As a home seller, you know that whether your buyers have a mortgage or not, they’ll be presenting you with cash. So what makes a cash offer so important? After all, it’s going to become cash anyway, right? The truth is, a cash offer is objectively better than any other type of offer. Here’s why.
A Cash Offer Can’t Fall Through
Homebuyers with lenders have a preapproval or a prequalification in hand. But this doesn’t guarantee the loan. If anything significant about their financial situation changes (or is revealed), their lender will drop their loan. This will send them into a scramble: They will need to secure another loan before they can complete the transaction. If they can’t, well, that means you’re going to have to start again from square one, and you may not have all those offers you were fielding before.
Of course, a cash offer still can be retracted. But if it’s retracted, you still get to keep the earnest money, which can’t be retracted without reason. That, at least, helps you mitigate any lost time regarding the loan. And if you’re working with a trustworthy, cash-buying home company, you are less likely to experience this kind of disruption.
A Cash Offer Is Fast
A cash offer takes as long as a wire transfer does. An escrow company can complete a cash offer in as little as a week. Meanwhile, a mortgage takes a long time to close. Usually a mortgage will close in 30 to 45 days, but there can be issues and extensions. You could be left with an idle property and debt for longer than you think. So while both offers eventually become cash to you, it’s not the same at all.
If you’re currently underwater in your home loan, this is even more important. You could get cash now for your property and start managing your other debts rather than having to wait for someone else’s mortgage loan to be approved. And if you simply inherited a home that you don’t want to deal with, or if you’re trying to manage a property that isn’t in your own state, selling a home fast is even more important.
A Cash Offer Doesn’t Require Inspections and Appraisals
When a bank offers someone a mortgage loan, there are still contingencies. The bank wants to know that the home is suitable. They want to know that it passes inspections. And they want to know that the appraisal matches the price. The bank may become the owner of this property if it’s foreclosed on, and they want to know they can resell it. Not only does this add time, but it also adds the danger that the loan could fall through. And if the inspection turns anything up that you need to fix, that’s even more time and money down the drain.
A cash offer has no such requirements. If the owner wants to purchase the property, they can purchase the property. They can do it sight unseen, if they want. They don’t need inspections and appraisals: They know they want the house and how much they’re willing to pay for it. This is particularly important if you have an old or home that simply isn’t going to pass a regular inspection.
Why Field Offers? You Can Get Cash for Your House Now
Do you have a house that you need to sell quickly? Do you have a house that you don’t think will appraise for much or that needs some serious work?
As you can see, there are few things as good as a cash offer. In fact, seasoned real estate agents will often discount the price of a home for a solid cash offer because it’s a guaranteed sale. But you don’t have to do that. You can get a fair market rate for your home today—in cash. Contact Purple Mountain Holdings to learn more.
