Tricks to Be Aware of When Looking at iBuyer Programs

Here is our professional advice on how to sort out the hustlers from the real deals when it comes to instant cash offers for your home.

There are two different kinds of sellers: the kind that values their net profits and the kind that values their time. Many of our sellers are looking to sell quickly with as little hassle as possible, and they understand that they might not get as much money if they sell through one of these iBuyer programs, but the convenience is worth it to them.

However, a lot of recognizable iBuyer companies aren’t very forthright about all the options you have available to you.  Due to that, many investors are trying to capitalize on the trend by paying homeowners less than market value for their house without the homeowners understanding the difference.

Here are a few tips to help you determine whether the iBuyer who submits an offer to you is really interested in buying it or if they simply want to take the contract they wrote for you and give it to someone else to get paid by that person and move on:

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To separate the real buyers from the fake buyers, do your due diligence to find out more about them.

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First, look up the agent or company’s tax roll to see if they own property in that entity. If they don’t, that’s a red flag for you. This may be easier for certain national companies, but for others, you can always look on the county’s website. If they don’t own property in that entity, that’s a sign that they’re looking to take your property and sell it to someone else for a higher price. This is called an assignable contract—it lets an agent collect their fee from you and give the contract to someone else to close on.

To prevent yourself from giving away a portion of your equity to someone else, check the contract’s assignability clause for wording that would allow the agent to assign the contract to someone else.

Another step to take is to ask for legitimate proof of funds. That information will be available for a lot of bigger companies, but if the buyer is an individual who doesn’t have a big reputation or a lot of reviews, you’ll want to make sure they really have the funds available to purchase a property. Ask for the number of their bank and an account statement just to be sure.

Finally, pay attention to the closing date. The longer it takes for the buyer to close, the less likely they are to be legitimate. No investor wants a 90-day closing period.

To separate the real buyers from the fake ones, do your due diligence to find out more about them. Are there any complaints about them? Are they a legitimate company with proof of funds? Do they have many good reviews?

If we make an offer on your house, we intend to close on it. We don’t flip paper and we don’t assign contracts. If you’re interested in selling your home quickly without the hassle of the market or you’d like us to look over an offer from an iBuyer to see if it’s valid, don’t hesitate to reach out to us. We’d be glad to help you.