If you’re thinking of selling, you’ll likely connect with people who want to help. Some will be real estate agents and some will be real estate investors. Check out this blog post to read about 3 ways to tell real estate agents and investors apart in McAllen, and help you understand why you might want to work with one versus the other…
Thinking about selling your house? You might be contacted by so many different people who all offer to help you sell. But not everyone who offers to help will help in the same way. Some are real estate agents, some other are wholesellers, and other are real estate investors and they’ll help you in different ways. Here are 3 ways to tell real estate agents and investors apart in McAllen.
Ways To Tell Real Estate Agents And Investors Apart In McAllen: List Versus Buy
The easiest way to tell agents from investors is to ask what they are going to do with your house – list it or buy it. A real estate agent will list your house on the MLS and they’ll try to find a buyer. They might need to show it to several people in order to find one buyer. Also they will charge you commissions for doing so.
An investor, on the other hand, isn’t going to list your house – the investor is a buyer and they will buy your house from you directly. (That’s what we do at Dolfin RGV – we’re buyers and we buy houses in McAllen. If you want to sell your house, click here and enter your information to find out how much we can pay).
Ways To Tell Real Estate Agents And Investors Apart In McAllen: Timeline To Sell
The next way to tell an agent apart from an investor is to ask about their timeline to buy. An agent won’t know exactly the date because they have to find the buyer first. In many cases, you can be looking at 3-12 months timeframe during which potential buyers will be visiting your house to see if they like it or not and if they qualify to get a mortgage in case they don’t have cash on hand (which is usually the case). Your house will be competing with all the other properties on sale (old and new construction) so you need to have it clean at all time and inviting. Curb appeal is a must.
An investor, though, will know exactly how long it will take to buy your house since they’re the ones who will buy it. They will have an exact timeline (which could depend on you and how quickly you want to sell). An investor won’t ask you to clean your house, nor you will have to fix the plumbing , upgrade your electrical installation, replace the carpet or change the whole roof. You get the picture. An investor will buy your house in as is condition so you can move on with your life and not worry about the details.
Ways To Tell Real Estate Agents And Investors Apart In McAllen: Commissions Versus No Commissions
This one is crucial! An agent makes their money when they find a buyer and then you have to pay them a commission on the house (which could be somewhere around 6% of the sale price… or $6,000 on a $100,000 house). Plus you will be responsible for all the holding fees (cost of upkeeping the house, taxes , insurance, etc. until closing date – which may add on to a substantial amoung when selling with an agent, since the sale can take a long time).
An investor, however, isn’t listing your house so there aren’t any commissions. That’s because an investor will make money by either fixing your house and renting it to a tenant or fixing up the house and selling it… so they make their money in a different way.
There are other ways to tell an agent or investor apart. The best thing to do is just ask… they’ll tell you!