Question Has Anyone Here Sold to Sundae, Opendoor, Redfin, Or Porchlight post Bk-13 ?

[Barbisi]

We are now considering a cash sale to one of the above home investment buyer groups for distressed sellers like ourselves.
Bk13 totally disenfranchised us, and we just have to get past one final rip off to hopefully have a chance for a normal life, like everyone who wasn't forced to file bk13 in the first place, does.
I think it is time to "fold 'em", like "The Gambler" in that old country song says, and "walk away" with whatever profits these two disastrous home buys and sales will allow.
Of course, selling this house to an investor is yet another Colorado defeat, but if my husband can quickly get us out of here, and if the price of freedom is the loss of a few thousand dollars (that may be offset by a huge increase in salary/ bonuses,etc.), then the sacrifice will well be worth it.
Honestly, the only people I'll miss are my chiropractors and PTs LOL!

[justbroke]

The nice thing about these buyers, is that they come with cash and can close in 14-21 days. They usually... usually... offer up to 3% over market/asking because they want the inventory. It's interesting that OpenDoor, or Redfin would want a property that needs work. I do know that many of them will take your listing price and deduct from there for things they would have wanted fixed. My brother ended up using one of them, I think OpenDoor, and got $30K over asking in N.C. for a 3-year old home.

With that, it's difficult to gauge what type of backpeddling they will do on the price.

[Barbisi]

Well, we are weighing our options now that these realtors have shown their true colors.
If we can only recoup the same amount or a little more after we spend $$$$ putting in new carpets, painting walls, etc. why bother?
This is a very nice, spacious home with some fine touches (a breakfast nook booth, like in a 50's diner, a custom built in office, etc.) that needs some serious updates to make it a 700k home, and not the cramped, basic, ugly, asbestos-ridden starter home that no investor would touch because it was overpriced by at least 30K and that drove us straight to BK13 because we weren't cash rich flippers.
We will have to investigate all options and see what will work best for our fluid situation.

[flashoflight]

Some (or all?) of the iBuyers will deduct the cost of repairs from your offer either with a haircut at the outset or at the end when they fix what is broken.

I'm a little confused because you are spending money repairing stuff I wouldn't bother repairing like carpets and painting the interior walls. A rich renovating buyer will just rip out the new carpets and paint over the walls anyway. The asbestos can go to the next owner as long as it's not disturbed. Basically, I'd fix nothing unless it was mandatory for FHA/VA financing which is the most restrictive as far as house condition. For FHA, you don't need asbestos removal, new interior paint, or new carpet not peed on by the cats.

Go ahead and try the iBuyer route. Just watch out for the deductions for repairs.

[Barbisi]

@flashoflight, the asbestos was in the shabby 1963 house that turned us into what we will always be - BK13 survivors.
This 1975 house that we are reluctantly realizing is also a fixer-upper is the one we would sell to one of these iBuyers.
I'm all for renovators buying the house, as you suggested in the other post, but it doesn't sound like we can break even doing any minimal updates at all.
At this point, we are ready to accept just enough to get to our next destination.
We would come out with a lesser but still decent profit, considering 5 years of mandatory home maintenance neglect.
Of course, I hate to let the investors win (again!), but owning a house that you can't update or repair as warranted prevents you from listing the house on the open market.
None of our competitors are coming out of a fresh BK13.
Some of them have been able to do the renovations over a couple of years before material and labor skyrocketed and now they can reap the benefits.
Maybe after the BK13 falls off our report in 2024, we will finally be rid of this bankruptcy yoke.

[Carmella]

Barbisi I commented on the other post before I saw this one.

I don't think the investors are "winning again" if you sell to them. Your time and effort are worth a lot! And selling the house before you get stuck there longer is a definite plus. Look at it from a different angle because you are winning and going to be able to get to a better location with a better home even if there's a rental in your immediate future it will still be winning because it's a step to your final destination.

[Zombie13]

When we compared the Net sheets of: selling on the market vs. investor, the numbers are within 15-25K of each other.
Selling to an investor means: do nothing, just pack, get paid, and leave.
Selling to the market means: fix up stuff, take several weeks/couple months to do it. Then put the house on the market for one or more weeks, accept an offer, go under contract for 4-6 weeks, with negotiating before that: will you pay for this? How about that? etc. Then possibly fall out of contract and start again. Not really worth the hassle.
Additionally, there is the possibility that the job offer may offset the difference. Plus, with a cash offer, we can leave sooner, which is what we want, and what the company would want.

[Barbisi]

I think Zombie 13 is overestimating the post-sale profit by a few thousand when selling on the open market.
As I recall when the realtor sent the side-by-side comparisons (conventional buyer vs. investor) the net gain was only 5-10K. And when you include the stress, time and money, it just isn't worth it to us, particularly if we can leave the state faster via a new job, one that hopefully includes a signing bonus and relo package.
I think the reason most debtors stay in their home post-bankruptcy discharge and closing and possibly forever (i.e. until they die ) is they have no choice ; their house is no longer in ready RE market shape after 5 years of neglected maintenance and their credit is ruined for years to come.
And if they're older (i.e. close to retirement or post-retirement age) they are truly trapped.
This is also why ,according to what I read , selling to an investor, is a bad idea for 95% of sellers. Per the article, it only makes sense when the seller (1) is facing future foreclosure,(2) doesn't have the funds or credit line to either spruce up the house or fix major failing systems (3) needs to relocate quickly for a job or (4) has inherited a property they can't keep or don't want. I believe we fall under #2 and #3.
I bet justbroke would agree with the above assessment.
Carmella, thank you as always for your empathetic and rational take - we will come out with a nice little quantity of money and best of all, we will be able to leave Catastrophic Colorado behind with its pile of misery, death, illness and injuries, and financial ruin (i.e., BK13)!

[flashoflight]

Barbisi I think one of the iBuyers offer an advance for moving costs. I don't remember which iBuyer it was. But if less stress is more important than optimizing the net proceeds, maybe that particular iBuyer may be better for you. Since you are going the iBuyer route, get quotes from all of them. Whatever you decide to do, do it before the FOMO fever goes away.

[justbroke]

It's weird because the investors down here in Florida are paying as much as 10% over asking price. Our average sale price is just shy of 3% over asking. So I differentiate the investors into two types; market investors and sharks. Sharks are preying on those that fit the criteria that barbisi wrote above. Market investors are there to increase their portfolio, rent out homes, and keep them for the long run (e.g. Invitation Homes, Home Partners of America (somewhat), Brandywine Homes, American Homes 4 Rent, and others).

[Barbisi]

justbroke, according to our current realtor, her investor's offer of between 500-525k would be absolute tops for our house given its current condition (ugly damaged carpets, unattractive MB drywall damage (due to the removal of an old banjo-style vanity and replacement with a nicer and smaller vanity in Dec. 2016 (right before BK13)) and a scratched up sink basin with a half-broken rusted faucet (non-working sprayer).Of course, we won't believe her until we get competing offers and see what the highest bid is.
We never dreamed in 2016 that these would be unfixable for five years, but that's how BK13 works!
If our 1975 house was in better optic shape, we could probably work with a less predatory iBuyer, but just as flashoflight points out above, we better unload this house before the market self-corrects or worse, crashes. Then we would be looking at best case, a short sale or maybe inevitably a foreclosure. Of the 10 worst things most people experience in their lifetimes, so far, we have avoided just two: foreclosure and divorce!

[Barbisi]

Barbisi I think one of the iBuyers offer an advance for moving costs. I don't remember which iBuyer it was. But if less stress is more important than optimizing the net proceeds, maybe that particular iBuyer may be better for you. Since you are going the iBuyer route, get quotes from all of them. Whatever you decide to do, do it before the FOMO fever goes away.

@flashoflight, I've lived in a state of constant siege for 5 years so far, and another mostly unhappy almost 3 years before that (beginning in Sept.2014 when we first started looking for our first house to buy.) I'm way ready for a break.
I think I know which iBuyer you're referring to, but I need to do more research before I identify them on these forums.