This is the second part of this post. To read part one please go to The Truth About “We Buy Houses Fast” in Killeen Part 1.
Will You Actually Buy Any House As Is?
Of course, if the price is right… wouldn’t you?! In reality though there are a couple of things that I see that prevent most of the houses I look at from being a potential deal.
As you can probably imagine, price is broadly the number one reason a deal doesn’t happen which is and isn’t directly related to condition. This can be due to people not being terribly motivated to sell or maybe they owe more than a house is worth (we do have some solutions here though). Sometimes homeowners simply can’t quite understand how condition of a house can affect resale (The Zestimate says it’s worth 500k!).
There can be any number of factors that leads to this but ultimately, I have to follow a pretty tight, simple formula in order to make a profit and sadly, at the end of the day, it does come down to that. I want to help as many people as I can but it really stinks to work for free… trust me I’ve done it!
Beyond that, liens and other issues with the title is probably the second biggest deal killer. While we can work around most things there are some issues with the IRS, child support, long lost heirs and similar issues that just don’t always have a clean solution. We try, and often succeed but if your long-lost cousin Jimmy shows up and wants twice the price, well…
The good news is that despite all of the above, I am able to help a good number of people who can’t sell their home due to issues like these. I do have a number of options outside the realm of typical agent solutions or have someone else I can recommend to them. In fact, many homeowners who thought that they were going to lose their house wind up being able to find a solution, which is awesome!
Do You Really Pay Cash like the Ads Say?
When buying a house outright, yes, it’s always a cash purchase. No, that doesn’t mean I have an inheritance and a big vault of money laying around… I wish! In reality, most of the money is borrowed similar to how you would get a mortgage, I just have some different ways of going about it.
There are also a few other ways I can work with people that get them more money and can be advantageous to me as well. Sometimes we are able to assume a mortgage, which basically leaves an existing loan in place that we take over payments on. Other times, if a client owns the house free and clear we can set them up to be the bank which lets them earn a good amount of interest over time. This is great for people who want to have a paycheck every month instead of a lump sum and the taxes that go with it.
What Do You Do with the Houses You Buy?
Part of the initial evaluation I do with any property is trying to figure out what the best use for it could be. Pretty much all the factors I’ve already mentioned like location, price and condition help me determine what the best possibilities are and then I buy accordingly.
We primarily does rehabs, or what is more commonly referred to as a “flip”. We buy homes that need work, fix them up and then sell them through an agent.
Of course, there are other possibilities and we recently started buying more homes for rental use and sometimes we even sell them to other investors who might have a better use for a particular house. This actually lets us pay a little more and it’s great to have multiple options to offer people who are looking to sell their home fast.
Final Thoughts
Really, the most important thing of all…
If you don’t feel comfortable about something, just walk away and find someone else. You should expect to work with someone who explains what is happening and tries to help you make the best decision. Any reputable company wants the sale of your house to be a win-win situation and you shouldn’t settle for less!
