Sometimes you need to sell your house fast. Other times, it doesn’t matter. If you find yourself pressed for time and asking “how long does it take to sell my house with an agent vs an investor?” then this blog post will help you find the answer…
In case you want to sell your house, and perhaps you need to sell fast. Chances are, you arrived at this blog post because you’re hoping to find the best solution for you that sells your house as quickly as YOU want.
Before we get to the answer, it’s important to clarify the difference between what an agent does and what an investor does:
When you sell your house with an agent, you are asking the agent to represent you in a sale and to try and find a buyer on your behalf. In other words, you’re selling through an agent to a buyer, you are using an intermediary.
When you sell your house with an investor, you are actually working directly with the one who will be buying the house. In other words, you’re selling TO an investor (they are the actual buyer).
Now that you understand the difference, here’s how long it can take…
How Long Does It Take To Sell My House With An Agent Vs An Investor?
Working with an Agent…
An agent will be showing your house to prospective buyers trying to convince them to buy. Therefore, they’ll want your house to be tops condition. That means, clean, updated, with painted walls and great curb appeal and preferently ready to move in.
Therefore, it can take weeks or months for you to fix up your house before an agent feels that it’s ready to list. And once the agent puts it on the MLS (listing service) , it can take months for the agent to find buyers to show your house to, and to find the perfect match, that is a buyer ready to make and offer (on average, it can take 3-6 months… sometimes as long as 12 months for this to happen it the house has issues). And what people don’t realize is: if the buyer can’t get financing or gets cold feet in the deal then they can back out and then you start the process all over again.
Therefore, it can take months to sell your house through an agent – it all depends on how quickly you can get your house in “showroom condition” and how fast they can find a buyer and whether the buyer goes through with the purchase. When the buyers needs to qualify for a loan, you will have to deal with inspections and lenders requirements along the way, which sometimes adds time and sometimes breaks the deal.
How Long Does It Take To Sell My House With An Agent Vs An Investor?
Working with the Investor…
Many people don’t know that an investor can buy your house very fast if you need us to – some investors can even buy in as little as 10 days if that’s what you need. That’s because the investor is the buyer (so no showings , no inspections, etc. are necessary) and many investors (including us here at Dolfin RGV) buy houses in any condition so you don’t have to fix up the property either.
So, what is better, should you sell through an agent or sell to an investor? That is totally up to you. An investor is faster so if speed is important to you then you may want to think about selling to an investor. You may be surprised at the competitive price we may offer for your house.