As a new option for selling a home, iBuying might seem mysterious or sound too good to be true. However, the digital world of iBuying is changing the way people buy and sell houses, bringing new light to the old concept of getting an instant cash offer for a home.
As it becomes more common throughout the country, homeowners can let their guard down and learn if iBuying makes sense for their next home sale.
Known as instant offer companies, iBuyers are tech-based home investors that buy and sell houses digitally, primarily to streamline the process, both for themselves and their customers.
Sellers can upload home information to an iBuyer’s app or website and receive an instant cash offer within hours. This can shrink the selling process down from months to mere days.
Let’s explore the top 10 reasons why people sell their home to an iBuyer:
1. Fast Timeline
Whether it’s to get the cash for the home or because a seller needs to move quickly, iBuyers can complete a sale in as little as seven days.
After applying, a seller will receive an offer within 24 to 48 hours. From there an inspection will be scheduled. Based on the condition of the home, the offer is adjusted. When the seller and iBuyer agree on the offer, the seller then chooses a closing date.
2. Fewer Steps to Complete Sale
Without listing a home on the market, the sale is direct to the iBuyer, providing a list of clear steps from instant offer to payment. This eliminates the variables buyers bring to the sale when listing a home on the market, such as contingencies, timing and financial issues.
3. Most Work Done Online
A seller completes an instant offer application online by answering basic questions about their home. As they work through the process with the iBuyer, the seller typically only has one point of contact to deal with, besides whether they have their own realtor or attorney involved.
This cuts down on the back and forth between potential buyers, appraisers and other agencies involved in selling a house the traditional way.
4. No Showings or Appraisals
With iBuying, a seller doesn’t have to bring several different people into their home during the sales process. An iBuyer will work with the seller to schedule a home inspection, but beyond that, no appraisals or showings are needed. The iBuyer will make an initial offer within 24 to 48 hours without seeing the home in person.
5. Choose Closing Date with Flexibility
The simplicity of working with an iBuyer gives the seller more flexibility. The seller can choose the closing date to fit their needs around moving and purchasing a new home. Some iBuyers also offer extended dates to give sellers time to move out after closing.
6. Sell Home As-Is
With the right situation, a seller doesn’t have to worry about getting their home in perfect condition for potential buyers. An iBuyer will inspect the home, looking primarily at its safety and functionality. Depending on the condition of the home, the iBuyer will charge a repair allowance to update the home after purchasing it. This includes steps such as painting and replacing floors.
7. Fewer Variables Than Listing a Home
Listing a home on the market brings many variables to the table. Sometimes these work in the seller’s favor, such as in a hot market, but sometimes these can lead to major timing and financial disappointments.
The straightforward process of iBuying allows a seller to be aware of any issues from the iBuyer’s end fairly quickly so that they can settle the sale and move on.
8. Use Data to Determine Fair Market Value
Traditionally, a home’s value is determined by comparable homes sold in the area and
then it’s adjusted depending on the market’s response to the house.
When a seller provides information about their home’s condition, features and location to an iBuyer, the iBuyer compares it to other houses using millions of data points they’ve collected and their local experience in each market. This level of detail takes the guesswork out of determining a home’s fair market value.
9. iBuying Services Help with Life Changes
Sellers might have personal reasons for needing to sell a home quickly or more simply through an iBuyer. Reasons could include moving for a job, a change in relationship status, managing an illness, or even a new life cycle, such as expanding a family or retiring.
iBuying might also help when selling a home of a deceased loved one, or selling a rental property the seller no longer wants to manage.
These are a handful of the personal reasons someone might find the convenience, flexibility and speed of working with an iBuyer helpful.
10. Trending in the Seller’s Market
Instant offer companies are fairly new, with most launching within the past five years. They’re growing but aren’t yet established in all cities across the country.
As they grow, iBuyers develop within targeted cities where the demographics and markets best fit their business model. This includes areas with larger populations of millennials, veterans and empty nesters who are more likely to want to buy and sell homes that fit within iBuyers’ services.
At least three out of the top five iBuying companies service many cities including Denver, Phoenix, Dallas-Fort Worth, Houston, Austin, Las Vegas, Atlanta, Charlotte, Orlando and Raleigh-Durham. These companies continue rapid growth, expanding into even more markets in 2020.
Selling a Home to an iBuyer
The top 10 reasons for selling to iBuyers show the benefit of this new option, which allows the homeowner to save time and effort that wasn’t possible with real estate transactions before.
Sellers considering working with iBuyers can easily apply for instant offers to see if the conditions are appropriate and if the price matches their needs, before deciding whether to list their home the traditional way on the market.
Recommended Reading
https://www.thebalance.com/why-home-owners-sell-1799021