A past client asked me to weigh in and I wanted to share – in case this may also apply to you.
They received an unsolicited letter in the mail offering to buy their house for $255,000. Cash with a Quick Close. They claimed to be a local real estate investor.
After a bit of digging, here are my initial findings/thoughts:
- The letter writer, Simba Growth LLC, turned out not to be a local real estate investment company. Instead, they are a California-registered company, and the principle is a California-licensed real estate agent. 🚩
- Now, I am not biased toward investment companies. During the past year, I’ve had many clients receive offers from investment companies. Some were reputable, and some were not. We have successfully closed with a number of them. However, we have sent more packing. There are many reasons for that which I’d be glad to talk over with you. There are pros and cons to every deal. While the pros can be pretty darn enticing, the cons can be really bad. So it is extremely important to vet them carefully
- The purchase contract they put forth was poorly written 🚩and not one that provides the Seller many protections 🚩that a standard Indiana form would. Worse, it gave the Buyer many outs and the Seller very little control over the whole process. Thus, the odds of this proposed transaction being closed timely or at the price offered were very slim. IMHO.
- This proposed transaction would require the Seller to find a new home (not always an easy task, esp in this market) and move within 30 days. That’s a very short timeline from several angles. For example: Find a New Home, Get Financed, and Move All Within 30 Days. (Remember this Offer was unsolicited…) And all the while, Simba Growth still has the right to back out. Ouch!
- Now for the Offer itself, I found three very similar homes in the Seller’s subdivision that sold during the past six months. All were considerably smaller in size and sold for $11-28,000 more. 🚩So the 255K purchase price offered was not a good deal. The Seller could, in all likelihood, net more dollars (even after paying realtor fees) going a different route- and have more security and comfort in the process.
So if something doesn’t seem right, call a Trusted Resource. Always happy to weigh in!
We work harder to make good things happen!
