Like all things in life, not all cash buyers are created equal. Similarly, not all home investors work the same way. Whenever you're dealing with a company like us that buys houses for cash in New Jersey or an independent investor who buys homes for cash, you want to make sure that you have the right questions in place when you communicate with them, so you can be certain that you're dealing with the right person or company.

What questions should you ask a cash home buyer or investor?

We've discussed the advantages and benefits of working with a cash home buyer extensively on our blog and website. Working with a cash home buyer allows for a quick closing, eliminates the inconvenience associated with listing with a realtor, and many cash buyers purchase properties 'as is,' meaning there's no need to worry about repairs, updates, or cleaning. Considering the difficulties of selling a house on the market, it's important to consider these advantages, particularly if you need to sell your house quickly due to unexpected circumstances. However, even with these benefits, it's essential to qualify the investor you're dealing with to ensure you're in good hands. As you search for a reputable cash buyer or investor, consider asking the questions we outline in this article to ensure you're dealing with the right people.

FlashBuysHomes is a group of business owners based in South Jersey with an office in Atlantic County. South Jersey is our backyard, and we know the area well, which is why we've chosen to invest in it to assist fellow homeowners in New Jersey. If you have any questions that are not included in this article, please check out our frequently asked questions page linked at the top of our navigation bar, or feel free to call or text us anytime.

How long have you been buying houses in New Jersey?

The number one thing to keep in mind when dealing with anyone in business, whether you're selling your house to them for cash or buying a t-shirt from them, is their reputation and history. Do you know how long this company has been in business? Do you know how many houses this company has purchased in the last year? Are they local or out of state (or in a completely different country)? It's important to collect this information because you want to avoid individuals who either can't really close the deal with you or individuals who work for marketing companies that collect information to sell leads to other cash buyers in the industry. The latter happens more than you think!

The best thing in any business is experience. Experience is what separates the rookies from the experts. There's only so much you can learn in a book or from research. You have to go through the process to actually learn the ups and downs, the pitfalls, and the traps. When you're working with a company that will buy your house for cash quickly, you want to make sure they have experience. If they do not have experience, there's a good chance they will not know how to handle complex situations like we do. One example of a tricky or complex situation in buying houses for cash is when it comes to probate. There's a lot of legal nuance involved in the probate process, which is when somebody passes away and involves the legal dealings of how their assets are redistributed among their heirs. An experienced company knows the right people to call and how to navigate these harsh waters, whereas somebody without experience will probably lose the deal and just waste your time. If a company truly has a background of success, they'll be able to walk you through all of their experience clearly, concisely, and show you examples of how they've helped individuals in situations similar to yours.

Flash Buys Homes is made up of a team of New Jersey business owners who have operated businesses outside of real estate for almost 20 years in the South Jersey area. Within real estate, we've been investing both on the market through traditional listings and off-market through cash offers since 2008. We're a real company with a real office and real people in your area that you can talk to face-to-face from the comfort of your own home. There are a lot of cash buyers and investors who cannot say the same.

Do you have reviews and testimonials?

Another great way to determine if a company is legitimate is by checking the reviews left by previous clients. Just like how you would read reviews before purchasing a product on Amazon, it's crucial to do the same when selling one of your most valuable assets, your home. It's essential to speak to individuals within the network of the cash buyer you're considering, such as their past clients, realtors they know, and other individuals they've worked with in the real estate industry like title agencies. A reputable real estate investor or cash home buying company should have a long list of trusted individuals within the industry who have nothing but positive things to say about them. However, be wary if you only see positive reviews, as a negative review here and there can actually boost their legitimacy by showing that they are dealing with real people. Ultimately, the goal should be to make a majority of the people they work with happy, as this is a sign of professionalism. Places like Google are an excellent resource for checking reviews to gain a better understanding of who you're dealing with.

Do you have a proof of funds you can provide?

"Proof of funds" is a term used in the real estate market, which essentially means showing a bank account with enough capital to buy the property in question. Proof of funds is important for three reasons:

Separating the real professionals from the wannabes - it takes a lot of trust for a lender to provide an investor with the funds they need to do their projects. If an investor has access to a lot of capital, it means that the cash buyer has either been working in the industry for a long time, is extremely trustworthy, or has great relationships with the people they deal with within the real estate industry (or all of the above).

Securing your deal - somebody with a solid proof of funds isn't going to flake on you because of financing. A big problem in the traditional real estate market when you're selling through a realtor is that you have to wait for people to get approved for a mortgage. Sometimes you might get under contract, and at the last second, the mortgage company will not approve your potential buyer for the funds they need to buy your home. When this happens, the deal falls through, and your property goes back on the market, leaving you wondering how much longer it's going to take for your property to sell. When you're dealing with a cash buyer that has proof of funds, this will not happen because they are giving you proof that they have the money they need to buy your house outright all-cash.

You're going to get a great offer - one of the major reasons why a cash home buyer would lowball you is that they simply don't have the funds that they actually need to give you a fair cash offer on the property. If somebody lacks the financing they need to give you an appropriate, valuable offer, then they're most likely going to underbid you and leave you feeling insulted. With us, you won't have that problem because we have access to a sizable amount of funding, which allows us to give you the right and best offer.

We have access to more than enough capital from various resources, from personal financing to strong relationships with banks, fellow investors, and partners. We can provide you with proof of funds at any time for virtually any property you may be looking to sell. We've built up a network of funding to ensure that we're able to execute a deal at any time, quickly, and on short notice. This allows us to be extremely flexible and maximize our fair cash offer that we can provide to potential home sellers.

What do I need to do to get my house ready for sale?

As mentioned above, not all home buyers are created equal; they have different processes and expectations when making an investment. You will want to know the expectations of the cash investor you are dealing with. Sometimes, some cash buyers will purchase or make an offer on a property without an inspection. While this may seem attractive at first, it is designed to lock you into an agreement and then change it at the last second. You will want to ask them if repairs are required and who will be responsible for them.

We already know that when buying through a realtor, your house needs to be in virtually brand new condition for a potential buyer to make an offer and close a deal with you. But similarly, you will want to clarify if the cash buyer you are talking to expects a perfectly clean house. Another thing to consider is clean out. Do they expect you to get rid of all the belongings that you do not want? For example, if you have an old couch that has been in your family for 15+ years, whose responsibility is it to get rid of it? Do you have to lug it down to the local dumpster yourself, or will they take care of it for you? It is super important to lay out all of this prior to getting into a contract with a cash buyer because the last thing you want is to create more work for yourself in order to sell your house fast for cash.

With Flash Buys Homes, we do not require any repairs, cleaning, or renovations at all. When we make you an offer, we make it as is, which means we will take the home exactly as it is, with no cleaning, no repairs, and no major renovations of any kind. What does this mean? This means you need to do less work to sell your house faster for cash. We even deal with all cleanouts. That old couch that I was talking about above, we will personally dispose of it, so you do not have to break your back carrying old pieces of furniture that you do not care about.

How long do you take to close?

The best part about selling to a cash buyer is that it's much faster than selling to a traditional buyer through a traditional listing or realtor. However, it's important that your cash buyer can close quickly. If a cash buyer seems hesitant to tell you how fast they can close, or they give you a very long timeline, you've probably got the wrong cash buyer. A sign of a strong cash buyer or real estate investor is that they can close quickly and are flexible and can work on your timeline if you're not in a position to close quickly.

For example, we can close with you in as little as 3 weeks or as long as you need to make sure you're properly set up for the next chapter of your life. One example where some people may prefer a little more time is if they need to move out and find a new place. We'll even help you find your new place if necessary because we've got tons of connections with real estate agents all over the state within our network that we can recommend to you. But our ability to close fast makes it super easy for you to make a decision so you don't need to waste time waiting on back-and-forth communication with cash buyers that don't actually have the financing to buy your property.

Do you charge fees or commissions?

Once again, every home buyer's process is unique. You want to make sure that you ask the cash home buyer you're dealing with or considering selling your house to for cash whether they have any fees or commissions associated with the sale of your house. Some cash home buyers charge a commission and fees at closing, which could leave you feeling taken advantage of, because most cash buyers buy without commissions or fees.

The cash buyer you're working with should be clear with you about whether they have fees and commissions that they'll charge you. If they're not clear with you on this matter, you should seriously consider working with someone else.

If you choose to sell your house to us for cash, we won't charge you any fees or commissions. We typically pay all closing costs to save money for the homeowners we deal with.

Who pays the closing costs?

Similar to how fees can be ambiguous with certain home buying companies, it's important to know who is responsible for paying the closing costs on the deal. One reason why the traditional real estate market can be frustrating is because of the large closing costs that sellers have to pay at closing. Some cash buyers may require you to either split the closing costs with them or even make you pay for it by reducing their offer to cover the cost.

If you choose to sell to us, our philosophy is to typically pay the closing costs in order to save you the most amount of money possible when selling your house for cash quickly.

I have a house in New Jersey but live out of state, can I still sell to you?

We have seen this situation occur many times. Often, someone inherits a home and needs to sell it because they reside out of state. It is important to ensure that you know the territories in which the cash buyer is willing to buy. You also want to watch out for any surprise fees they may charge you simply because you are selling a house out of state. It does not make sense for someone to charge you fees based on your location, as that has nothing to do with buying a house for cash. You want a buyer who is willing to work with you, even if it is expensive for you to travel to the property. For example, we specialize in buying and selling New Jersey properties for cash, but we recently had a situation where a seller who lived in Georgia inherited a property in our area and had to commute back and forth weekly by flight in order to deal with the estate. This was an extremely costly and time-consuming process, and the seller wanted to sell as quickly as possible, so we made sure to take care of them properly.

While we are based out of New Jersey, we can buy properties all over the United States and are willing and able to provide a solution to you, regardless of where your property is located. Over the years, we have purchased many inherited houses, and we understand the probate process and how to deal with the confusing situations associated with it.

Have more questions?

Do you have questions outside of what we've covered in this article? Make sure you ask every single question that's on your mind to the cash buyer or home investor that you're speaking with. You want to make sure that they are willing to take the time and answer every single question you have because, at the end of the day, selling a house is a very big decision, and you want to make sure that you're in the right hands. If you're sensing from the cash buyer that you're dealing with that they're not willing to work with you or answer your questions, we would advise you to continue searching for someone who is.

Whether or not you have a house that you're looking to sell, if you have any questions about our process or the cash home buying process, please feel free to reach out to us at any time. You can call us or text us at 609-293-5557 or fill out the form on our homepage to set up a free, no-obligation property consultation.