16 Reasons To Sell Your House to an iBuyer
Updated: Mar 7, 2021
Have you recently been thinking of selling your house?
If so, you may have heard about iBuyers. Maybe, you’re considering selling your house to one too.
But what exactly are iBuyers? And should you sell your house to one?
In this in-depth article, we’ll explore 16 reasons why you should sell your house directly to an iBuyer.
But first, let’s answer the question we touched on above - What exactly is an iBuyer?
The short answer: An iBuyer is a company that typically makes fast, cash offers for properties in their as-is condition.
iBuyers differ from a traditional real estate sale because they make an offer to purchase your house directly from you, without the need to go through the trouble and time of a conventional listing and sale.
Now that we know what iBuyers are let’s jump into why you’d want to sell your house to one.
You Will Not Have to Make Any Expensive Repairs to the Property
One of the great things about selling to an iBuyer is they will not ask you to do any repairs to the property before closing.
It’s almost guaranteed that a traditional buyer will ask you to make costly repairs before the deal closes.
When a traditional buyer sees something in an inspection report they don’t like; they can ask you to repair it.
Especially if there’s anything wrong with a major system.
Did your HVAC just die?
Are your pipes leaking
Is the electrical not up to code?
A traditional buyer will ask you to spend thousands of dollars to fix it.
An iBuyer won’t care.
iBuyers Don’t Ask For Concessions
When you sell your house to a traditional buyer, they will most likely ask you for seller concessions.
Seller concessions typically come in the form of down payment assistance or other contributions towards closing costs.
For example, if a buyer has to bring $20,000 in total closing costs to the table, they may ask you to contribute $5,000 to help soften the blow.
You can deny or reduce the concessions you’re willing to offer, but that could jeopardize the sale.
iBuyers will not ask you for seller concessions.
Some iBuyers Will Offer to Pay Closing Costs
Not only will iBuyers not ask you to contribute towards their closing costs, but they will likely offer to help pay your portion of the closing costs.
Typical seller closing costs include:
City and county transfer tax.
Recording fees.
Escrow fees.
Title search fees.
Many iBuyers will offer to pay these costs for you.
iBuyers Can Close on Your Timeline
A challenging part of selling your house traditionally is the timing of it all.
You have to list your house and wait to get offers.
Then, buyers may only be concerned with their needs.
And buyers can run into delays with their financing or include a home sale contingency, which makes the entire deal contingent on their house selling.
All of these things add unpredictable elements to when you’ll be able to close the deal.
iBuyers are often able to work on your timeline. They can close quickly, sometimes as fast as seven days.
Additionally, they can offer an extended escrow period if you need more time to prepare to move.
iBuyers offer a level of certainty in terms of timing that a traditional buyer cannot.
iBuyers Don’t Charge Realtor Commissions
What’s the single most expensive line item you have to pay when selling your house?
Agent commissions!
You can avoid realtor commissions by trying to sell FSBO, or you can sell your house directly to an iBuyer, as they do not charge you realtor commissions.
You Won’t Have to Wait to Get an Offer off the MLS
As we mentioned above, one of the things that’s tricky about selling to a traditional buyer is the timing.
When you sell to an iBuyer, they will work with you to close on your timeline.
iBuyers Don’t Care About The Inspection Results
When selling a house, you never know how a buyer will respond to the inspection results.
Many real estate sales fall through because a buyer didn’t like something in the inspection.
Traditional buyers are likely to:
Ask you to perform pricey repairs to the property before closing.
Negotiate a lower price.
Back out of the deal entirely.
iBuyers typically plan on buying houses that need work and try to factor in any anticipated repairs into their offer.
It’s unlikely an iBuyer would back out of buying your house based on an inspection’s results.
However, if they are expecting the foundation is in good condition, but the inspection shows there’s $20,000 worth of foundation repairs needed, they’ll probably want to renegotiate with you.
You Won’t Have to Pay to Stage the Property
Staging a property is highly recommended when you decide to list your house on the market.
But staging can be expensive, and not everyone can pay for it.
Staging is great because it allows people to visualize themselves living in the property. And this helps them form an emotional connection with the house.
It doesn’t matter to iBuyers if the property is staged, as they have no intention of living in it.
iBuyers Typically Use Cash or Specialized Loans
When a traditional buyer submits an offer for your house, you have to consider the type of financing they’re using.