The pros and cons with companies that buy houses

If you sold your house today, what would you do first? You are probably going to look for a good real estate agent to guide you, advise you and help you find a buyer. That is more or less the norm, but as the average time that houses stay on the market lengthens, some people turn to companies that buy houses.

They are called cash home buyers, and they can complete a home purchase even on short notice. If you are facing foreclosure, are behind on your mortgage payments, or have a large amount of debt, you will need to raise money quickly, and the fastest way to do this is to sell your home, which is presumably one of your greatest assets, to companies that we buy houses.

Without having to rely on banks or any other type of lender to obtain funds, they have cash on hand that they can use to make a direct purchase of any property. They can close a sale within a few days if necessary, so if you're facing recovery, for example, then it's one of the only options you really have to stop it.

And also, if you're buried in deep debt, the only way out of it is to make a bold move. In this case, you may be losing your home, but what you should be thinking about is getting your life back and starting again. But if you're really determined to stay in your home, then you can find a cash home buyer who offers the option to sell and then re-rent.

Better yet, because there is no real estate agent involved in the deal, the seller can save thousands of pounds that he would have paid the agent on commission. Cash home buyers also buy homes regardless of what state they're in, so if you have a home directly from The Stepford Wives suite or one that needs a makeover they will buy it.

The criticism against this type of sale is that sellers are not given the fair value of their home. But try selling to any buyer today, and you're unlikely to get any starting price deals based on what you think your home is worth or what agents say it is worth. In a market saturated with sellers and with very few buyers, they have the power to dictate the price, and the only way to sell is to lower the selling price. And once you've accepted that reality, it only makes sense to sell to someone who can complete the purchase quickly (unless, of course, they can afford to wait until the market recovers).

There is no exact science to pricing a home, it is one of the easiest mistakes any home seller can make. You should compare similar properties that are being sold and recently sold, make adjustments for differences, and learn about market movements.

Of course, if you choose to sell through a real estate agent, they will make their own appraisals. It's easy to get carried away by someone suggesting the highest list price. Who wouldn't want to be able to make the most of a home sale? Certainly, in this era of economic uncertainty, anyone would not miss the opportunity to win big. But that's just one of the biggest mistakes a seller can make because, in today's reality, the only person whose opinion matters is the buyer who makes an offer.

There is no reason to be afraid of listing your home at a low price, it might even work in your favor. Doing so can allow you to get multiple offers, and that should drive your home price up a bit, giving you the bargaining power back as a seller. There is little danger in too low prices, especially in today's slow market; the danger is in overvaluing and choosing an agent based solely on high valuation.