5 Questions to Ask a Cash House Buyer Before Inviting Them Into Your Home

Considering selling your house fast in San Antonio to a cash home buyer?  If you want to avoid wasting your time with someone that is not able to get the deal done, or worse, someone that is untrustworthy and takes advantage of you, you will want to ask these 5 questions.

1. Are you going to buy the house or will you be assigning the contract to another buyer?

Asking this first question can help you save a lot of time and avoid a lot of problems. Within the business of cash house buying, there are companies that buy houses to fix up and sell or fix up and rent.  There are also companies that simply find houses to sell to those investors that do the fix up and sell or rent.  If you are working with one of those companies, you are working with a middleman.

We all know what middlemen do.  They make things more expensive.  You won’t be able to make as much for your house because the middleman (they are called wholesalers) will need to get their cut.  They typically make anywhere from $10,000 to sometimes as much as $30,000 or higher!

These middlemen do not usually close on the house, they simply look to assign the contract you sign with them to the actual end buyer investor.

Therefore, if you ask them if they are going to be assigning the contract, you will know if they are going to get money you would be making by selling to the actual end buyer.

Now, sometimes this is necessary as it can sometimes be difficult to find an end buyer that is interested in your property.  If that is the case, at least you know the middleman will not be the end buyer.

2. Do you have any testimonials from other people you have bought houses from recently?

Businesses that serve their customers in ways that leave them happy with the transaction usually have testimonials or reviews.  With it being so easy to leave reviews online, companies that have been around a while will have them and they are easy to find.

If you ask a cash buyer if they have any testimonials that you can see, they should quickly provide a link to see them online.  If they say they do not have any, be weary.  It’s not that they cannot be trusted, it’s just a little harder without seeing proof of their having had happy customers.

3. How long have you been in business?

Another great way to know whether a cash house buyer is legitimate, you can ask them how long they’ve been in business.

While it is true that someone that is new to the business may be able to do what they promise, there is a higher likelihood they have not experienced as many situations as another company that has been around a while has experienced.

Things can come up with the sale of a house, like potential liens the homeowner did not know about, or even repairs needed that could cause a buyer to back out of the deal.

It’s important to also verify what you are told by checking the Better Business Bureau.  This way you can see how long they’ve been in business and whether they have an A+ accreditation from the BBB.

4. What expenses will I have to pay during closing?

Most house buying companies advertise having ‘no hidden fees’.  What does that mean exactly?  I can guarantee you that it does not mean that the amount they offer you for your house is exactly what you will get at closing.

There are closing costs involved in every closing.  You want to know which of those costs you will be responsible for.  This way you have a better idea of what you will ‘net’ from the sale of your house.

5. Have you ever backed out of a deal to buy a house?

You want to know whether there is a chance they will not follow through.  If they do not close the deal, will you be in a tough spot?

You want to have 100% confidence the deal is going to close because you may be making plans to move out and move on with your life.

A great way to have confidence the ash house buyer will follow through is to ask if they have ever backed out of a deal.

If they have, it does not mean you should not work with them.  You simply now need to ask what the circumstances were that caused them to back out.  If they do not have a good explanation, you might reconsider working with them.

Conclusion

We wish you the best of luck in having your house sold quickly and for a fair price.  If you’d like to find out what we can pay for your house, simply fill out the form below or give us a call.  We’d love to work with you.