Should You Ever Sell Your Home To An iBuyer?

Have you heard of iBuyer? They are an interesting semi-new group of players added to the real estate market. 

Opendoor is an example of this new iBuyer category, which aims to shortcut the traditional home sale process.

This is how it works: A home seller goes to a website and fills out a form with details about their home. Within a day or two, the iBuyer provides a cash offer which the seller can accept or reject.

The biggest benefit of selling to iBuyers is that these companies provide the seller with convenience and speed. All the seller has to do is accept the cash offer. The iBuyer then takes on the burden of fixing up the home as needed, marketing it, showing it, and trying to sell it for a profit.

So should you consider selling to an iBuyer?

It depends. If you need to sell very quickly, and if you want to make the sale process as minimal as possible, then an iBuyer might be worth considering.

At the same time, you should also be aware of the downsides of selling your home to an iBuyer.

As you can guess, iBuyers typically make a lower offer than what a house would sell for on the open market in order to maximize their profits. Also, they charge the seller a fee.

What's more, any upfront offer that an iBuyer makes is then followed by a list of repairs that the iBuyer wants to have made. If a seller cannot make those repairs before selling, then the iBuyer's offer decreases further.

It's tricky to predict exactly how much money sellers will lose by selling their home to an iBuyer rather than going the traditional route. But, according to the financial website MarketWatch, the average loss for sellers is around 11%. In some markets, sellers can net as much as 18% less when selling to an iBuyer.

Not surprisingly, an estimated 85% of sellers who get an iBuyer offer decide it's not in their best interest to accept and end up going the traditional route or real estate.

iBuyers are an interesting new option for sellers. At the same time, the traditional way of marketing and selling a home isn't going anywhere giving all its other benefits.

If you are considering selling your home, you can get an idea of what it's worth on the open market with this home value calculator, which takes into account recent Orlando sales:

Enter your home address here to find out what your home is currently worth

And if you do get an iBuyer offer, and you want some help in evaluating whether it makes sense for you to accept, then give me a call at 321-340-2555. I have my finger on the pulse of the Orlando real estate market, and I'm here to help.