Tampa Bay Real Estate Investors: Which one should I sell my house to?

So, you recently inherited a house that needs a ton of work so you say to yourself.  How do I sell my house fast? Tampa has a thriving real estate market right now and there are plenty of real estate investors to choose from for these types of properties and usually they will all give you a cash offer on your home.  So, which one should you choose?

Choosing the right offer from real estate investor in Tampa can be tricky.   Let’s start with the basics.  Obviously, price is the most important factor when selling your home, but its not everything and the purchase price on the contract may not be the amount of money you get at closing. 

The three most important factors,other than price, when choosing a buyer for your home are closing costs, inspection periods, and the ability of a buyer to close.

Closing costs when selling your home usually are about 1.5% - 2% of the purchase price.  Keep in mind this figure is only if you’re are not using a Realtor, which will usually charge an additional 5-6% to sell your home, 2.5% - 3% for the listing broker and another 2.5% - 3% for the Buyers agent.  It’s important when analyzing an offer’s bottom line or comparing multiple offers, you make sure you find our who’s paying the closing costs.  For example, if the house sells without a Realtor for $100,000 then the closing costs can be around $2,000.  This can be a huge mistake if you don’t take this into consideration when reviewing an offer.

The next factor to look at when choosing an offer to accept from a real estate investor is the inspection period and repair allowance.   Most investors will write offers AS IS with no required repairs.  This means you’re not responsible for fixing anything prior to the closing.  However, its important to look at the inspection period to see how many days it is.  The FAR-BAR Residential Real Estate Purchase Agreement defaults to a 15-day period, which is usually okay when dealing with a home buyer but is way too long when dealing with an investor.  This means that for any reason during those 15 days the Investor can back out for any reason.  Real estate investors look at properties everyday so you don’t need to give them 15 days to inspect the property.  My recommendation is no more than a week.  This way, with an AS IS contract they’ll be locked in within a week’s time frame.  If your offer contains an amount that you’re responsible for repairs, then simply subtract that amount from the purchase price, because you will most likely be spending that money every time.

Lastly and most importantly, is the investor’s ability to close.  Better put, even if they have the ability to close on your home, how LIKELY are they to do so.   You see there are a large number of investors that will place your property under contract knowing that they will only close if they find a buyer for the property within a short period of time.  These types of buyers tend to cancel contracts a lot and can be a huge waste of time.  Here’s how to research the buyer for your home.  Go to your local County Property Appraiser’s website and do a property search or a sales search for that company.  That will show you if they currently own any homes and if they’ve purchased and sold any homes in the last year.  You want to pick company that is doing business regularly.

Have you seen this sign? “We Buy Houses”

Well if you’ve driven down the road in Pinellas County then you’ve probably seen the signs on the side of the road that say We Buy Houses Palm Harbor or We Buy Houses Largo or We Buy Houses St Petersburg.  These are signs put out by real estate investors trying to Buy your home for cash.  So, are they worth calling if you have a home to sell?

The answer is yes. Real Estate Investors play an important role in the real estate market. The usually will buy any property no matter how bad the condition which is needed for distressed properties such as foreclosure homes, homes with cracked foundations or fire and water damage.  The typical home buyer usually doesn’t want to put in the effort fixing up a home when they can already buy one that’s move in ready or even better a new construction home.

If you have a distressed property that you want to sell, then most likely only an investor is going to purchase it. So, instead of listing your property with a Realtor and paying an additional 6% to get to that investor, calling the phone number on the We Buy Houses signs will get you directly to a real estate investor. You can usually get a cash offer on your home within a few days and remember to negotiate the price and terms with them. They are investors so their expecting you to negotiate with them.

Pinellas County and the rest of Tampa Bay has a thriving real estate market.  Cities such as St. Petersburg, Clearwater, Largo and Palm Harbor have seen record highs on property values so it’s a great time to sell your home.  2018 was a busy year for rehabbers and wholesalers. If you can’t find one of these signs to call just drive down to a busy intersection and there should be some there or you could always google “We Buy Houses Palm Harbor” or whatever city you’re looking to sell your home.
Some local real estate investment companies in Pinellas County Florida include A1 Buyers, Homevestors, We Buy Ugly Homes and Highest Cash Offer.  I’d recommend getting a cash offer on your home from all four of them and then comparing the bottom line figure in all of them.  An easy way to do this is to make sure they all pay your closing costs so that way you know the purchase price will be the amount you get a closing.

I recently sold my home and did exactly that. I got an offer from all four companies and decide to sell my house to A1 Buyers which are located over in Tampa, but buy homes everywhere in Florida.  They paid all my closing costs, let me choose the closing date and had the highest cash offer out of the four companies I tried.  Homevestors was the next closest offer.

I hope this article help you sell your home quickly for cash.