Experiences with Home Buying Services/Investors
Hi all;
As my wife and I advance slowly but surely to our FIRE date and hopefully get out of the 1MY loop, we are considering our options for selling our home.
We are very much in a frame of mind to sell "as is." Our home is in pretty good shape for one built in 1988 in suburban Atlanta, with a number of renovations and improvements done over the years. But like any, it probably needs some upgrades here and there that we really don't want to make. We would just stay here if we undertook that expense.
So I've been doing research on home buying/home investor companies that would bypass the traditional real estate agent system. It appears to me that there are basically two models out there.
(1) Companies like Offer Pad or Open Door (from whom I get several mailings per month) that will make a cash offer but basically pay themselves the traditional real estate commission (a service fee they call it) and require the seller to pay closing costs. Although these companies position themselves against traditional realtors and agents, I'm not sure I see an advantage beyond avoiding the hassle of showings, negotiations, etc.
(2) Investors or investor intermediaries (Sundae is one that seems to be active in this market) who will make a cash offer with no further outlay required on the part of the seller. The downside of course is that the offer may be quite a bit below market estimates for obvious reasons. I do give their sites credit for at least being honest about that.
I'm interested in the experiences of anyone here who has gone either of these routes. Do you feel you got fair value in comparison to using a traditional realtor or agent? Would you do it again? Are there "gotchas" we should be wary of?
Thanks
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