Unsolicited offers to buy your house

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Tamales
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Unsolicited offers to buy your house

Post by Tamales »

I'm wondering if unsolicited offers to buy your house have become pervasive nationwide in the US. In my small sample of mostly western US cities, several people I've talked to are also getting a fair number of these "I will buy your home as-is" letters in the mail.

The letters I've received all have a similar format: You don't need to do any repairs, I will give you a fair price, pay all closing costs, and I will work around your timeline.

Some of the offers are probably legitimate house fixer-uppers (house flippers), and some are probably scams to case your home's contents and security.

In thinking about the legitimate cases, how would you go about assessing how fair the offer is?

The offer would have to be less than market value, because the flipper has costs and needs to make a profit. So I guess the first thing you'd need to do is get an appraisal so you have a reference.
desiderium
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Re: Unsolicited offers to buy your house

Post by desiderium »

You can use Zillow to look at comparable home sales in your community, both on the market and recently sold
Zillow's value for your house is often not accurate, so you need to do a little work to look at what is available and come up with an estimate
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HueyLD
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Re: Unsolicited offers to buy your house

Post by HueyLD »

Is the offer from "We buy ugly houses" group?

They are looking for desperate people who are willing to sell the house at 50% of the market value. That's what they call "fair value." As a test, you can estimate the MV from Zillow and counter offer at 200% of the Zillow value. I guarantee that you won't hear from them again, ever!
hicabob
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Re: Unsolicited offers to buy your house

Post by hicabob »

Robert Bruss used to advocate this methodology in his books way back when he was the pre-eminent real estate columnist/author in the SF Bay Area.
Carefreeap
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Re: Unsolicited offers to buy your house

Post by Carefreeap »

It could be that your property is in a hot market where there's not enough inventory.
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staythecourse
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Re: Unsolicited offers to buy your house

Post by staythecourse »

Carefreeap wrote:It could be that your property is in a hot market where there's not enough inventory.
This is our situation. Every month or so we get a letter in the email from a real estate agent asking if we want to sell as they have clients looking to buy in our area.

I am assuming the OP is NOT talking about these situations, but ones more nefarious.

Good luck.
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Carefreeap
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Re: Unsolicited offers to buy your house

Post by Carefreeap »

staythecourse wrote:
Carefreeap wrote:It could be that your property is in a hot market where there's not enough inventory.
This is our situation. Every month or so we get a letter in the email from a real estate agent asking if we want to sell as they have clients looking to buy in our area.

I am assuming the OP is NOT talking about these situations, but ones more nefarious.

Good luck.
Perhaps. I was willing to target market an area close to our home for my MIL. We have the time and now the resources to do a complete gut job if necessary but I don't think MIL will ever have the stomach to trade her 3000 sq.ft. home that's worth around $600k in the Portland OR metro area for a 1500 sq.ft. dump in the SF Bay area that needs about $150k work for the same price.
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nordsteve
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Re: Unsolicited offers to buy your house

Post by nordsteve »

IMO there are three kinds of these letters.

One is from bottom fishing flippers who are trying to find people unaware of pricing in their area.

The second are from real estate agents looking for listings.

The third are from real people who want to live in your neighborhood.
sport
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Re: Unsolicited offers to buy your house

Post by sport »

I once worked for a company that was moving to another city hundreds of miles away. Some employees were offered jobs at the new location. For those that were offered jobs, the employer arranged for a real estate company to buy their houses. The employees that were moving did not have to sell to that company, but could also put their house on the market and sell conventionally. As I recall, the offers from the real estate company were about 20% below market value. I would suggest that any company offering to buy a house for resale, must make a profit, and therefore, will not offer market price. For someone who wants to move, it would be a convenience. However, as with most things, you pay for convenience.
adamthesmythe
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Re: Unsolicited offers to buy your house

Post by adamthesmythe »

stevep001 wrote:IMO there are three kinds of these letters.

One is from bottom fishing flippers who are trying to find people unaware of pricing in their area.

The second are from real estate agents looking for listings.

The third are from real people who want to live in your neighborhood.
I live in a good neighborhood so I only get #2.

Seriously- ignore it completely UNLESS it looks like it is not a form letter and refers to some specific characteristics of your property.

And do NOT use Zillow values except for the most approximate, wild, unreliable guess of property value. If you are actually going to sell, and you do not know values, get an appraisal first.
EagertoLearnMore
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Re: Unsolicited offers to buy your house

Post by EagertoLearnMore »

Have you tried "googling" the phone number to see if it is listed as a realtor?
If it is a realtor you could sign a paper giving them a percentage commission for bringing a buyer, but only that buyer. This worked for us. A realtor showed up and said he had two buyers to show the house. We signed a paper with just those 2 names and one bought the house. It was the easiest and lowest commission sale ever and worked out very well. The realtor was extremely professional and did not waste his time or ours.
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HardKnocker
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Re: Unsolicited offers to buy your house

Post by HardKnocker »

Tamales wrote:I'm wondering if unsolicited offers to buy your house have become pervasive nationwide in the US. In my small sample of mostly western US cities, several people I've talked to are also getting a fair number of these "I will buy your home as-is" letters in the mail.

The letters I've received all have a similar format: You don't need to do any repairs, I will give you a fair price, pay all closing costs, and I will work around your timeline.

Some of the offers are probably legitimate house fixer-uppers (house flippers), and some are probably scams to case your home's contents and security.

In thinking about the legitimate cases, how would you go about assessing how fair the offer is?

The offer would have to be less than market value, because the flipper has costs and needs to make a profit. So I guess the first thing you'd need to do is get an appraisal so you have a reference.
I don't think these are legit market value offers.

They are inquiries to find a homeowner who will sell at an low-ball all-cash price.

These types of letters are a common way for real estate investors/speculators to find opportunities like this.
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Saving$
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Re: Unsolicited offers to buy your house

Post by Saving$ »

I get these all the time. Probably 6-8/week. Got one this week in which the investment company enclosed a 12 page purchase agreement contract all filled out except for the price... I figure if they are for real, they would offer a price.
Lafder
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Re: Unsolicited offers to buy your house

Post by Lafder »

Junk mail. I got one on a rental I was actually thinking of selling. I called the # and left a message twice and never got a call back. So much for having cash buyers! I was more interested in hearing what they would give me than actually selling.
lafder
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Re: Unsolicited offers to buy your house

Post by Professor Emeritus »

HueyLD wrote:Is the offer from "We buy ugly houses" group?

They are looking for desperate people who are willing to sell the house at 50% of the market value. That's what they call "fair value." As a test, you can estimate the MV from Zillow and counter offer at 200% of the Zillow value. I guarantee that you won't hear from them again, ever!
I just got an unsolicited offer for easily 90% of my house value. Turned it down .
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