Companies who claim to be Cash Home Buyers in Denver seem to be everywhere nowadays. When you start to uncover the real truth behind a lot of these companies, you realize the first uncomfortable truth is many of these companies aren’t actually buying your house.
Cash Home Buyers in Denver – Are They the Right Option for You?
I’ve touched on this in other blog posts, like in my post from last week. Selling to an “investor” or “cash home buyer” brings a ton of benefits to homeowners in certain situations. Those benefits are most present when life throws you curveballs like personal financial situations, inheriting a property, damage from tenants, or other situations that require a sale directly to a home buyer instead of the traditional listing process.
The first uncomfortable truth is, many of these “cash buyers” attended a few networking meetings or a local weekend seminar and now think they can advertise themselves as cash buyers. With just a few hours of free education, do they have enough experience to guide you through the difficult situations I listed above? Likely not.
A legit company like Shamrock Homes (one of the few real cash home buyers in Denver) has been through these situations personally or with dozens of clients in their business history (we’ve helped over 100 homeowners since 2013).
Is Selling to a Cash Buyer Faster than a Traditional Sale?
It should be. Most often, legit cash home buyers in Denver who have been around the business for years know what they are doing. They have professional systems and processes with a team behind them to execute transactions seamlessly. A transaction with an investor should take 14-21 days from contract signing to closing day. Compare that to a traditional transaction with a listing agent that normally takes 30 days from contract signing to closing day (plus at least 4 additional weeks to prepare the property for sale).
The second uncomfortable truth is, many of these “cash buyers” have never actually purchased their primary residence. Forget having been through a real estate transaction where every day counts and the homeowner is in a tough situation where they need a reliable closing.
It’s hard to find a company’s track record of failed closings because those aren’t tracked or reported anywhere in public records. However, a quick look at their website, reviews, and asking your trusted friends in real estate will give you an idea of how many times they have successfully closed.
The Role of Cash Home Buyers in Denver Housing Market
There are a few different types of cash home buyers in Denver. First is what we call “Big Box” buyers. These companies might be nationally known brand names like Zillow, OpenDoor, or Orchard. I’ve helped homeowners sell to these companies and I’ve helped buyers purchase from these companies. These brands are well known, they advertise heavily, and you often see them in your living room.
These companies offer a very attractive price for your home in Denver and they follow it up with fee after fee after fee. For example, one homeowner I worked with wanted to accept an offer from OpenDoor. Once they accepted the offer there was a 5% real estate transaction fee (not a real estate agent commission), 3% commission paid to the agent of record, 1% title company fee (required to close with the title company owned by OpenDoor), and the homeowner would have been required to pay 3 or 4x as much for common fees like document prep and document recording fees.
Another type of cash home buyers in Denver is called a wholesaler. These companies usually present their offers with addendums that allow them to market the property to their potential investor buyers for 4-7 days without depositing earnest money. You, the homeowner, are technically under contract and you cannot look for other buyers during this time. The wholesaler will bring their buyers through in an attempt to resell the contract for an immediate profit. These wholesalers likely have never completed a purchase of a property or they are not actively in the business of actually renovating the property. They only resell the contract for an immediate profit.
The third uncomfortable truth is, these types of cash home buyers in Denver are in the business of profiting from fees during the transaction or a quick upsell profit on your property. The only value they bring is an offer and a quick closing. There is nothing provided that will help you through the underlying situation you’re experiencing.
At Shamrock Homes, we focus more on the underlying situation and provide assistance like relocation services, recommendations to local professionals who can help you reduce a tax burden on the sale, or we’ve also helped homeowners with insurance claims on properties that have been neglected for many years. All of these things add money back into your pocket on top of the sale price agreed to when the property is sold.
How to Spot Reputable Cash Home Buyers in Denver
Reputable cash home buyers in Denver are actually easy to spot. You should look for the following things:
- A website complete with property listings, blog content explaining their services, Google or Facebook reviews from past clients or other real estate professionals.
- A track record of property purchases and property ownership. As I mentioned above, wholesalers may have purchased properties before but they’ve resold them immediately. New investors haven’t purchased any properties at all.
- Repeatable processes and systems to ensure a smooth transaction. Reputable cash home buyers in Denver should have a team behind them like a title company, escrow officers, transaction coordinators, inspectors, and other resources that will help throughout the transaction.
The fourth uncomfortable truth is, if the “cash buyer” is missing these key pieces they are likely not real cash buyers. They likely have little or no experience or they have a high risk of not making it to the closing table which leaves you without a solution when every day counts.
A simple search of Shamrock Homes’ website and online presence will reveal all of these things that highlight a strong timeline in business since 2013.
Avoiding Scams: Red Flags When Dealing with Cash Home Buyers in Denver
- Red flag 🚩 – little or no verifiable history in business.
- Red flag 🚩 – no actual cash behind their promise to buy your home with cash.
- Red flag 🚩 – no web presence. Including social media, website, BBB rating, reviews from past clients, etc.
- Red flag 🚩 – lack of systems or processes to assure you get to the closing table.
- Red flag 🚩 – lack of additional resources to help you solve the underlying problem causing you to look for cash home buyers in Denver in the first place.
At Shamrock Homes, we have a proven track record and green flags so you can sell your home with confidence. Knowing we always do what we say and can help you in many other ways outside of just buying your home.
