One of my favorite lines from the movie, “Jerry Maguire is “show me the money.” It depicts all that is true when it comes to selling your house. If the truth be told… all sellers want top dollar, want to spend as little money as possible, want no contingencies, want zero inspections and appraisals, want all cash and oh yeah, no repairs with a close on a date of their choosing… AND… the house is being sold as is. For most sellers it is a pipe dream, a fantasy, but it is what most sellers want… A Buyer with a bag of cash and no demands with a closing date of the sellers choice.

It Really Depends on the house: Target the Right Buyers and Call it SOLD!

It is a fantasy right? Well, Maybe NOT.

Real estate has changed dramatically in the past ten years and depending on the condition, location, age and price of your house you have challenges even in this sellers market. Experts can tout that sales are up year over year, (they are) that prices are up (they also are) that there are less homes than buyers or talk about the lack of new construction going on. It’s all true, but for the greatest swath of Sacramento valley homeowners your house and its condition is really the only determining factor for who buys it and and what the price will be.

Sure the comparable sales will have to be validated by the appraisal and the house will be inspected at least one and as many as 4 times. But, there is a vast difference between the top of the market and the bottom of the market in every single price range and if your house sits at the bottom 40% in anyone of those given price brackets, it is arguably the best time to sell that ugly and run down house, that has been plaguing you a nickle and a dime at a time. The best time, because even your house has received a generous price bump based solely on the market conditions.

Guaranteed Interest & Sale from Cash Home Buyers in Sacramento

If your house needs a lot of work and has suffered through years of neglect and deferred maintenance, there are cash home buyers in Sacramento, just like me that are ready to buy your house as is, right now. If it Needs repairs? Please dont touch it. Needs New doors, trim, baseboards, windows, floors, kitchen, bath, siding, roofing and paint? You wont add value. You’ll merely catch up with the rest of the market, but you will never get the cost of those repairs back depending on your mortgage balance… Don’t Replace the panes of glass in the single pane wood framed pulley windows? That won’t add value. The list of things that you should NOT do to time and waste money on that house is long and yet the advice that you will get from most real estate agents is just plain WRONG. They will want you to fix everything.

The law of diminishing returns comes to mind here. It is something that I learned a long time ago on may way to an honorary masters degree in fixing houses. My name is Peter Westbrook and besides being a cash home buyer , I am also a general contractor and I can assure you that unless you are going to add real value.. adding a new bedroom or master suite, any improvement that you make to your existing house that is not perfect will never recoup those cost. How do I know? I have that honorary masters degree and I said so. Besides that, I know what my cost are and I can assure you that what I do for myself will cost you at least 30% to 40% more if you hire me or anyone like me. It really is that simple.

So my second bit of advice for homeowners of UGLY houses is that hiring a real estate agent adds a layer of cost to you and me and it depletes your EQUITY because the seller pays commissions. But if you are stubborn and you read this and hire a realestate agent anyway, be prepared for the house to just sit like the other 40% of houses that clog the multiple listing service and that expire before they receive an accepted offer. Your house with all of the work that it needs is more valuable to a Sacramento real estate investor in its as is condition than a retail buyer fixed up. If you want to sell your troubled house for the most amount of money in the shortest amount of time without spending thousands of dollars on repairs and upgrades, then talk to the experts that buy those types of houses.

Even if you hire a good real estate agent, they are just going to call me anyway and why hand over an insane amount of your EQUITY for a referral when you can call me direct.

(209)481-7780

The good real estate agents are not going to waste any time with it. They will call me, collect their 4% to 6% commission (for both the seller and buyers side of the transaction and move on). No Marketing and probably not even a sign in the yard. The mediocre real estate agent is going to try and sell your house the conventional way and try to talk you into tens of thousands in repairs to list and compete at the top. When you are finished doing all of that work in 6 months we’ll see what the market is doing then and whether you can recoup those cost?

What to Do For Houses that Don’t Need a Lot of Work?

If you have a House in the top 60% of those same price brackets, you need to step up your game because your house is going to get hit with the competition and that means any buyers and their lenders are going to order inspections, appraisals, requests for repairs and updates and the buyer’s will be relentless because they want MOVE IN READY!

So for all you sellers, your takeaway is simple.. in order to sell your house you must resort to a massive marketing campaign to get the most amount of buyers in the door. In a world where the 87% of all real estate agents wash out within 5 years, their experience in marketing may just be the MOST OBVIOUS WEAKNESS!!!!

Some agents are better than others and let’s just say others should reread the chapters on marketing again. Even then, it is doubtful that a chapter or two in marketing is going to fix a lack of experience in dealing with sellers and their expectations for their houses. Some of the best real estate agents that I know understand the value of not signing a listing agreement with sellers that have unrealistic pricing demands or house that cannot “pass the muster”. The rookie agent that is starving and needs to sign up anything and everything just places properties is listing purgatory hoping that one or the other closes. The houses tend to just linger and bleed cash for their owners because they are rudderless. It is an ongoing problem especially when there are so many other channels to sell a house that has serious challenges such as years of deferred maintenance.

But, finding the right buyer for any house is a numbers game and there are rules and protocols that you must follow. Buyers, whether they know it or not are led by those conventions as well. They are rounded up and taught to shop in a certain manner and of course with the help of a real estate agent it is all so sophisticated. Right? It is all done their way.

The truth is that Sacramento home buyers have a range of vastly different needs but that doesn’t mean that you need to concoct a different strategy for each and every one that might be interested in buying your house. Preparing your house and creating a strategy can be universal and that helps increase the marketability of your house and will most likely increase the number of home showings and pave the way for a variety of offers.

Before the Marketing begins, the parade of interested buyers traipse through your house and your agent plants that sign in the front yard… use that planning and strategically prepare your house in this sellers market to “Sell My House fast in Sacramento” buy choosing the very best real estate agent. It cost you more to hire the worst than it does the best and the secret is that they get paid the same. The difference is their effort and experience. Let someone else hire friends and family… this is business and about you keeping as much equity as you can.

Then ask yourself… “am I really prepared to do what it takes to sell my house fast in Sacramento? Remember, selling your house is a commitment, of time and money, but it also needs a plan to sell.

Here are 6 Ways To Attract Home Buyers in Sacramento

1. Price Your House Just Under the Fair Market Value

This might seem counterintuitive: but setting a lower price than what the market expectation is will generate traffic and interest. All too often buyers set prices above the known real estate thresholds and lock otherwise well qualified would be buyers out.

When potential buyers are looking at homes, they are looking for specifics on size, location, condition, and price. When the first three qualifiers are equal, then the buyers will look at the price as the primary sorting factor. In markets where there are a lot of buyers looking for homes, a lower price gets more people walking through.

A good agent then holds open houses where droves of people “ooh and ahh” over your home because what they are looking for…. These situations often get multiple offers giving you the seller the ability to negotiate the counter offers to what would be the fair market price, often higher than what you would have listed for if you didn’t list it at a lower than normal price.

2. Order Home Inspections in Advance

As the seller, you need to strategically make some moves and be intuitive and show buyers that you are serious and that you have confidence in your house. As a home builder and general contractor, I can tell you for a fact that all homes have issues. Whether they are from normal wear and tear, deferred maintenance or just plain neglect, every house has something that needs to be fixed. Some of those items are obvious and will reveal themselves in a home inspection.

So, if we know that 98% of “interested buyers” are going to want up to 3 inspections, don’t you think it might be a good idea to get in front of that train and order at least one inspection in advance? Be preemptive and take the conversation away from the buyers before they start. This is not to say that you dont want them to order their own inspection. As a matter of fact, you do, as it will help you with your seller disclosures. Each inspection will be listed and doing so will demonstrate that you were more than open about the condition of your house prior to the sale. It is both proactive and preemptive.

Preemptive, because once you have that report in hand, you can sit down and assess the condition of the house as it sits today. That information is powerful and with that report you can easily ascertain what your cost of repairs are in advance and compare it to what the house would sell for if you just sold it as is. You will be in a better position to know if and what you need to do to sell your house with each of the selling options.

At that point it is a business decision and your analysis will allow you to move to step 2 and sell with a clear conscious.

3. Make the Necessary Repairs and Paint

If you know something needs to be fixed, fix it. This may seem like common sense but many homeowners think they will wait to see what happens when buyers start looking at the house. Buyers will eventually find out about non-working appliances, leaky roofs and stubborn plumbing issues.

How? Well, first you are required by law to disclose anything you know as a problem. Second, if you happen to not be aware of the problem, the home inspection will surely discover it. Buyers will request repairs or credits – so you will pay for it one way or another.

It is so much easier to disclose repairs, maintenance, and upgrades made while people are looking. It expedites the escrow process from lengthy repair requests and gives potential buyers the confidence to know you were a responsible homeowner that has taken care of what may be their new home.

4. Make Cost Effective Updates

Normally, updating and beautifying your home is a sure-fire way to get more potential buyers in the door. However, many sellers make the mistake of making too many upgrades or upgrading things that do not increase the property value. Some people even make upgrades that end up blowing the budget and the sale before they even get started by adding a swimming pool or a pond that just creates more work in a buyers mind that otherwise liked the house.

Before you rent a backhoe, tear up the outside decking or even take a sledgehammer to the bathroom wall or two, consider making only the necessary repairs and only the upgrades that will pay for themselves by substantially increasing your home’s value. Scratch making a trip to Home Depot to buy all new fixtures and appliances, that are going to sit in a room while they wait to be installed or worse yet thrown away by the new owners.

5. Declutter Inside and Out

Decluttering your home can seem overwhelming especially if your family has been in the home for years. Things accumulate in closets, kitchen counters and sprawl to the garage and laundry rooms. Clutter isn’t attractive and makes a home feel smaller.

If you are looking to sell, it means you are looking to move. So take this opportunity to be proactive and start getting rid of things you’re going to toss out or donate. Pack up items you haven’t used and have a yard sale or rent a storage unit. Do not just move things from the house to the garage.

Once everything is clean, you then give the home a good deep cleaning.

6. Stage the Property

No one likes spending money if there is not going to be a return on investment and that may be why real estate agents get push back on staging from clients every day. The truth is that unless you have the right professional stager it may not matter. Most sellers don’t understand the need to add the expense of staging, but it does payoff.

Stagers are like real estate agents. Interview them. Just because a real estate agent recommends one doesn’t mean that they have all that much experience. Ask for references and pictures and if you suspect that the stager is your real estates agents sister, ask how they know each other.

Keep in mind that staging doesn’t always mean moving everything that you own out and renting all new furnishings. It can simply mean working with a skilled decorator to rearrange existing furniture, remove personal family photos and rearranging art.

All that decluttering is a good start. It is your job to make the home look like the home everyone can visualize themselves living in.

If after all of this and you sit back and think… maybe there is an easier way. What if you look at your house and you determine, with the high cost of commissions, all of the repairs and the time and effort to market and and no guarantees to sell fast. May be it will be a net/net wash if just sell the house as is to a cash home buyer in Sacramento.

The Alternative to a Real Estate Agent

My name is Peter Westbrook and I am a real estate Investor and a cash home buyer in Sacramento, Stockton, Manteca and Modesto. It should come as no surprise that not every house is going to get a fair shake on the market have the best representation or even going to get a top of market offer. The real estate industry has changed and it might be clear that there are many ways to cash out of your house.

We Buy Houses in Sacramento, Stockton and Modesto and if you are thinking about selling your house and it needs a lot of work, why not at least consider an all cash offer. We buy houses and we pay fair market value minus the cost of repairs and some holding cost. In a lot of cases the balance sheet is on our side especially if your goal is to spend the least amount of money while putting the most amount of your equity back in your pocket.

I admit that we may not be for everyone, but I would like to talk to you about how we do business and how we can help you. While no one can promise that they will buy your house sight unseen for whatever amount that you want, we will sit down and make a fair cash offer that will in most cases exceed what you can get if you chased the market conventionally. No Commissions, no frustrating meeting with real estate agents, no marketing, no cleaning, no fixes, inspections, no appraisals and no contingencies.

Give me a call at (209)481-7780. What have you got to lose, you may just find out that selling directly to us is your best alternative. In either case you will be get a better picture of your options, understand your houses worth and be able to make more informed decision. We’d love to earn your business.