Sell your house fast for cash in Longwood
Why so many foreclosures?
Like the rest of the United States, Longwood, Florida is a place that has seen a change in the rules and expectations of its labor force. Many top earners have been able to find virtual jobs that can be done at home but others have had no success. Those who haven’t been able to keep up with the evolution of the job market have been in a bad position, even to the point of losing their homes.
There are many beautiful houses like this to the north of Longwood between Markham Woods Road and Alaqua Drive. This is due to a large number of residents there who are engineers and architects. Fortunately for those who are about to enter into foreclosure there are 2 main ways which allow them to sell their house fast for cash or slow for cash. Either way allows them to keep some or all of their equity instead of losing it to the bank.
With the fast cash option a real estate investor can simply make a cash offer and in about 3 weeks the house can be sold. Using the cash from the sale a seller can quickly move to a new location where there are better job opportunities. Or maybe a sudden trip to stay with relatives would be in order to get some kind of foundation before taking the next step.
The second option is the slower way to sell a house but the final selling price is always higher. This involves a lease to purchase, where the real estate investor takes control of the property and leases it to someone with the intent to buy it. All of the mortgage payments are guaranteed by the investor and repairs are done by either the investor or the tenant buyer. After 3 – 5 years the tenant buys the property and the seller is rewarded with a higher sale price because real estate appreciates in value as time goes by.
When entering into a lease to purchase agreement, the seller needs not to worry about falling into foreclosure because the investor brings all missed payments up to date. Also, it is in the investor’s best interest to prevent a foreclosure because he has a financial stake in the success of the deal.
In Longwood there are a lot of ugly houses like the one above between Greenway Boulevard and Remington Oak Drive. They don’t easily fit into the lease to purchase model because the kind of tenant which would be attracted to a lower end house generally won’t maintain the house and doesn’t have the means to purchase it. Although they may have goal to do so, they eventually end up not paying their monthly rent and being evicted.
That is why owners of lower end houses should opt to sell their house fast for cash. Because the investor is able to get it at a discount, he is able to use his own money for renovations and get it ready for the open market.
Small and attractive Longwood houses like the one above can be found between Wekiva Springs Road and Riverbend Boulevard. They are good candidates for a lease to purchase agreement because they have generally been well maintained. However, with the house above the owner couple needed to move quickly to a new city for a job transfer. By selling their house fast for cash they could avoid any damage to their credit. They could also use the cash from the closing to support their 3 children as they transitioned to a new and unknown area. It took the fear and complexities out of relocation, allowing the husband to focus on being the bread winner.
With this house, the best option for the sale depended on the level of comfort-ability of the homeowners. Had they been able to see their situations from multiple angles they would have known that selling their house through a lease purchase was a powerful option as well.
Having the rent payments and maintenance guaranteed by the investor are huge merits. Of course the higher payout at the end of the lease term is a strong point as well. However, the safety of having a large reserve of cash was more appealing. If they had known all of the options available to them, maybe selling their house fast for cash would not have been the best choice.
Inherited Properties
Passing down generational wealth is always a welcomed occurrence. However, there are times when inherited real estate becomes a burden to an heir or heirs. Selling these houses fast for cash in Longwood is almost always the best choice. Holding on to them means lost money in maintenance, taxes and liens from the city.
I am reminded of one property in Longwood between Markham Woods Road and Sanlando Springs Road that was inherited by 4 heirs who were not well off financially and saw the property as a way of relief. They bickered among themselves over the sale price which created a giant burden on the one heir that was assigned as the personal representative of the probate court.
Eventually the house was sold but not before the relationships of the 4 siblings were destroyed. In a situation like this, the key to avoiding the disintegration of family bonds is working with a knowledgeable real estate investor who can give the personal representative a clear road map with actionable information. This causes the personal representative to preside in a deliberate way over the asset. When rules and goals are universally understood by a group of heirs the process of selling a house fast for cash goes much more smoothly.
Storm Damage
Sometimes the damage resulting from storms is so substantial that it’s best to just take the insurance money, sell the house fast for cash and move on. In this case we can see how a tree branch fell on the roof near the front of the house. The branch has since been removed but the house is now an eyesore which pulls down the value of the surrounding properties.
Last week I was speaking to another real estate investor who bought a similar low grade property in Longwood next to East Wildmere Avenue. The storm damage to the home was so extensive that he just demolished it and decided to build a new one. This move will increase the value of the property substantially in the coming years. If he had decided to keep the old house there would have been less of a chance to reap a large profit.
Tired Landlords
Above we can see an investment property in Longwood that was more trouble than it was worth. It was owned by a woman who lived in south Florida who got overwhelmed with having to make emergency trips to its location near Technology Park.
Of course the biggest emergency was when tenants would stop paying rent. Since she only had one property in the area it was not cost effective to hire a property management company to collect. There were other nuisances like stopped up toilets, a broken air conditioner and new pets that drove the landlord over the edge.
Currently there are no tenants and the house is still in the hands of that woman who is planning to sell it someday. Her ideal plan is to sell it through a real estate agent on the MLS and get top dollar. But before she can do that she must have the money for repairs.
Distressed houses like this that are up for sale on the MLS typically are passed up by buyers because they expect a turnkey house. Those buyers who would agree to buy the house ask for seller concessions which bring down the asking price substantially. Factor that in with closing costs as well as real estate agent commissions and one can see how the house will be just another lackluster listing with not enough return.
In fact, selling the house fast for cash to an investor would give a higher return because of the house’s long list of needed repairs. But she is unlikely to do this because of the bad reputation that investors have. So now she is in “wait and see” mode as she tries to make the monthly mortgage payments on her own.
Conclusion
This article goes through the reasons why homeowners in Longwood, Florida are selling their houses fast for cash to a real estate investor and why they are not. By understanding the rational behind people’s decisions you will be in a better place to make yours.
The situations why homeowners would choose to sell to a real estate investor range from foreclosure to inheriting a property to severe storm damage. As you read you can understand the decision making factors that each situation brings on.
One decision is whether to sell fast for cash or opt for a lease to purchase agreement, both of which an investor can arrange. The second decision is whether to bypass the investor and sell through a realtor. By taking time to read the whole article you will gain helpful insight in regards to realtor based closing costs and expected outcomes.