Yes, I know they’re scummy as fuck. Yes I know they’re gonna turn it into yet another overpriced rental. But I’m mostly asking if they’re otherwise legit.
I get those offers all the time and typically shitcan them immediately. The most recent offer I got is for twice what I paid for the place, and honestly, it’s enough to be my ticket out of this backwards-ass shithole state. Otherwise, barring a surprise lottery windfall, I’m stuck here for the foreseeable future.
Assuming all is above board, the main concern I have is if it’s worth that much to them, wouldn’t it be worth that much to me? FWIW, I like my house and my neighborhood, but it sadly exists within a shithole of a redneck state where I’ve been disenfranchised all my life, and I want the fuck out of here.
Edit: Thanks everyone. I knew they were scammy/scummy but several of the replies cleared up how they operate, and it’s scammier than even I was thinking. Back to buying my weekly lottery ticket and hoping for the best. 🤞
If they offered twice what you paid for and you want to sell and get out, put your house in the market for three or four times what you paid for and see what happens.
What happens is you’ll get a cashier’s check that bounces. A lot of these “We Buy Your House” scams are effectively just check-bouncing scams, where they try to get the title to your home in their names without offering real payment.
Once the house is in their name, the law is on their side. You securing payment from them is far more difficult than them evicting you.
If you negotiate a contract and the other party fails to fulfill their obligations, the law is not going to be on their side even if they got paperwork signed.
Obviously a court is not going to support an eviction if that eviction is part of a fraud. That’s ridiculous.
You would be surprised. The folks running these scams know the law (and the bureaucrats who actually manage it) way better than you. And they know the buttons to press that fast-track their complaints against you way better than you know the defenses you can employ.
This isn’t a question of the strict legal verbiage or the spirit of the law. This is a question of experience navigating bureaucracies, and the general bias they show in favor of landlords over tenants. They’ll be able to move faster because they’ve done this (or worked with people who have done this) repeatedly. Unless you’ve got an (often expensive) legal counsel, you’ll be stuck trying to explain yourself to a sheriff or a judge long after your title has been traded to a third party who doesn’t care if you were ever rightfully compensated for your sale or not.
And if you could afford private legal counsel you wouldn’t be considering selling to this kind of scummy service in the first place.
They know exactly who their “customers” are.
Can you provide a single example of someone buying a house with a check that bounces and successfully evicting the rightful owners despite not paying for the house?
Where I live that transaction would be void by statute. No court would process an eviction or lien if they the buyer did a felony to get the deed signed over.
I havent seen that but I have seen several examples out of Texas (youtube news segments) where someone straight up forges sale documents, demolishes the house, and then the property rapidly changes hands between shell companies before landing in the portfolio of a developer.
Legal evictions aren’t a rapid process. There would be plenty of time to provide the court with documents proving fraud.
Why would you transfer the deeds to the property before the cheque clears?
Many people don’t realize that the money enters your account some time before the check clears and can be clawed back if it later bounces.
not in Australia. The funds aren’t there in your lawyers or conveyancers escrow account, then it doesn’t happen.
Also, no ones paying with a cheque (check) either, those days are loooong past. They’re not even legal in Australia after 30 June 28.
The person you’re replying to is saying to avoid the scammy buyer offering 2x, and instead list normally at 3-4x.
That won’t do anything to avoid scammers.
Yes it will.
When you sell your house “normally” through a real estate company it is the real-estate company who acts as an intermediary in the transaction. They collect money from the buyer, then pay you, and the transaction completes.
The real estate agent takes a cut for their services, but there is less potential for fraud than if the buyer sends you money direct. The real estate company has a vested interest in making sure the sale goes through properly, because they won’t get their cut otherwise.
It’s the title company that does that, not the real estate agent.
Thanks for the correction.
Regardless, an impartial third party does it, and that’s the key part in making you less likely to be scammed.