What is a cash offer?
When you hear or see the term “cash offer,” you might imagine a buyer meeting you with a briefcase full of cash, ready to negotiate a deal. Which is what we all could imagine happening in a classic ’50s or ’60s mafia movie. But a cash offer is much simpler than a spectacle in a movie scene.
A cash offer is a potential buyer offering you the entire cost of your home without using financing, loans, or a realtor. Which can help eliminate all lengthy and costly steps allowing you to sell your home upright for its appropriate price.
Why should you sell your home this way?
There’s no requirement to obtain an appraisal, the buyer doesn’t need approval for a mortgage loan, and you won’t have to pay for repairs, or even clean the home before it’s bought when you sell for cash AS IS. For the you, the result of a cash offer and purchase is the same, a buyer is purchasing your home and paid for the entire cost. But, selling your home for cash is quicker than the traditional way and can alleviate many contingencies that could pose risks, costing you money and time.
Benefits of selling your home “As is”
1: No repairs or home “staging”
By selling your home for cash you will be saving money and time by not investing in costly renovations that you hope a buyer will like. This will also save you time by not having to clean and arrange the house to “stage” it for a buyer to be more interested in the home.
This means no appraisals or showings and having to keep your home “Market Ready.” You will not need to hire an appraiser to assess your home for the bank to put up a loan that you hope will earn you some money. When the buyer pays cash, it is their responsibility to do the home assessment. In a relator home sale, the inspection states the necessary repairs where the seller must either pay to fix the issues or lower the asking price accordingly. When selling your home “As is” you will not have to go through any of this.
2: Fast Closing
When selling your home traditionally it can sit on the market for months at a time, costing you time, money, and resources. When you sell for cash, you and the buyer decide the closing date. A traditional home sale takes anywhere from five to eight weeks as most of these sales require a mortgage to be underwritten. This part of the process can take anywhere from 30 to 60 days and a lot can go wrong in that time period. Such as the buyer’s financial situation changing between their pre-approval and loan finalization with the bank, and the mortgage lender may refuse to offer a loan. Many of these issues with traditional sells will cause you to have to start all over again.
With a cash sale, your home can be closed, money in your hands in less than 30 days, and if you’re any rush to sell due to a divorce, new job, family situation changing, or you just really need the money…waiting for a sell to go through on the market could cause even more pain and money loss.
3: Reduce stress and solve difficult problems
When selling your home, it makes sense to choose the buyer that presents the least risk. Often, when home sellers choose a cash offer instead of a financed offer with a mortgage, even if the cash offer is lower than the financed offer, they get their money faster and don’t have to worry about the deal falling through or taking more time.
By listing your home on the market, you could end up causing yourself a lot of stress as you now must clean, repair, upgrade items, and keep it staged for showings. You’ll have to find a real estate agent that will be effective in selling your home and then paying them part of your profit, get stuck with paying for appraisals and inspections, and must keep your home spotless through all the showings and open houses till someone decides they are interested in buying. Causing more stress to whatever your situation is and leaving you wondering how long it will take.
Are you going through a divorce? Do you have to relocate quickly? Are you going through an unimaginable loss in your family and want to sell the home to begin to heal? Or maybe avert a possible foreclosure? While there are multiple reasons to sell quickly, maybe you just don’t want to draw out the process by using a realtor. No matter your stressors and reasons, a quick home sale will reduce some of the stressors that you may be experiencing.