some may find childbirth a less stressful event. Nonetheless, there are other options for those who want to sell a home and leave out the sleepless nights and the prolonged concern. Selling a home may be a smooth process if there are little to no issues, but those who have homes with needed repairs will likely find themselves wanting a way out. Helpful Homes is a local real estate investment company that does as the name suggests, they help people with their homes and deliver a stress free process as they strive to put the most money in the pockets of sellers without charging any commission. Helpful Homes purchases properties at a discount but they do so quickly for cash and require no repairs. If you have a problem child, you cannot simply sell them and go buy a better version. Problem children require discipline and a large time commitment, fortunately problem real estate plays by a different set of rules. The moment a property begins causing issues, whether it’s vandalized, taking on the elements, behind on taxes, in foreclosure, or an inherited money pit, Helpful Homes is here to help and enables sellers to extract cash from these seemingly hopeless situations.