SHOULD I USE AN AGENT? — Selling your house is one of the biggest decisions you can make – it might also be the largest financial transaction of your lifetime. When you have an urgent reason to sell, it can be a bit overwhelming to find the best option to get it sold. You want the best guidance possible from someone who has a thorough understanding of your specific circumstances and the current housing market. The first impulse homeowners have is to contact a real estate agent, after all, there are many great agents out there who have local market expertise and can offer advice. But many agents are focused on one type of transaction, one that prepares a house for the best and most marketing exposure possible in order to get the highest offer possible. That is a perfect goal for some sellers, but it may not be desirable for all sellers to put in a lot of time and money just to get a house listed. If you’re wondering ‘how do I sell my house fast in Chicago’ and you’re interviewing realtors, then make sure you ask purposeful questions. Below we discuss some important aspects of hiring an agent, and why you may want to look into other options when you want to sell your house fast in Chicago.
Sell My House Fast in Chicago – the agent relationship
A real estate agent should be most concerned with meeting your needs and goals, and should be focused on cultivating a relationship with you that goes beyond just the one transaction. An agent should make the time to listen to your circumstances and the reason you’re selling. If an agent doesn’t actively listen to you or in any way gives you the impression they conduct business in less than a professional manner by breaking rules, it should be a red flag that this isn’t the right agent for you. Settling for just any agent who doesn’t really care about the people involved or professionalism is one of the biggest mistakes to make when hiring an agent.
Sell My House Fast in Chicago – the agent’s use of technology
Technology has become a large part of today’s real estate industry. If your potential real estate agent indicates that technology it not important in selling your home, you’ll find that marketing your house will be very difficult. Failing to have your listing available to potential buyers online means missing out on exposure to a vast majority of buyers. Your agent should also be recommending a professional stager, photographer, and videographer who can bring out the best in your home. The goal is to attract buyers who are looking at your house online, and to get them to take the time to physically come see your house. Under no circumstances should a realtor be satisfied with taking grainy cell phone photos of your home, with the rooms over crowded with furniture and the counters cluttered with personal items.
Sell My House Fast in Chicago – the agent’s understanding of privacy
If you’re asking yourself how do I sell my house fast in Chicago, you may be going through a life event or have inherited a house and you want to keep the sale as private as possible. Being able to trust an agent to respect that privacy and keep all conversations with potential buyers professional is very important when you want to sell your house fast in Chicago. Take your time when meeting with a potential agent, and listen to how they speak of other clients and their peers. If you feel uncomfortable with the amount of information the agent is sharing, you’ll likely feel uncomfortable with what they will share about your situations with others as well since this is likely a habit that will carry over. Besides feeling the agent is sharing too much about your personal business, the information the agent reveals to other can definitely have an impact on your profits in the deal.
Sell My House Fast in Chicago – the agent’s use of showings and open houses
Pay attention to whether your agent is relying heavily on open houses to attract buyers, they might be very inexperienced, overwhelmed with the number of clients they’re dealing with, or simply not interested in networking or marketing your house to the fullest extent. An experienced real estate agent understands that marketing is a combination of attracting interest online, an occasional open house, and through networking with other agents and clients. Also remember there is no guarantee that you’ll find an interested buyer who will make the offer your want quickly. Some homeowners find themselves waiting weeks or even months for the right offer, and in the meantime the house must be kept ready for a showing at any moment. There are some realtors out there who don’t hold open houses at all, and that’s usually a sign it’s not the right realtor as well.
How Can I Sell My House Fast in Chicago Without an Agent
If you’re asking yourself ‘how can I sell my house fast in Chicago‘ you should know you have options. Using a real estate agent isn’t the only way to sell a house, and isn’t the right fit for every seller or every real estate situation. An agent normally is accustomed to working with clients who want to get the very top selling price possible and who have the time and money to invest into a house to get top dollar. There are many circumstances that make a traditional home selling process the wrong choice for homeowners, and they need to know what the options are in order to determine whether they’re ready to sell a house off-market. If you are experiencing any of the following situations and you’d like to review your circumstances to see if selling your house directly to a cash home buyer is the right option for you, please give Kendall Partners a call today at (630) 389-8232 to speak with one of our friendly team members. We’re professional and discreet, and we can help guide you through selling your home quickly and without the hassle of a traditional home sale. Curious about Kendall Partners? Check out our 5 star Google reviews here to see what our satisfied sellers are saying about working with us. Below are some common circumstances and life events that can make owning a house very burdensome and which require a different way to sell, including selling a distressed property or a fixer-upper, selling an unwanted inherited property or a rental property, and selling due to a life event that puts extra stress on trying to sell.
Selling an Outdated or Distressed Property in Need of Major Repairs
The condition of a house is one of the main issues in any home sale, whether it’s a traditional sale or not. Often a buyer’s inspection will reveal issues the owner wasn’t aware of. An inspector is usually hired by the buyer to thoroughly investigate all the major mechanical systems of a house, its structural integrity, and even the cosmetic components, too. Often in an effort to create value in their reports, inspectors will inadvertently cause a buyer to become fearful that house or systems in it are defective in some way. Many inspectors’ reports magnify normal wear-and-tear or weathering, and the buyer assumes these are issues such as mold, water intrusion, or other major problems. This can cost the seller a lot of money when they have to either repair these perceived issues to finalize the sale, give a credit or price reduction, or cancel the deal and go back on the market looking for another buyer – with no guarantee of receiving the same or higher offer.
So what should a seller do when they already know there is a mold issue, seepage issue in the basement, structural issue, or when the entire house needs major renovation and they just don’t have the time or can’t afford to put the money in either before listing it or during the transaction? If you’re wondering, ‘how do I sell my house fast in Chicago‘ and you don’t have time, money, or the ability to manage a large renovation project, you still have the option of selling your house directly to a professional cash home buyer. A cash home buyer will listen to your unique circumstances and the condition of the house, and will be able to buy your house directly from you without your having to make any repairs or upgrades to the home. This saves you the time, money, and hassle of trying to clean a house out and make a lot of repairs or remodeling it. The truth is very few homeowners have the option of putting a lot of money into a distressed house in order to list it with a realtor.
Inheriting an Unwanted House
If you’ve recently inherited a house, you have a lot of options. You might want to clean it out, clean it up, and get it ready for a tenant. Keep in mind that just like making a lot of repairs and upgrades to sell it, you’ll put a lot of time, money, and energy into going the route of becoming a landlord. Unless you’re already an experienced landlord or you can afford to pay a property management company to handle it for you, you’ll need to figure out how to find qualified tenants and keep them, how to set up payment receipt methods, how to track down late rent and keep tenants paying on time, who will be making emergency repairs when there are property issues, and of course, you’ll be opening yourself up to all the legal issues that come with being a landlord. Consider the struggles many landlords encountered during the Coronavirus pandemic, when the ability to evict for nonpayment of rent was no longer allowed. While no landlord wants to evict a tenant, they were still required to pay their bills without the ability to collect rent.
Heirs of an out-of-state property have the challenge of trying to sell from afar, and simply cannot get away from their own jobs and families in order to meet a realtor and manage the sale of a property. And the vast majority of inherited houses are not only also distressed properties, but they sometimes turn out to be so full of personal contents and in such bad condition that just cleaning the house out using a junk removal company would cost thousands of dollars. On top of it, just owning a property – whether it’s liveable or not – costs money. If there was a mortgage, the payment is still due. Property taxes continue to accrue on a daily basis. Utilities still need to be on in order to keep the property from having further damage while it sits vacant. The grass still needs to be mowed and snow shoveled from the sidewalks to avoid violations from the city.
Unexpected Life Events
Selling a house when life is going well is hard enough, but sometimes the sale of a house coincides with – or caused by – an unexpected change in circumstances which put extra pressure and time constraints on the need to sell. The sudden loss of a job, a job transfer, an emergency health crisis in the family or the loss of a family member, divorce, or even just the desire to move out of state, downsize, or be closer to aging family members can all arise very quickly and without any warning. Adult children may find their parents health declining suddenly, and need to help their parents sell and move in a short amount of time. Not every homeowner has the flexibility to be able to go through a traditional home sale for the weeks or months it takes to do so. And if the property is already distressed, few families can afford the money needed to get the house ready during ‘normal’ times, let alone during stressful circumstances. The reality for many in similar situations is that time, money, and energy to deal with selling a house to a traditional home buyer using a realtor are all a luxury they just don’t have.
Kendall Partners – We Buy Houses Chicago
We work with homeowners each and every day to help solve their real estate problems. We’re a trusted, local cash home buyer, and we’ve buying houses since 2007. Many of the sellers we have helped are ready to sell a burdensome property they simply cannot afford to keep owning. When a house is distressed or has been neglected for decades, the major renovation and repairs needed can add up well into the tens of thousands of dollars. Some sellers have inherited a house only to find out it is a hoarder house, so full of contents a person can barely walk through – and the thought of spending thousands just to empty out the contents before even starting the remodeling is just too overwhelming and expensive. Some sellers have experienced a tragic event in the house, or the death of a loved one, and are ready to sell quickly and move on without the house being listed on the MLS with photos for everyone to see. Others simply are ready to downsize and move out of state, and want to do very quickly to be nearer to family members far away.
Kendall Partners is your trusted, local, professional home buying company. We’re different than other ‘cash homebuyers’ — we don’t wholesale your property. So when we sign a contract with you to buy your house, we actually buy your house with cash. This means you’re able to sell your house quickly, in as little as 14 days from the date of contract, or on a date of your choosing. You never have to worry about the deal falling through because we close on your house and take title to the property. We don’t look for any third party to step in and take over the contract — not only that, but we don’t use a lender so you never have to wait for a lender’s approval, or inspections, or appraisals. Our simple, straightforward process gives you peace of mind you need and a closing date so you know when you’ll have the property sold and can move on.
Since 2007, we have helped hundreds of homeowners where traditional real estate agents could not help. Our sellers skip cleaning out the property, making repairs and upgrades just to attract a buyer, and paying for marketing costs and photography and videos. Our sellers also skip the parade of showings at inconvenient times, cleaning between showings, and waiting around for potential buyers and their agents to negotiate a deal and finally get an offer in. They also skip the buyers’ inspection, their loan process and underwriting requirements to progress, the appraisal, and the possibility of having to shell out credit for inspection repairs. Last but not least, our sellers don’t have to pay for customary closing costs or for agent commissions. Our sellers receive a fair cash offer on a simple one-page contract which clearly states the selling price and that we pay all standard closing costs.
So what are sellers saying about working with Kendall Partners? Check out our testimonials here, and our 5 star Google reviews here. If you’re wondering ‘how will I sell my house fast in Chicago,’ we’d love to hear from you today and give you a no-obligation, fair cash offer on your house. Give us a call today at (630) 389-8232 or submit your information below to see if Kendall Partners is good fit for your unique selling circumstances.