Selling To An Investor vs Huge Online Property Buyers Like Zillow

What is an iBuyer?

IBuyer is an online company or companies known in the real estate business as “iBuyers” – or “instant buyers” – because they rely on specific algorithms and digital technology to be in a position to make an offer to a prospective seller (and so, a prospective client) immediately. The premise is excellent – when selling a home to an iBuyer, it is possible to get a cash offer in as little as 24 hours – all without the hassle and time spent staging and showing the home.

Sounds good? Well, here’s the obvious downside. The cash offer you receive is always less than what you could expect by selling your house on the open market. This is the “price” you pay for the convenience of a predetermined house sale, with a set cash amount released to you on closing, minus more deductions. Read on…

If you want to do some simple but rough math, the top 3 iBuyer companies in the U.S. currently – Opendoor, Offerpad, and Redfin Now, according to listwithclever.com – all charge a service fee that amounts to 5% or more of the final sale price.

There are additional costs to pay, too. Closing costs (between 1% to 3%) and repair expenses (between 1% to 2%) will also be deducted from the iBuyers’ initial offer.

So, taking the average house price in the U.S. in 2021 – $346,900, according to the National Association of Realtors – selling your house through an iBuyer would have taken up to nearly $35,000 of any profit you had made through the sale. Sadly, however, many of these hopeful homeowners using the services of an iBuyer have all too often been left high-and-dry, like the customers of Zillow.

If only they had used their very best due diligence, they would know that the most proven, secure, and effective approach to a quick and efficient house sale is by contacting a renowned professional real estate investment company, like ourselves – Better off Home Buyers. 

In this article, we’ll explain exactly why using the services of a professional real estate investment company (an investor) is a far better direction for those selling their home than using a large, generic online property service.

Take a look at these…

“Their communication is terrible, and the way they handled the closing is downright criminal.”

“The deed hasn’t been recorded, and we have received no money. Beware!”

“Awful. Awful. Awful.”

“If you currently have a contract with Zillow – RUN!”

These are just a few of the real and verified comments left by disappointed, frustrated, and even out-of-pocket homeowners simply trying to sell their homes quickly and efficiently through what they thought was a reputable and professional property service company.

If you wish to check the authenticity of the comments, you’ll find these reviews – word-for-word – at ConsumerAffairs.com/homeowners.

It is becoming clearer and clearer every day that large online property companies like Zillow are not providing the “service” they have offered, let alone guaranteed.

And that’s just one of their issues.

Instead of the kind of professional service you’d expect from a big company like Zillow; there’s nothing but a long, long line of people angry at the constant broken promises, the lame excuses, and the complete lack of communication, and even angrier about the way they’ve been personally treated.

Due Diligence Means Reading The Reviews

Let’s face it – selling your home is one of the biggest decisions you’ll make during your lifetime, and something as important as this requires your very best due diligence. 

You will want to ensure the actual sale is as easy and hassle-free as possible, which means being 100% confident that those handling the matter do so professionally – if not expertly.

Traditionally, people wanting to sell their homes hire a real estate agent to conduct the sale. 

However, thanks to a massive online marketing effort in recent years, homeowners looking to sell have also decided to affiliate with a referral real estate database company – a company like Zillow, a well-known name in the world of American real estate. This new market trend in the world of buying and selling real estate has provided a different avenue for home sellers to take.

However, if, for example, the unsatisfied consumers that had used Zillow had honestly also used their very best due diligence, they would have explored every avenue open to them – and that means reading the reviews.
Note: By the way, we’re happy for all of you to read our company’s reviews.

Zillow Offers Has Now Shut Down Permanently – Seriously?

Yes, seriously… Zillow Offers, the company’s online property-buying arm, has officially shut down, leaving hundreds of home-sellers in a state of financial limbo and, in some cases, distress.

Just a short time ago, Zillow Offers once had the second-highest transaction volume in the U.S., with a total of more than 6,000 transactions in 2019 and availability in 25 cities.

However, even though it appeared popular, Zillow Offers wasn’t available in as many locations as other iBuyers. Additionally, it soon became apparent that its potentially high fees could drastically reduce sellers’ profits.

Furthermore, compared to its competitors, it wasn’t easy to find Zillow Offers reviews from satisfied customers.

Why Did Zillow Offers Fail?

On November 2, 2021, Zillow announced it was getting out of the iBuyer business and was shutting down Zillow Offers. Zillow CEO Richard Barton decided as it had become painfully obvious that the home-buying model and its algorithm were flawed.

Here’s what Barton had to say at the time:

“We’ve determined the unpredictability in forecasting home prices far exceeds what we anticipated,” and Zillow had been “unintentionally purchasing homes at higher prices.”

According to the New York Times, Zillow Offers lost more than $420 million in just three months of 2021.

There is an interesting National post published in the Realtor Magazine on October 19, 2021, where the National Association of Realtors tells about the reasons Zillow halted I

Free Advice for Clients with Zillow Offers If Zillow had agreed to purchase your home before November 2, 2021 – the day they announced they were shutting down – the company may still buy it. However, you need to be aware that several purchase contracts have now been canceled as Zillow Offers formally withdraws from the market. If you have a home under contract with Zillow Offers, you should either: –Log in to your Zillow account for details -Contact Zillow directly Zillow has publicly stated that they focus on helping existing customers and selling their remaining inventory. When the company announced in October 2021 that it was pausing new contracts to buy homes, it said it would “ focus operations on purchasing homes with already-signed contracts, but have yet to close.” However, they have since broken that promise, having canceled around 400 contracts (of a total of 8,172 contracts) with closing dates set for 2022.  Zillow has offered compensation – returned earnest money and variable bonuses – to those sellers who agreed to terminate their contracts by November 30, 2021. Zillow said they did not expect to cancel any more contracts – but they had promised that previously.

COVID-19 Pandemic’s Effect on Homeowners

During the last couple of years, the life of Americans has changed dramatically. We have all been forced to adjust quickly to the imposed changes to the daily life of the deadly COVID-19 pandemic.

Worldwide, this adjustment has brought many losses – the most obvious, tragically, is the loss of life. Here in the U.S., the COVID-19 pandemic has brought the premature end of nearly 900,000 American lives, with, sadly, more to come.

There have been other losses, too, such as struggling national economies and, seemingly, the loss of many freedoms we once took for granted.

However, adversities must be faced head-on with courage, and when you fall, you must get up, dust yourself down, and carry on.

Zillow clearly didn’t take that advice. Faced with the adverse market conditions caused by the pandemic, they shut up shop. Yes, they closed down the business, temporarily suspending the purchase of houses, and in the process, leaving many clients abandoned without completing their sale transactions.

All without any prior notice whatsoever…

After months of leaving many existing clients completely in the dark, without any formal information, instruction or contact whatsoever, Zillow then restarted its business. 

We have received numerous telephone calls from people who are clearly upset about their treatment from this now-failed iBuyer business. These are homeowners living mostly here in Oregon who are now asking for our help to resolve the crisis they find themselves in.

They wanted to sell their home quickly and efficiently and were seriously let down.

Happily, we have now helped many of them do just that – to sell their homes – helping them to climb out of the financial hole that the pandemic put them in.

Our company, Better Off Home Buyers, is always happy to extend a helping hand to lift people away from anxiety and stress, and into their economic recovery.

One relieved and thankful client even said it was good to meet with their advisor – in person and face-to-face – who had assisted them through our purchasing process. 

Here’s why our clients are so pleased and grateful for our uber-professional service.

What To Expect When You Sell Your House To Us

Better Off Home Buyers is a company created, developed, and run by a Portland family, and we serve people who need to sell their homes in Oregon and many other US. States.

We have helped hundreds of people who needed to sell their properties for a range of highly diverse reasons. 
Unlike faceless companies like Zillow, the pandemic has not affected or stopped us from providing professional, high-quality service to all our clients. 

You already know how these iBuyer businesses operate – if, unlike Zillow Offers, they operate at all. 

Let’s see why our clients are 100% satisfied with our fully open and transparent purchasing process.

What Homeowners Can Expect When They Contact Us

Reason #1	When someone submits their information by completing the form on this page or dialing our phone number directly, they are in contact with a real person – not a robot.
Reason #2	We discussed the property you want to sell over the phone and made an appointment to visit your house in person. We can view and inspect your home remotely using virtual technology if you want so. Our physical visit to your home will be at your chosen time and normally lasts 30 minutes or so.
Reason #3	We then apply our home-buying criteria to present you with a written win-win offer. The homeowner’s satisfaction is an absolute priority.
Reason #4	We will begin the documentation to purchase your house if you accept our offer. Our house-buying process normally takes between 2 to 7 days. After the process is completed, you will receive a check for the agreed value of your property.
Reason #5	Sellers must wait for a lender to qualify a borrower in any real estate transaction. We do not depend on banks or lenders because we own the required capital to purchase houses. This works in your favor, saving around 80% of a normal transaction time.
Reason #6	We buy directly. Our clients do business with the company’s owners, not lower-level employees or Zillow/iBuyer-referred real estate agents hundreds of miles away who need authorization from above to make their decisions.

Our home-buying process is simple and easy to understand. It can be summarized in 4 straightforward steps:

1. Contact us and let us know about your property.
2. We’ll contact you to arrange an appointment if it meets our buying criteria.
3. We’ll present you with a fair, written, no-obligation offer.
4. We close at a local reputable title company and put cash in your hand in as little as 7 days.

If you have been affected by unemployment, the loss of business, tenants who can’t pay the rent, or you can not comply with your obligations for any other reason, you may need to sell your property.

We are a local professional home-buying company specializing in purchasing “As-Is” properties. People who contact us always receive 100% satisfaction with our service.

Please feel free to visit our Testimonials page.

Unlike thousands of Zillow and other iBuyer customers, you will certainly not be disappointed with our service.
Contact us today if you need to sell your house, regardless of which U.S. state you live in.