Thinking about selling your house? You’ll likely connect with some people who want to help you. Usually, you will end up talking to two types of people – agents and investors (some are both). In this blog post we will show you the difference between real estate agents and investors in Virginia Beach, and help you decide who you may want to partner with to sell your house.
Not every type of a businessman will fit your situation in the best way. In other words, depending on what the condition of your house is, how much time and money you want to put in it to fix it up perfectly, or how much hassle you want to deal with, these things will make one type of professional (either investor or an agent) more suitable for you when you are thinking about selling your house in Virginia Beach.
Ways To Tell Real Estate Agents And Investors Apart In Virginia Beach: List Versus Buy
The easiest way to tell agents from investors is to ask what they are going to do with your house – list it or buy it. A real estate agent will list your house on a listing service and they’ll try to find a buyer. They might need to show it to several people in order to find one buyer.
An investor would not list your house for sale, but rather buy it directly from you. Sometimes for cash, sometimes in a different type of arrangement, such as with monthly payments. The house may end up being compltely rehabbed and sold, or kept as a rental. (That’s what we do at Coastal Edge Homebuyers – we’re buyers and we buy houses in Virginia Beach. If you want to sell your house, click here and enter your information to find out how much we can pay).
On the other hand, if a professional wants to list your house for sale, that means they are a real estate agent. They work on a commission and will help you sell the house. They will probably list the house in a number of different outlets and show it to potential buyers. The agent will probably ask you to clean up and fix the house.
Ways To Tell Real Estate Agents And Investors Apart In Virginia Beach: Timeline To Sell
Another way to tell the professionals apart is when you ask them when will the house be sold. An agent will not know for sure, since they will ask you to do a number of things and then they have to list the house, do showings, etc. This may take a while, sometimes a 1-3 months.
An investor on the other hand, will tell you exactly how much they are going to pay for the house and you can even choose your closing date. And this may take as little as one week in some cases. In essence, the investor will have an exact timeline (which will also depend on you and how quickly you want to sell).
Ways To Tell Real Estate Agents And Investors Apart In Virginia Beach: Commission Versus No Commission
This is important – the agents make their money from the commission of selling your house. It is usually 6% in Virginia. So, the percentage is usually split in half between the selling agent (the one who is helping you sell the house) and the buying agent (representing the buyer). So, using some simple math, the real estate agents will get 6% of your selling price, which, on a $250,000 house is $15,000.
On the other hand, investors do not make this type of commission. Their money will come from flipping the house, or renting it out to other buyers. Of course, you can always ask and the real estate professional should tell you if they are an agent, investor, or both.