If you’re interested in, or actively trying your property you’ll run into a couple of groups of individuals that can help you. Mainly these are either real estate agents or real estate investors. In this blog we’ll talk about 3 ways to tell those 2 groups apart inKansas City. We’ll also let you know when you want to try and work with one versus the other…
Thinking about selling your house? You’ll likely run into both real estate agents as well as investors who will be able to help you sell your home. However, the sales process indifferent between these 2 groups. These two groups work in different ways, and many times the one group doesn’t really understand the other. To help you make the distinction here are 3 ways to tell real estate agents and investors apart in Kansas City.
Ways To Tell Real Estate Agents And Investors Apart In Kansas City: List Versus Buy
The most straghtforward method to determine whether someone is an investor is to ask them what they plan to do with the house – list it or sell it. Real estate agents will list your home, usually on an MLS (Multiple Listing Service) where they will try to find a buyer for your home. In this process they will likely be showing the property to many individuals to get a commitment from a potential buyer.
An investor on the other hand will not list your property – the investor themselves is the buyer and they will buy your house from you directly. (That’s what we do at Fair Home Offer KC – we’re buyers and we buy houses in Kansas City. If you want to sell your house, click here and enter your information to find out how much we can pay).
Ways To Tell Real Estate Agents And Investors Apart In Kansas City: Timeline To Sell
The next way to tell agents and investors apart is to ask them how soon they can close on the home. An agent might tell you an estimation, but generally they won’t know because they have to find the buyer first. In many cases, they might be looking at 3-12 months during which they’ll show the house to multiple potential buyers, go through inspections, do negotiations, and wait for a bank to get financing together.
An investor, though, will know exactly how long it will take to buy your house as they are the buyer. They generally don’t need to do inspections, financing contingencies, and drawn out negotiations. They will have an exact timeline (which could depend on you and how quickly you want to sell) that will be in the 1-4 week range!
Ways To Tell Real Estate Agents And Investors Apart In Kansas City: Commission Versus No Commission
This one is crucial! An agent makes their money when they find a buyer. Once the home closes you have to pay them a commission out of the proceeds of the home at closing (which could be somewhere around 6% of the sale price… or $6,000 on a $100,000 house).
An investor, however, isn’t listing your house so there aren’t any commissions. Unless the investor has their real estate license, they cannot legally accept commissions on a property. That’s because an investor will make money by either renting the house to a tenant or fixing up the house and selling it… so they make their money in a different way. They make their money off of ownership of the property, and not through providing a service to the homeowner.
There are other ways to tell an agent or investor apart. Of course the easiest way to find out is to just ask… they’ll tell you!