I was recently speaking with a homeowner who asked me why I would be marketing his home primarily to investors. He had a nice 3 bedroom 1.5 bath colonial that needed a little updating and had some deferred maintenance. He owed substantially more than his home was worth, so the sale will be a short sale, contingent upon his banks approval. His impression of investors was similar to the way I portrayed some of the 'we buy houses' guys in one of my previous entries. He thought they were just hoping to rip him off.
I had to explain that many home buyers don't want to have to spend money fixing up a home once they have purchased it. Also, many home buyers aren't willing to wait the 3 months or more that a typical short sale may take to close. For these reasons it is usually an investor who is interested in these types of properties, especially in this particular part of South Jersey which is still a strong rental market. I explained that often times a professional investor, who buys and holds rental properties, is the buyer who will pay the most for a short sale because the investor knows exactly what it will cost to bring the property back to rentable condition, and he or she isn't inconvenienced by the long wait prior to closing.
With that being said, I did caution my client that not all investors are equal, which is why in this particular situation I believed that this homeowner was best served having an agent professionally represent him. Investors are profit driven and want to get homes at a discount, but not all of them go around making ridiculous low-ball offers. Many of the best have realized that they will make more money over time by gaining a reputation of purchasing homes at a fair pirce that still allows them room for a good return.
Joseph Cacciapaglia, MLERE
Realtor Associate®
R&I Realty
15 Potter Street
Haddonfield, NJ 08033
Office: 856.795.3111 x268
Cell: 979.218.2286
Jcacci1@gmail.com
Comments(0)