How Do I Get Cash For My House?
Do you have questions about selling your house in Philadelphia? Below, we answer some of our most frequently asked questions. If there is something else you would like t know, don’t hesitate to contact us (or give us a call) and we’ll be happy to answer it for you.
Q: Who are you? And what do you do?
A: I’m a lifelong Philadelphia resident who spent over 15 years working in the healthcare field turned house flipper. You can learn more about me on the “company page”.
Philly Home Investor is a company that pays cash for homes in Philadelphia and the surrounding counties. We buy them in any condition and all over the PA and New Jersey area. Soon to be expanding into the Florida region. We are the ideal alternative if you need to sell your house without the hassles of traditional listings. Even if time isn’t much of an issue, but still want to avoid the expenses and annoyance of listing your home for sale in PA with an agent, we are the perfect option.
Q: Is A “We Buy Houses” Company Right For Me?
“We are not desperate to sell our home in PA, nor are we in a hurry!”
Believe it or not, the majority of the sellers we have purchased houses in Philadelphia from were not desperate to sell (at all), nor were they trying to escape foreclosure. Most of our clients choose us simply because they either have had bad experiences with listing their house with an agent, or they just don’t want to deal with repairs, constant walk-throughs or any hassle one experiences selling a house the traditional way.
Q: Why Should I Choose You?
A: Honestly, you absolutely do not have to pick us at all.
We are not desperate. We do not need to make a huge profit on each deal. By all means, do not let me tell you why you should choose us. I will however tell you how we are different from the rest
- We are one of the top-ranked Home Buyers in Philadelphia – Don’t believe us just check out our Google Reviews. We do what we say and go through with the transaction. We are the popular choice
- We Focus on You – Whether we buy your Philadelphia house in cash or not we will treat you will respect and do our best to make you the highest offer on your house!
Q: Will you be listing my house on the MLS or actually buying it?
A: Great question. We’re not agents, and we don’t list houses. We are professional home buyers: We buy houses in Philadelphia that meet our purchasing criteria. From there we may repair the house and resell it to another homeowner or keep it as a rental ourselves.
Q: Do you pay fair prices for properties?
A: Yes! While our offers are not full retail, we will still pay you a fair cash price! When you think of the money you will save on commission, repairs, closing costs, marketing, and holding costs, selling directly may be the best way for you to sell! Many sellers appreciate that we can offer cash, we close very quickly, and there are no commissions or any other expenses. There is never any obligation when receiving an offer from Philly Home Investor. Under no means are you required to move forward with a sale, but it’s still nice to know what we can offer you!
[DOWNLOAD our free guide that walks you through the Pros and Cons (plus the cost and timeline) of selling your house to a real estate investor… plus learn the pros, cons, and costs of the other two alternatives… listing with an agent or selling it yourself. Head on over here download your free guide →]
Q: How do you determine the price to offer on my house?
A: Great question, and we’re an open book: Our process is very straightforward. We look at the location of the property, what repairs are needed, the current condition of the property, and the values of comparable houses sold in the area recently. We take many pieces of information into consideration… and come up with a fair price that works for us and works for you too.
Q: Are there any fees or commissions to work with you?
A: This is what makes us stand out from the traditional method of selling your house: There are NO fees or commissions when you sell your house to us. We’ll make you an offer, and if it’s a fit then we’ll buy your house (and we’ll often pay for the closing costs too!). No hassle. No fees. We make our money after we pay for repairs on the house (if any) and sell it for a profit (we’re taking all of the risks here on whether we can sell it for a profit or not, once we buy the house from you… the responsibility is ours and you walk away without the burden of the property and its payments.
Q: How are you different from a real estate agent?
A: Real estate agents list properties and hope that someone will buy them. The agent shows the properties to prospective buyers if there are any (the average time to sell a property in many markets right now is 6-12 months) and then takes a percentage of the sale price if they find a buyer. Oftentimes, the agent’s commission is 3-6% of the sale price of your house (so if it’s a $100,000 house, you’ll pay between $3,000 – $6,000 in commissions to an agent). Agents provide a great service for those that can wait 6-12 months to sell and who don’t mind giving up some of that sale price to pay for the commissions. But that’s where we’re different: We’re not agents, we’re home buyers. Our company actually buys houses. We don’t list houses. Since we’re the ones buying the house from you, and we pay with all cash… we can make a decision to buy your house within a couple of days. Again, we make our living by taking the risk to buy the house with our own cash, repair the house, and market it ourselves to find a buyer (which is the hard part in this market).
Q: Is there any obligation when I submit my info?
A: There is absolutely. Once you tell us a bit about your property, we’ll take a look at things, maybe set up a call with you to find out a bit more, and make you an all-cash offer that’s fair for you and fair for us. From there, it’s completely up to you whether or not you’d like to sell your house to us… and we won’t hassle you, won’t harass you… it’s 100% your decision and we’ll let you decide what’s right for you.
Q: Explain more about how we come up with our offer amount?
A: Great question. The way we price houses will depend on a number of variables, such as the style of the house, location of the house, size of the lot, renovations needed, exit strategy, etc. For simplicity’s sake, the way we determine how much we can pay for a standard project house (buy, fix, resale) is done fairly objectively. First, we determine how much the house will be worth once renovated (aka After repaired value or ARV). We do this by looking at the most recently sold homes in the area most similar to your property. Then we determine the dollar investment required to perform the renovations needed. Next, we determine our “estimated costs”, which are all of the other costs associated with the project such as taxes, insurance, utilities, closing costs, real estate commissions, transfer tax, etc. Then of course we determine a fair profit for ourselves dependent on the risk, workload, and other variables involved. Finally, we back out the renovation, soft costs, and desired profit from the ARV to come up with our offer.
A house on “Sunset” Drive we discovered can sell for $300,000 (the ARV) after performing the necessary renovation. It will require an investment of $60,000 in order to sell the house for that amount. The total soft costs are approximately $25,000. Our desired profit is 20% as figured by the amount of risk and work involved, or $40,000. Our offer would be the following:
$300,000 – $60,000 – $25,000 – $40,000 = $175,000
It is important to understand that the after repaired value means what the house COULD be worth once fixed. The as-is value is what the house IS worth in its current condition. Using the same example above, the as-is value of the home may be $200,000. After paying a real estate agent 6%, closing costs and continuing to pay carrying costs like taxes, insurance, and mortgage payments, our offer is very close to the seller’s net dollars after paying fees these expenses. Except without the hassle or stress.
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Q: Do you buy houses outside of the Philadelphia region?
A: Philly Home Investor only purchases homes in the greater Philadelphia region and surrounding counties including Bucks, Chester, Delaware, and Montgomery Counties. We also service the New Jersey area and starting in 2021 we will also be serving the Fort Myers, FL region. however, we have a network of other cash buyers and investors in other areas of the U.S. who we know and trust.
Q: Do you buy Vacant Land?
A: Yes, at Philly Home Investor we purchase both residential and commercial land all over the United States. Buying land is one of our favorite things to do and it’s so much easier since we don’t actually have to see the property or worry about its condition.
Q: Do you buy Self Storage Unit Facilities?
A: Yes, Philly Home Investor is actually one of the largest buyers of self-storage unit facilities all over the United States. Selling your self-storage facility with an agent or broker could cost you tons of fees and costly repairs. With us, we’ll give you a cash offer and close on your property FAST, which will save you both time and money.
Q: Is it a problem if my storage units are in bad shape?
A: We will purchase your self-storage units no matter what the condition is and how many repairs need to be made. We will evaluate your complex in “as-is” conditions and provide you with a fair cash offer. In short no matter, the condition or repairs needed we buy storage units in any condition, as-is.
Q: Can I see my self-storage units if some or all of the units are being rented?
A: Yes, regardless of how many units are being rented or now we will still make you an offer on your storage facility.
Q: What information do you require in order to get a cash offer?
A: In order to make you an accurate cash offer there are a few things we need to get from you first:
- Facility size
- Gross rent
- Any and all expenses
- Size of each unit being offered
- Rent prices
- Vacancy rates
- Is the property being managed by you or a management company
- Profit and loss statement if available
All of this information will allow us to calculate the property’s NOI (Net operating income). With this, we can move forward with a cash offer.
Suggested Website Pages
Market Data
These are some great websites to get an idea of what houses have sold for in your area, check them out. It’s important to make sure you compare what houses actually sold for – not the estimate given by the websites, which have been known to be an unreliable resource.