What To Do If I Need To Sell My House Fast ASAP In Atlanta?

Jul 29, 2019

Originally posted on https://www.eastatlhomebuyers.com/blog/need-to-sell-my-house-fast-asap-in-atlanta/

Are you facing a tough situation with your home? Do you need to sell your house fast ASAP so that you can move on with your life? There’s good news… You have options. But there’s a secret. (The traditional Realtor route is not your ONLY option.) We can dig into that later. This article will lay out your options to sell your house as fast as possible (and what you need to look out for). Read on.

What To Do If You Need To Sell My House Fast ASAP In Atlanta

What Is Your Situation?

Knowing your situation is the most important aspect. It may seem obvious, but different situations need different expertise. Do you want a new Realtor or investor fresh out of a seminar to handle a sensitive situation for you? I didn’t think so. But what do you even need to look out for?

Selling Your House Facing Foreclosure

You’re up against a timeline here.

If you don’t sell your house fast, the bank is taking your house back.

It’s you against the bank.

And they will evict you and kick you out of the house.

Whether you have 2 months or 2 weeks before foreclosure, you need an experienced investor.

What to look out for here…

You will want an investor with a massive cash buyer list.

And someone who actually buys foreclosure homes in Atlanta.

As wholesalers, we find properties for other investors. (Be wary of “investors” claiming that they have all cash. There’s more on this on our home page.) New wholesalers don’t have many cash buyers. They will tell you that they have hundreds of cash buyers on their list. I’ll be frank. 200 cash buyers is not a lot. An experienced house buying company like Breyer Home Buyers has 10,000+ cash buyers on their list in Atlanta. We’ve spent years networking with flippers, landlords, and hedge funds. What’s this mean for you, though? Our massive cash buyers list means that we are one of the companies that buy houses in any condition. And… We can move your property super fast. Because we have cash buyers that will compete against each other. When you sell to Breyer Home Buyers… You get peace of mind. You get a fresh start. You don’t have to get evicted. You don’t have to have a foreclosure on your record. You are able to provide a safe space for your family. You get to work with a company that understands that sometimes life throws you curve balls. We will never make you feel ashamed of facing foreclosure. At Breyer Home Buyers, it’s our goal to be empathetic to your situation. We’re here to help.

Selling During a Divorce

No one plans for divorce.

But it happens.

With 50% of married couples facing a divorce, it’s actually quite common.

That doesn’t make it less crappy, though.

When dealing with the cost of a divorce in GA AND selling your house, you need a Realtor or an investor who is empathetic.

Especially if you are filing for divorce with kids.

When selling your house during a divorce, you can use Atlanta Realtors or an investor.

You have some questions that you need to answer with your spouse.

When do you need to be out of the house by?
Who will pay for repairs?
Who will clean the house?
Who will pay for storage during the move?
Who will hire and manage the contractors?
Who will choose the Realtor?
Who will negotiate and choose the final offer?

These things need to get dealt with. A good Realtor or investor will help you and your spouse walk through these scenarios. You will want to sell your house to someone who is empathetic and organized. But at the same time… You need someone who is firm enough to push when decisions need to be made. An experienced Realtor or investor knows how to do several things. They can help you make these decisions, work with divorce attorneys, and work with disagreeing spouses. So… How do you decide if you want to go with one of the many Atlanta Realtors or house buying companies?

Atlanta Realtors and Divorce

When you sell with a Realtor, there’s not much privacy. And, quite frankly, you’re at the mercy of the buyers. Meaning… You have to show the house at random times. You have to take off work to run home and clean up. You have to have dozens of people walk through your house for weeks. You have buyers who are aware of your divorce and hesitant to work with you. We’ve even seen buyers who try to take advantage of the situation. They do this by stringing out the buying process to negotiate the price down lower. They know that you and your spouse are vulnerable. A good Realtor will have experience with this and will be able to play defense for you. On the flip side, you may need to maximize your money. This is when you want to choose a Realtor to sell your home. These are some considerations when you want to sell your house through a Realtor:

You can wait 3-9 months to sell your house.
You can afford to make repairs.
You need to squeeze out all the profits.
You and your spouse are on agreeable terms.

Atlanta House Buying Companies and Divorce

So you’re wondering what’s better about selling to an investor during a divorce? You don’t have to spend any money making repairs. (We buy houses in ‘as-is’ condition.) You don’t have to wait for 3-9 months to get an offer. (We know what we can pay you for the house and you get an offer in 24 hours.) You don’t have dozens of showings. (We show up, we take pictures, and we have a single inspection. Yep, that’s it.) What’s the catch though? We’re not paying retail for your house. We provide speed and convenience when you sell your home. For that, you trade money. That’s the only catch.

Selling Your Rental With Bad Tenants

Do you have tenants destroying your rental? Are they not paying? Are you facing evictions? We own rentals, so we get it. Tenants can make your rental property unprofitable. It sucks when you’re losing thousands each month. I mean, you got into rental property ownership to make some cash. Not every rental property will be profitable. But sometimes, you need to let go. It’s time to sell your property and throw that money into a new rental. Or, heck… You want to stop owning rentals completely. Either way, you have options. Most retail buyers want a perfect property when they buy it off the MLS. They will want the tenant evicted. They will want the repairs made. They will want to get inside and see the property. Then there are companies that buy houses in any condition. Yes, that even means a house with a crappy tenant, going through eviction, and that is trashed. We’ve bought them all. We will buy your house:

without you making any repairs
and evict the tenant ourselves
without seeing the inside (sometimes tenants won’t let us in)

Depending on how bad your situation it, selling your rental property to an investor may be your best bet. But if things are all good and you need to maximize profits, list it with a Realtor. That’s the best route for you.

Selling An Inherited Property

Everyone thinks that inheriting a house is great.

That is until you inherited a house that’s not had repairs in 20 years.

Or your family member was a hoarder and now you have 15 dumpsters worth of stuff to throw away.

Or you live 5 states away.

Really, it’s just starting to sound like an uphill battle to me.

I imagine that the best-case scenario is that you inherited a house that’s been renovated in the last ten years and has been well maintained.

But not everyone is that lucky.

Some of us inherit problems.

(I know my mom’s house will be one of these types of homes. I try to sneak out a bag of junk each time I visit. It’s not helping.)

If you are facing any of these problems it’s best to work directly with an investor.

When you sell an inherited house to an investor, they will buy the property as-is.

You don’t have to haul away junk.

You don’t have to make repairs.

You don’t have to spend weekends maintaining the property.

You get to sell it and be done.

That’s the perks of selling to an As-Is Home Buyers.

When you sell with a Realtor, it’s quite the opposite experience.

Plan on making repairs, cleaning the property, staging it, managing contractors, and waiting months for it to sell.

Selling Before Bankruptcy

Are you behind on payments and struggling to catch back up?

Selling your house may be your only option to get current on your payments.

If the case, your criteria is how much you owe on the house and how much it’s worth as is.

Just because a house down the road sold for $200,000 doesn’t mean that your house is worth $200,000.

You’ll have to be realistic about the repairs that you house needs and costs associated with selling the property.

It may turn out that your house is only worth $130,000 in as-is condition.

But what if you owe $139,000?

You’ll have a hard time selling the house to an investor or a Realtor.

We cannot work miracles.

But if you owe less than $129,000 in this scenario, then you’re golden.

An investor can buy your house at $130,000 and you can walk away.

But if you sell with an agent, you’ll have to pay 6% commission, meaning that you’ll end up with $122,000 if you sell for $130,000.

(Perks of selling with a Realtor.)

So, when you sell the house, what happens with the bankruptcy?

The real estate closing attorney will see that you have liens or are behind on payments.

Creditors will have put liens on your property.

The real estate closing attorney will work directly with the bankruptcy attorney.

If you get $130,000 for the house and owe $10,000 in back payments then that $10,000 will be pulled out at closing.

Your creditors will be paid first ($10,000) and you will end up with $120,000 from the sale of the property.

But if you owe, say $120,000 for the mortgage, then that $120,000 goes to the bank, and not you.

So you end up with zero dollars.

All you get is a fresh start.

Make sure that you have an investor or Realtor that can explain all of this to you.

They will need to know your numbers or how much you owe so that they can explain everything to you properly.

This is where that experience comes in that you need to look for in an investor or Realtor.

Selling When You Are Relocating

Maybe you just got a new job.

Maybe you are getting serious with a significant other.

Maybe you have to move to take care of your parents.

No matter what the scenario is, you’re stuck with a house that’s keeping you from moving.

So how do you sell your house fast for a job relocation?

It comes down to your income and how fast you need to move.

If you can afford to pay two mortgages, then you need to list with a Realtor.

When you list with a Realtor, you will have to wait 3-9+ months to sell the property.

But you’ll get top dollar.

(Do the math. Holding a vacant property, paying the mortgage, upkeep, taxes, Realtor fees, etc. gets expensive. You may not come out ahead on this approach.)

Call An Atlanta Realtor

So, now you have gone through the situations for needing to sell your house fast in Atlanta.

You have decided that selling your house with one of the hundreds of Atlanta Realtors is your best bet.

So what now?

Start with a Realtor that is good for your scenario.

Before, we discussed picking someone who has the experience to deal with your situation.

Do you want a Realtor who specializes in multi-million dollar homes trying to sell your rental that has a tenant going through an eviction?

That’s a big fat, “No.”

You would most likely not have success with an approach like this.

So, how to do you vet good Realtors?

Ask them good questions.

But, don’t ask them leading questions.

Meaning…

Don’t ask things like:

“Do you list rental properties?”
“Do you list inherited homes?”
“Do you have experience with divorces?”

These types of questions lead them to say, “Yes, of course.”

And boom!

Now you have listed your house with a bad Realtor.

Instead…

Ask them questions like:

“What is the bread and butter home that you sell the most of?”
“What cities do you do the most business in?”
“What experiences do you have with ______? What are the biggest obstacles you face with those types of situations?”
“How do you cater your services to people in my situation?”

These are a few questions to help you spark some ideas.

Ask open-ended questions without leading them to an answer.

Call A House Buying Company

Not all Atlanta house buyers are the same. You have small guys who just walked out of a get-rich-quick seminar. You have local, family-owned companies who are buying 3-5 houses a month (that’s Breyer Home Buyers). Then you have house buying companies that are buying 75-100 houses per month. So, which “Atlanta buys homes” company should you sell your house to? Right off the bat, I can tell you who NOT to go with. The get rich quick person. You’re going to get strung along for weeks while they fumble their way through things. Expect them to:

not have cash buyers
not have a good closing attorney
to renegotiate several times with you
to market your property on Craigslist

They are in it for the money – not to actually help you. That’s where the local family business comes into play. A family-owned business that has been in operation for several years has the experience to help you. They are also small enough to care about you. For example…

We have 10,000+ cash buyers that we work with.
We have vetted dozens of real estate attorneys. We work with the best ones.
We know how much we need to offer and we don’t renegotiate.
We market your property only to our buyer’s list.

So what’s the difference between us and the big house buying companies? I’ll be honest. Not much. They have buyer’s lists. They work with the same attorneys. They know what to offer. The main difference is how they treat you. We worked with a lady who reached out to one of these big companies. During the appointment, the salesperson completely beat her up on the house. They started out with an initial offer at $120,000. (For perspective, if the house got fixed up, it would be worth $150,000.) At the appointment, the sales rep walked through every room and pointed out EVERYTHING that was wrong that they would need to fix. Even down to scratches on the inside of the cabinets in the kitchen. They ended up offering her $57,000 for the house. They didn’t take time to find out what the homeowner was dealing with. They didn’t ask how they can help. (She needed a cash advance to move.) They just walked in, pointed out everything that was wrong, gave an offer, and left. You’re just a number to them. They aren’t members of the community. They don’t live down the road. Their kids don’t go to the same schools.

Where We Buy Properties

So, our site shows up everywhere on Google. Depending on the location of your phone (where you are), Google tailors its results to your location. We have a lot of people reach out to us in random areas. Places like Newnan, Rome, McDonough, Jasper, and Madison. Places like these are way too far out for us. So, where do we buy properties? To list a few of the major cities in Atlanta:

(Yes, I linked those to our city-specific landing pages.) We literally buy houses in and around all of Atlanta. If you’re within the suburbia perimeter of Atlanta, we will buy your house.

If you’re facing any tough situation and you need to sell your house ASAP in Atlanta, give us a call. You’ll get a no-obligation offer on your house. We won’t pressure you and we’re not salesy. Just a company trying to help out people in the community.