Hi guys im in a little bit of a situation and need some advice and information. I'm sure you have all seen the signs that say "we pay cash for homes" "sell your house quick" etc.

I need to sell my house fast and I don't care if i don't get market value for it. How much are these guys generally going to lowball you? Anyone have experience with them?

I have a feeling if i got through a realtor the home will sit on the market 3-6 months, i don't have that kinda time, i wanna move out now.

Well they do help with the speed part. Typically, you will get 20% less than the true market value. You should find another option.

secstate said:I don't think it matters what the "average" lowball offer these guys makes is the only one that matters of course is the one they make to you. So the first thing for you to do if you haven't is to find out what the market value of your house is. Then you can see what sort of offers these places make. Honestly as the other poster has said, I would try to find another option. A house priced to move should move even in this market, it seems to me you would be better offer going the conventional route of selling a home and pricing aggressively. As much as I dislike realtors I think these cash for home places are worse, not that I have had any direct experience with them.

Good point but if i go with a realtor i'm also giving up 6% of the sell price, plus losing about $1000 every month it sits on the market that I am not here. I guess i'm just gonna have to call up some of these places and get some offers, I might call a realtor as well and have them take a look and see what they think it would sell for on the market.

As far as the numbers go we bought the home 5 years ago at $110k... we took out a home equity of $50k to pay off all our debt we had accumated from college and pay for fixes and remodeling to the home. So total debt in the house is around $150k right now. Looking on realestate.com similar townhomes in my neighborhood are going from 175-199k.

I'd seriously be happy with $160k if i could move out in a month. That would mean we came out of the clean with no debt and $10k in our pocket.

Yes i'm moving to Krakow. lol

No i live outside Baltimore, and over the last year there has been a lot more police activity and helocopters in our neighborhood than i am comfortable with. Seems the undesirables are making their way out of the rat hole that is Baltimore into the suburbs. Last week a group 30-40 thugs came by the neighborhood on dirtbikes and 4 wheelers ala Mad Max and last night was the last straw when there were 4 gun shots outside our house, the police and crime lab were outside until about 1AM.

Yeah Poland would be great.

trifate said:You get all the free entertainment right outside your house WHY MOVE? LOL

good point with millions of people spending $60 for Grand Theft Auto... i'm getting it for free haha You gotta laugh to keep from crying sometimes.

Woodchuck312 said:Yes i'm moving to Krakow. lol

No i live outside Baltimore, and over the last year there has been a lot more police activity and helocopters in our neighborhood than i am comfortable with. Seems the undesirables are making their way out of the rat hole that is Baltimore into the suburbs. Last week a group 30-40 thugs came by the neighborhood on dirtbikes and 4 wheelers ala Mad Max and last night was the last straw when there were 4 gun shots outside our house, the police and crime lab were outside until about 1AM.

Yeah Poland would be great.

im guessing this somewhere in Columbia? One of my colleagues had his car stolen a few months ago by some Bmore thugs who were dropped off en masse in his neighborhood for some reason.

What does www.zillow.com give you for value?

Out of the 7 homes I've sold recently zillow was within 2-3k of the final contract price on each.

Pretty reliable for me.

holla said:Woodchuck312 said:Yes i'm moving to Krakow. lol

No i live outside Baltimore, and over the last year there has been a lot more police activity and helocopters in our neighborhood than i am comfortable with. Seems the undesirables are making their way out of the rat hole that is Baltimore into the suburbs. Last week a group 30-40 thugs came by the neighborhood on dirtbikes and 4 wheelers ala Mad Max and last night was the last straw when there were 4 gun shots outside our house, the police and crime lab were outside until about 1AM.

Yeah Poland would be great.

im guessing this somewhere in Columbia? One of my colleagues had his car stolen a few months ago by some Bmore thugs who were dropped off en masse in his neighborhood for some reason.

Interesting. Has anyone else seen reports of roving bands of marauders like this? I think it's a sign of the times. I expect to see much more as the decline of America continues.

soundtechie said:Woodchuck312 said:secstate said:I don't think it matters what the "average" lowball offer these guys makes is the only one that matters of course is the one they make to you. So the first thing for you to do if you haven't is to find out what the market value of your house is. Then you can see what sort of offers these places make. Honestly as the other poster has said, I would try to find another option. A house priced to move should move even in this market, it seems to me you would be better offer going the conventional route of selling a home and pricing aggressively. As much as I dislike realtors I think these cash for home places are worse, not that I have had any direct experience with them.

Good point but if i go with a realtor i'm also giving up 6% of the sell price, plus losing about $1000 every month it sits on the market that I am not here. I guess i'm just gonna have to call up some of these places and get some offers, I might call a realtor as well and have them take a look and see what they think it would sell for on the market.

As far as the numbers go we bought the home 5 years ago at $110k... we took out a home equity of $50k to pay off all our debt we had accumated from college and pay for fixes and remodeling to the home. So total debt in the house is around $150k right now. Looking on realestate.com similar townhomes in my neighborhood are going from 175-199k.

I'd seriously be happy with $160k if i could move out in a month. That would mean we came out of the clean with no debt and $10k in our pocket.


I don't mean to discourage you, but in order for a house to go from being worth 110K to being worth 175k in 5 years, it would have to increase in value by about 10% a year! Further, if we assume that the "sell your house" guy is going to offer you 80% of your house's FMV, to get 160k, your house's FMV would need to be 200k.


I think you need a real idea of your home's value. An appraiser could do this, or at the very least you should look at the tax value of your home (The amount you pay taxes on). Assume you won't get any more than 80% of that, and you've got a nice safety cusion.

I understand the housing bubble, i bought in just as it was starting to gain momentum, so i bought at the bottom. This is a townhouse that is a starter house for most people. This is about as cheap as Townhomes in Baltimore County can get even at $150-200k. This is keeping pace with apartment rentals which can go from $1000-1500k which is pretty much what the mortgage would be on my house in the $150-200k range. So you see why even in the real estate bubble burst we are experiencing housing in my range really didn't drop much, the homes that are plummetting are the McMansions in the 400-800k range.