Two different points of view. That is what Misty and I have as Realtors/Investors…. Truth is the real estate business is vast, some specialize in commercial, industrial, residential, rental property, sales agent, property management, and many other niches, too many to name. Misty and I have a special set of skills and experience that allow us as agents to see both sides of the fence, the homeowner side and the investor side.
Why? Because before we became agents, we started out as long-term buy and hold investors for over 10 years. You see, it is not uncommon for real estate agents to own absolutely zero real estate. Heck we even know a property manager who doesn’t even own a home, they rent an apartment. We also know many agents that own zero investment properties.
Now understand this, I am not knocking on agents or anyone in the business, but just sharing our point of view. How would you feel showing up and getting your teeth fixed from a toothless dentist. Maybe a little nervous, kinda apprehensive, or just straight up wondering why he has zero teeth…? We are the kind of Realtors that put our money where our mouth is. We are both agents and investors and we work to harmoniously blend the two worlds together.
MISTY AND I WILL BUY YOUR HOUSE FROM YOU OR LIST IT ON THE MARKET TO SELL IT FOR YOU. YOU CAN PICK YOUR BEST OPTION!
Misty and I have done things a little different than the average Realtor. See, we will actually buy your house from you, and if for whatever reason it doesn’t make sense or isn’t the best option for you, we will list your home for sell on the market and advertise on the MLS, Realtor.com, Zillow, Trulia, and many more! How does that make us different though? Simple, imagine this… You reach out to us to come take a look at your property, that day we come meet you and you show us around, we can either come up with an offer to buy your property from you right there or we can help you list it. For us, it just depends on your situation as everyone has different needs.
So let me throw out a few common situations that we run into as realtors/investors.
- The contingency problem: Let’s say our client, Bob, just got a new job and needs to relocate across town closer to work. Traditionally, Bob would call a realtor, put his home on the market and start looking for a new home. As Bob is putting offers on his new home, he is also hoping that his current home will sell. In fact, according to his financing at the bank, it must sell in order to purchase his new home. Bob is not allowed to have two mortgages per his debt-to-income ratio. So on every offer Bob submits to buy a new home he has to put that it is subject to the sale of his current home. In real estate, that situation is called “contingent”. That can make things difficult because a few things can happen. First, your offer to buy is not as strong and may not be considered as a top contender by the sellers of the home your trying to purchase. Second, if the buyer of your current home backs out or cannot obtain financing, you are now in a longer waiting period and back at square one. Believe me, crazy things happen so you must be prepared.
The solution to Bob’s Contingency Problem: This is where we get creative, see because we buy houses this could be a perfect candidate for us to purchase Bob’s house from him directly and skip out on the whole listing process and go straight to helping Bob find his new home. By going this route, a stronger offer is made on the homes Bob is wanting to buy because his offer is not contingent upon his current home selling anymore.
2. The two home problem: So you decided to keep your other home and rent it out. Maybe you want to come back to it one day, but the renters wrecked it! They tore out the carpet, jacked up the paint amongst other things. You decide to kick out the tenants and list it on the market. Problem is you have a mortgage payment on both the rental house and your own home. This can be a real dilemma for a lot of people both mentally and financially. I will never forget the conversations and anxiety that Misty and I had when we started our investing career. Two mortgage payments was SCARY!
The Solution to having two mortgage payments: Let’s say this happens to you. We can help take away the headache, the stress, liabilities, and the financial burden of two house payments. Sometimes we can even work it to where you are getting paid in the deal for a longer term when selling to us.
3. The house looks like a dump: There are two ways to purchase a home: 1) you can purchase it at full price which means it is fixed up and you will pay top dollar for it or 2) you can purchase a home that needs work.. you know the whole comment section that says “handy man special” or “needs a little TLC” which often-times really means this house looks like a dump and needs help. If you understand what you are doing and don’t mind putting some effort in, this way could be a better deal for you in the long run. Misty and I bought our first family home together that was run down, we got a steal of deal too. We purchased it for $105K many years ago before we had kids, we slowly did work to it and at the present time of writing this, it is now worth $250k+. This is a great way to get equity in your home. Many buyers do not understand this concept and therefore pass over great opportunities because it “looks like too much work”.
The solution for the dumpy house: We have experience in rehab, and in fact we encourage clients if they are willing, to buy the dumpy home and fix it the way they like. Of course, if you find a full price home that you love, we are all for that too! Everyone’s situation is different. Where our expertise comes in is giving you solid advice and opinions from first-hand experience of rehabbing and fixing issues on houses. We can help you avoid costly pitfalls when buying the dumpy house. Also, with a little bit of elbow grease and willingness to purchase a fixer-upper, you can walk into some equity! Depending on your situation, you may get a little strapped for cash, but think longer term instead of short term.
So, if you have a house you need to sell fast, we can help! We will either buy your home directly from you or list it on the market. We make the offer and you make the call of which option best fits your needs.
