How to Sell Your House Fast to the "We Buy Houses" Guys, Safely

If the current chaos in housing and the economyThere are also, and always, waves of new people
all of a sudden has you seeing little yellow signswho are learning how to buy houses and some of
and big billboards that say, "We Will Buy Yourthe people who need to sell a house fast will be
House" you probably need to sell a house fast andhelping these newcomers learn the trade.
may be wondering who are these guys behindIn addition to seeing if they answer the phone and
the signs and can they really do anything to help.actually arrive at the time agreed for an
The signs have been around for probably threeappointment, I would want to know how long the
decades, but like everything else, you only seeperson has been buying houses and how well they
the things that are of immediate importance todo it. In the second installment of this series, we
you. While anyone can buy and sell houses in thewill look at methods of checking them out and in
United States most people only buy and sell thethe third article we will be looking at phrases in
house they live in or expect to live in.the contract they offer you that you may want
Buying houses without the expectation of living into avoid.
them-as a business, really started to take offOne of the biggest pluses that the best of these
about 30 years ago when a number of seminarguys and gals will bring to the table to help you is
speakers crossed the county selling training inthat they have been taught that there are a
buying and selling homes for profit.number of ways to sell a house, methods that
Like any business, you can expect a number ofhave been used in commercial real estate for
the people who buy houses to be skilled, honestyears but that are rarely used in residential real
professionals and others not so skilled andestate.
some-that you would want to avoid.I learned the use of these creative methods the
The bottom line is that some of these people canhard way twenty some years ago when I lived
in fact help you sell a house quickly, sometimes inon the East Coast of Florida and unbeknownst to
a few days, and solve problems. Others, I haveme had bought a house in an area where a
found, will not even answer the phone or call yougarbage burning incinerator was planned. It was to
back, if you call and leave a message. Strange asbe built about a mile from where my house was
it may seem, I have found that this reluctance toand when I was ready to sell the house to move
follow up on a lead happens in a number of areasto the Tampa Bay area, I could not sell.
in sales.Everyone knew of the plans when I was ready
So the first thing I would suggest in selecting ato sell and no one wanted any of the houses in
House Buyer to deal with is call several, see whomy area. I finally left the house with a real estate
answers the phone, and see who comes out toagent and moved while bearing the cost of two
your house and arrives when they agreed tohomes.
arrive. Not high tech, but a good start.While a lot of real estate agents do not like
Who am I to tell you how to sort through thesecreative real estate, my agent was
guys? I happen to be one of them and haveknowledgeable and suggested a way to sell my
been doing creative real estate for two decadeshouse. We were scarred, but after thinking about
in Florida, was previously a stock broker andit we sold and it worked out fine.
financial reporter for the Chicago Tribune. It isThere was a risk in what I did then and a risk in
sort of like going to a hacker to find out how toany creative answer to a real estate sales
make your computer operation safe.problem, but my experience was what eventually
And as one of them, let me assure you there aresent me into the We Buy Houses business and in
good, competent people, who are able to raisethe next several articles we will tell you how it
the money it takes to buy and are knowledgeablemay help you and discuss the risks.
of the way real estate works where you live.