What's the best way to sell my house?​

Have you decided to sell your home in Hurst? Or you’re at least giving it serious consideration?

Here’s a little secret you should know. Whether you're in the Hurst area or anywhere else in North Texas, listen up...

There’s more than one way to sell your home!

Doing it through a realtor may not be your best option, even though most people have been conditioned to believe they have no other choice. It really depends on your situation.

Why not sell my house through a Hurst realtor?

It could take months to sell your home through a realtor, and life's circumstances don't always give you that long to take action.

• Maybe due to job loss, medical bills, or divorce, you're barely able to pay the mortgage on time or are already behind on your payments.
• You had to relocate from the Hurst area for a new job and have already bought a new home, and you don't want to risk being stuck with two mortgages at once.
• You're selling and buying at the same time in Hurst and are afraid you'll find the new house you want but can't get it because you're not yet close to selling your old one.
• Whether in Hurst or somewhere else, you're now responsible for an inherited home that you have no desire to live in, and the sooner you can sell it, the better.
• You're the landlord of a Hurst home and have problem tenants that are costing you money but will be difficult to evict.
• You hate the anxiety that accompanies selling your home through a realtor and know that the longer the sale takes, the worse your stress will get.

​If one or more of these (or anything similar) describes your current situation, don't give up hope. Without using a realtor, your house in Hurst could sell much more quickly than you ever imagined.

Why can't I sell my house fast with a Hurst realtor?

In the perfect storm, you might be able to sell your home this way in a little more than a month. That's actually super fast by realty standards, even in North Texas. But it's also very unlikely. Here's why it usually takes much longer to sell your home through the realty process.

​​PREPARATION

If you're putting your home on the market for everyone in Hurst to see, you want it to look as desirable as possible compared to the other options in the same price range. In order to achieve this, you need to make reasonable repairs and updates, which could include things such as painting and planting grass. This usually takes a few weeks - maybe a month or more.

THE RIGHT OFFER

Although there were some places around Hurst where any nice home immediately got a full-asking-price offer during the pandemic, that's not normal. Most of the time, it's a process of lowball offers and maybe a counteroffer or two, and after weeks or months of waiting and bargaining, you eventually get what you want... or choose to accept less.

SEALING THE DEAL

When a home buyer and seller agree on a price, that only ends a chapter of the house-selling saga. The next chapter involves the inspection and appraisal, either of which could improve the home buyer's leverage or kill the deal altogether. A little misfortune, and it's back to square one. Even if you survive this phase, you'll often need to allow for time to make additional repairs to the home before you can close the sale.

And the papers aren't just signed as soon as the buyer and seller have nailed down the specifics. Even if you (the seller) are ready to move the next day, the closing date will typically be determined by the schedules of all involved parties. So, if you don't want to lose the buyer you've waited so long to secure, you'd better be prepared to wait a few more weeks for that person to also be ready to move (and hope the buyer's mortgage company doesn't raise any red flags before then).

How do I sell my house fast?

To sell your Hurst house fast, you need to find a cash buyer, also known as an investor. This is a professional home buyer, who purchases properties in order to make a profit by either renting or selling them to someone else. This usually involves restoring or updating the home before it's rented or resold, which is what you see in a house-flipping show on TV. Here's what makes these transactions so fast.
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• The experienced and successful investors around North Texas aren't taking out a loan to buy a home. They do it with cash. That doesn't mean they come in with a briefcase of $100 bills. It means they don't have to wait on approval from a lender, because they already have enough money to make the purchase immediately.
• When a cash buyer purchases a property, the "preparation" phase mentioned above doesn't apply because the seller doesn't need to make repairs or updates. In fact, that's usually discouraged, because the investor wants to renovate the home in a very specific way.
• A pro home buyer generates an offer by looking at similar properties around Hurst and making projections and estimates. It's not based on emotion, so there's usually no haggling over the price. And there's no additional delay caused by agents playing the role of middle men in negotiations. Cash really simplifies this phase by eliminating some of the variables realtors often need you to consider. Therefore, things are decided very quickly with local investors, whether a deal happens or not.
• And there's also no fear of the deal being sabotaged by an inspection or appraisal. A Hurst area cash buyer will typically look at a property one time before making an offer, and that visit doubles as both a showing and an inspection. There will be no official home appraisal, because that's only necessary for the sake of a lender (there's no lender in this case).

​We are Hurst Home Buyers (one of these cash investors), and you could have an offer on your North Texas home within two days of making first contact with us. If you accept the offer, the deal can be closed just about as quickly as you're able to get your things out of the house. The entire process could take fewer than 10 days from start to finish. But if you need more time to move, Hurst Home Buyers is happy to give it to you. If you're in a hurry, that's fine, but don't think you need to rush things on our account.

What's the catch if I sell my house to a cash buyer?

"The catch" is that your sale price won't be nearly as high as it would be if you sell your home through the traditional means. The emphasis is on "sale price" because there's a big difference between sale price (revenue) and profit (revenue minus expenses). We'll get into this in more detail later, but the key takeaway for now is that around Hurst, there's not always a significant difference in profit between going through the realty channels and selling to a cash buyer.

Usually, the financials are slightly better through the traditional method, but that still needs to be weighed against the value of saving time and hassle through the cash buyer option. There are many cases in which people are surprised that the realty route isn't as clear of an advantage as they expect it to be. And there are also cases where it's not an advantage at all.

Hurst Home Buyers will sell my house?

We're not selling your house. You are selling your house. But we'd like you to consider selling it to us.

We also can't say we "will" buy it, because we first need to look at it and be sure it fits our investing criteria. And it's possible that even if we want to buy it, you might be better off selling it to someone else through the real estate market. We'll explain how to figure that out. 

What's the best way to sell my house?

As mentioned near the top of this page, there are times when speed of the transaction is just as important, if not more important, than maximizing profit. And there are even situations when the realty option isn't much of an option at all.

Homes that need a lot of work - the types you often see on the house-flipping shows - are not going to receive a lot of interest from buyers in a typical market. Most house hunters aren't looking for a fixer-upper. And it's also true that most realtors don't want to represent a fixer-upper, because their commission is a percentage of the sale price, and that level of property won't sell for as much as the nicer homes they typically represent.

We, on the other hand, like fixer-uppers. But the thing you rarely see on TV is that pro home buyers aren't only looking for houses that are falling apart. Whether in Hurst or anywhere else around North Texas, every neighborhood has some homes that aren't as nice as the others. Even if it's a very well-maintained home, as long as it has the potential to be updated and brought more in line with the rest of the neighborhood, Hurst Home Buyers might be interested.

So, if you have one of those houses that's a little less valuable than most on your street (and are thinking about selling it), get in touch with Hurst Home Buyers before you think about making any repairs or even consider hiring a real estate agent. There's no cost to receive an offer for your house and no obligation to do business with us afterward. 
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We want to help you make the right choice for your situation. If that means listing it through a realtor, so be it. Our goal is to help people make informed decisions, because that's not only best for the real estate market... it's also what's best for you!