Selling Your House in Maryland To a “We Buy Houses” Company – FAQ’s

Frequently Asked Questions

Need to sell your home in Maryland or Pennsylvania? Below is a list of most commonly asked questions about selling to a “we buy houses” company. If your question is not listed, please feel free to call us at (301) 307-2244 or fill in the contact us form below, and we will try to answer any and all questions you may have as soon as possible!

For a COVID-19 update, please click here.

1. Who Are You & What Do You Do?

We’re the Swomley’s. Owners of Cash Home Buyers, LLC, a legitimate home buying company in MD & PA. Adam (on the left) and Luke (on the right) run the day-to-day operations of the house buying business. Adam & Luke have been best friends since Day 1 (a lot of people even think they’re twins), and as a family we’re blessed to have been in business together for over 6 years while working on a group passion of ours, real estate. Our “About Us” and “Our Company” pages will give you a very detailed picture of who we are, and what we are about. Visit those pages and get to know us a bit 🙂

We Pay Cash For Houses In Florida, in any condition, or location. In addition to buying houses fast for cash, we have other solutions that we can offer based on your situation and needs. Whether you want to sell your house fast in Florida, or you’re not in a rush to sell, but just want to avoid the costs and hassles of selling with an agent, we can help!

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2. Is a “We Buy Houses” Company a Good Fit For Me?

“We are not desperate to sell our home in FL, nor are we in a hurry!”

As much as it may be surprising, the majority of the sellers that sold us their house were not desperate to sell (at all), nor were they trying to avoid foreclosure. Most of our clients choose us simply because they either had bad experiences listing their house with an agent, or they just don’t want to deal with repairs, endless showings or any of the hassles of selling a house the traditional way.

Because we buy houses in Florida (and all other types of properties) in any condition, no matter the situation, location or issue you may be facing, we often are a great option to consider if you want to sell your home fast, and with ease.

Let us run the numbers and see how much we can offer you in cash for your home in FL. We’d be happy to advise you if listing with an agent would be a better choice for you or not. After all, it doesn’t hurt to get an offer from us, our offers are 100% free and there’s zero obligation to accept!

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3. Why Should I Choose Your Company?

Honestly, you absolutely do not have to choose us! There are plenty of other cash home buying companies in Florida that you could sell your house to. Just Google “We Buy Houses in Florida” or “Sell My House Fast in Florida” and you’ll see a bunch of them show up. However, you should do your research about these companies before you choose one to work with. Unfortunately, there are investors out there that can’t wait to take advantage of people for their own personal gain.

We are not desperate.  We do not need to make a huge profit on each deal, and we do not expect to buy every house that we come across. While WHAT we do is similar to other home buying companies (we offer cash for houses in FL), HOW and WHY we do business is different. We are genuine, honest and we care. Yes, we need to make money, but that doesn’t mean we need to take advantage of people, and that we cannot go out of our way to genuinely help you without expecting anything in return!

My suggestion is for you to check out “Our Company” and “About Us” pages as well as the “How It Works” page to familiarize yourself with our company and our home buying process, to see if you feel we can be trusted to perform as we promise and buy your home fast for cash.

So no, you do not have to choose us, but if you do feel like working with us, just fill in this form and we will take care of you 🙂

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4. How Are You Different From A Realtor?

A Real Estate Agent (Realtor) does not actually purchase your house. Agents advertise your house on the Multiple Listing Service (MLS), hoping to find an interested buyer. Realtors charge commissions and fees. Listing your house in Florida with an agent means you will have to pay closing costs, title transfer taxes, and likely have to endure multiple showings, open houses, inspections, and appraisals while the house is on the market, which can be take a long time (6-12 months is not uncommon).

We are a legitimate cash home buying company in florida, with the cash and connections to other cash buyers interested in buying houses to rehab them and put it back on the market for sale, or to hold them as rentals. In many cases, we are the ones buying the house. Other times, we may sell the house to one of our trusted cash investor buyers.

We skip the whole “agent” process and jump immediately to the offer and closing on your property. We cover all the closing costs that you would normally pay when selling through an agent. The most notable differences are that we do not charge you any fees or commissions, and that you have a legitimate cash buyer in place and don’t need to wait months in uncertainty hoping the agent will find you a qualified buyer.

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5. Should I List With A Realtor Instead?

It all depends on what you are looking to accomplish. If you’re looking for top market value and are not in a rush to sell, then listing with an agent would probably make more sense for you. However, if convenience, speed & certainty are more important to you and you’re ok with leaving a little bit of money on the table, then selling to a legitimate house buying company in FL may be beneficial to you.

If your house needs work and it can’t quality for regular financing, even if you hired a Realtor, they are still going to have to look for a cash buyer. So in addition to selling for a discount to a cash buyer, you would also need to pay the Realtor commissions, fees & closing costs. So in those cases we don’t think selling through a Realtor is the best play, since you can save money by selling directly to a cash buying company.

In addition to offering cash for houses in Florida, we also have a 2nd option that is called “Novation“. This option allows our sellers to make more money than a regular cash offer. With this method, we actually partner up with the sellers to sell the property to a 3rd party buyer. We make any necessary repairs to the property, pay all the commissions on the sale, and guarantee you a net price that is usually about 10-15% higher than a cash offer price. This option typically works best if the property is in decent or good condition.

Many people do not understand the pros & cons of listing a house with an agent. We would be more than happy to help you with this. Just fill in one of the webforms or give us a call and we’ll provide you with what we believe is the best course of action to selling your home in Florida.

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6. Are There Any Obligations After I Fill Out The Web-Form?

Absolutely not! We know that you have options, and we are aware of investors in FL that try to scam people and take advantage of their unfortunate situations. To differentiate ourselves from them, we make sure you know there are ZERO costs and risk to you. You truly have nothing to lose by filling out a form on our site and getting an offer from us. If you accept our offer, great! You will be able to sell us your house and cash out quickly. If you do not like our offer, we’ll do our best to guide you in the right direction.

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7. How Does Your Home-Buying Process Work?

It’s quite simple! 

Step 1 – Discovery

Call us or submit your info in one of the secure forms on our site. One of our friendly “House Helpers” (you can see who they are here) will either answer your call right away, or call you back ASAP to have a 5-10 minute discovery conversation. They will listen to your needs, answer any questions you may have, and offer guidance and recommendations to assist you in your home selling journey. Even if that means we’re not the best option for you. 

Step 2 – Offer

If you decide that the options we have available are worthy, then we take you to our second step which is to set up a conversation with our Buying Manager, Christian, either in person or over the phone (can usually be done the same day). He will do a market analysis on your house and create the best offer suited for your individual needs. 

If you wish to accept our offer, we will send you a simple 2 page agreement (we hate long and complex paperwork) that outlines your offer and all the important items you agreed to with Christian. This agreement can be signed electronically or in person and you can also have an attorney review it for you, if you wish (We always recommend it, but it’s not necessary). 

Step 3 – Review

Depending on our unique agreement we will follow through on whatever was agreed upon given the important dates of our agreement. This may or may not include cash advances, inspections, repairs done by us, etc. 

Throughout this time you will be in touch with our Buying Coordinator, Paul, who will make sure your title is clean, your mortgages are satisfied, your HOA fees are taken care of, and any other things that may surface be dealt with so we can get to our final step which is: 

Step 4 – Closing!

This is the easiest part. Paul would have already gotten your preferred choice of closing – whether it be at alocation of your choice or at a reputable attorney’s office; as well as your preferred choice of payment – whether it be certified check or wire transfer. 

Paul will be giving you a heads up on the funding date, so you know what date the funds are set to arrive. You two will work together to coordinate a day and time most convenient for you to sign your closing documents and once Paul has verified all the docs were signed & notarized correctly, you should receive your funds within 1-2 business days after! 

It’s that simple! If you still have questions about the process, feel free to give us a call to (954) 519-7040 or check out the “How It Works” page if you haven’t done so already.

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8. How Do I Get The Cash For My House?

Depending on the location of the closing (at the title company’s office or at your preferred location) there are a few ways that our sellers typically get paid. It basically comes down to either a wire transfer to your account, or a certified cashier’s cheque.

1 – Closing At The Title Company: You go to the Title company, sign your closing docs, and you will be given a cashier’s cheque or a wire to your bank account, whichever you prefer. Keep in mind that if you go to the Title company prior to our funds being sent, there could be a delay from the moment you go to the time you receive your funds. We always do our best to make sure that before we send our clients to the Title company, the funds are already in, so we don’t cause inconvenience to you with the funds. Sometimes there are circumstances that requires you to sign your documents prior, in order for us to fund, so keep that in mind, but if that does happen there will be an open communication throughout the process so you are made aware.

2 – Mobile Closing: You typically get paid 1-2 days after you sign the closing docs. If you choose to close at your location, we will send a mobile notary to you for notarizing the closing docs. The notary will overnight the docs to the title company and they will hold your documents in escrow and not record them until our funds hit the accounts. This is to make sure that both parties are protected in the transaction. Once our funds hit their account, they will either wire you the money or overnight you a cashier’s cheque, whichever you prefer.

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9. Do I Need To Clean Before I Move Out?

Not at all. Don’t worry about anything. Take what you want & leave the rest. “Sell Your House As-Is” is not just a saying… We mean it! We’ve purchased houses full of cat poop, dead mice, rotten food in the fridge, cockroaches on the walls, etc. We don’t judge. So why not make things easier on yourself and just take what you want and let us deal with the rest?

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10. Will You Kick Me Out Of My Home If I’m Not Out At Closing?

Of course not! If you’re not out of your house prior to closing, we’ll typically arrange an escrow hold back where we hold funds in an escrow account and workout a post occupancy agreement to allow you a set amount of time for you to stay in the property. A typical range for post occupancy is anywhere from about 1 to 3 weeks. Usually anything longer than that we would need to charge you market rent while you stay in the home. So no, we will never kick you out of your home.

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11. Are There Any Fees Or Commissions When Selling To You? 

No, not at all. Our services are 100% free to you. We don’t charge anything to make you an offer or inspect your property. Since we’re the direct buyers you don’t need to pay any agent commissions or fees. We also take care of all your closing costs. If you need to sell an inherited property in Florida, we can also pay for probate upfront and then get reimbursed at closing.

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12. My Home Needs A Lot Of Work. Will You Still Buy It?

We buy homes in Florida in ANY condition, good or bad. We and our investor buyers mainly buy to fix and flip, so the more room for improvement, the more we see the potential in your house. So Yes, definitely! We’d love to buy your house even if it is in terrible shape. You may be surprised by how much we can offer you in cash for your house! Just fill in our form to see how much we can pay and how easy it is to sell a damaged house in Florida!

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13. Do You Pay Market Value For Houses? How Much Can You Offer Me?

We definitely pay FAIR prices, but there is a difference between a fair price and MARKET value. The value of the house if it is completely remodeled is called “Market Value”. If the house needs work, we take the market value of the house and deduct the cost of the repairs needed and we come up with number that is fair and works for the sellers. For a very detailed explanation on how exactly we calculate our offers, check out our “How it Works” page.

In some cases we can present highly competitive offers at or even above market value. However, usually those cases do not allow us to pay all cash. Seller financing, Novations and Subject 2 offers are such cases. For more information on these types of offers and to see if they would make sense for you, please give us a call to (954) 519-7040 or fill in one of the online forms and we will get back to you ASAP.

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14. How Do I Know You Are Actually Going To Close?

Well, we have been in business for almost 10 years now and we have closed over 800 real estate transactions since we started. So through our track record alone, I hope that gives you some confidence in our ability to close. However, during our inspection period there is a possibility that we can cancel our contract. The reality is that only a small percentage of our contracts actually do get cancelled, because we make offers with every intent to perform and get them closed.

However, sometimes there are unusual circumstances such as hidden repairs that the inspection finds, a real estate market going through some turmoil that was not there prior to making the offer (i.e COVID-19), or issues with liens or violations that we weren’t aware of. Those things can affect a transaction, but as I said its only a small percentage.

If you are concerned about us cancelling our contracts prior to the inspection period, we can always make you an offer with a 0 day inspection period, but just keep in mind that in order for us to do that, we will likely negotiate a lower price to compensate for the extra risks that we have to assume.

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15. How Does The Cash Advance Work?

If we negotiated to give you a cash advance before your sale, we need to make sure that we run a title search prior to releasing any advances. This will let us know that you have full authority to convey a clear & marketable title to your property and that there are no issues that can prevent us from purchasing your home and moving forward. Title searches typically take about 5 days to come back, and we can give you an advance within 1-2 business days after title is back and providing that it is clear.

The amount of the cash advance depends on your needs and your circumstances. Typically we give advances anywhere from $2,500-$10,000. There have been several urgent cases that we advanced more than that because the sellers really needed it. If you do need an advance, please let us know upfront how much you need and why you need it, so we can try and structure a favorable deal for you.

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16. Why Do You Have Some Bad Reviews?

Great question 🙂 Keep in mind that it is impossible to please everybody. Yes, we do have some bad reviews but I hope you keep it in perspective that we have a lot more good reviews. Unfortunately, sometimes there are sellers who don’t act ethically and for whatever reason just decide that they don’t want to sell to us anymore after signing a contract with us. Usually those are the types of sellers who leave us bad reviews.

There have been other cases where it was our fault and the sellers were not informed enough about how our process works and didn’t like the process at the end of the day. Throughout the years, we’ve strived to take those negative reviews as learning lessons and tried to improve our communication and better explain what our process looks like and what to expect every step of the way.

We take our business very seriously and we care not only about our clients, but our employees as well. We try our best to make it a win-win situation for everybody involved.  So I hope you understand that it’s impossible to please everybody and we do our best, but ultimately we will have some bad reviews. I would be concerned with companies who don’t have any bad reviews.

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17. Do Cash Buyers Take Advantage Of People?

Unfortunately, some do, yes. A lot of homeowners that sell their homes to cash buyers are facing some sort of distress and are in a situation where they are pressured to sell their homes fast to cash out. So yes, some cash buyers take advantage of other people’s misfortunes to get the best possible deal for themselves. You need to be careful who you deal with and do proper research about them before you commit to selling your home. Do they have good reviews that look real? Are they in business for a while? Do you have a good “gut” feeling about them?

Keep in mind that we do buy houses in Florida in order to make a profit and that’s how we can remain in business. However, part of our core values is giving first and treating people the way we want to be treated. So although we may not pay full market value, we do conduct business in an ethical manner and do not take advantage of other people’s bad situations. We truly care about the happiness of our sellers, so if they are not happy with our offer, we would not want them to sell us their home.

So while there may be some cash buyers who are doing unscrupulous things out there, we are definitely not some of those guys and will treat you as best as we possibly can. Feel free to visit the “Our Company” and “About Us” pages as well as the “How It Works” page to familiarize yourself with our company and our home buying process to see if you feel good about selling us your house.

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Do You Still Buy Homes During The COVID-19 Pandemic?

YES! FL Cash Home Buyers, LLC is taking every precaution possible for our customers and team to stay healthy. We genuinely care about your safety. We remain open and all of our work is in full compliance with social distancing and CDC guidelines. We have implemented the following options for the safe purchase of your property:

1. We do not need to visit your home to make you an offer, and we can buy your house without a single person coming inside. You tell us what works for you, and we will work out a solution that makes sense and feels safe to you.

2. We can close when you want to close. You can pick a general date now, and we can update that date as the circumstances change. The closing date is completely in your control, fast or slow.

3. Our Title Company offers the ability for you to close remotely. You can close on the sale of your property from home.

4. You can take pictures of your house and text/email them to us, or we can arrange to take interior pictures of your house for you (we need less than 15 minutes). For safety, you can open all the doors, turn on all the lights, and we literally will not touch a single thing in your house while we take the pictures.

FL Cash Home Buyers, LLC has been serving Florida home owners since 2011. We are here to serve you today, and we will be here to serve you tomorrow!

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