As we have all seen recently are some companies out there that are offering to buy your home versus going through the traditional process of using a real estate agent to help you sell you home.  Knock is the newest company to come to the surface offering to help a home owner sell their home within 6 weeks, or they will buy it from the home owner.  This sort of time restriction is not a part of the OfferPad or Opendoor concept.  So what shall someone do if they want to sell their home?  Here a few pros and cons with both methods:

Pros to using a real estate agent

1. Generally speaking you could potentially get more money for your home (actual market value).
2.  Years of experience in the industry, in your neighborhood, is priceless.
3. There is negotiation available with the % a real estate agent will charge to sell your home.  Often times this percentage (which is the same as the 3 online companies anyway) is able to be lowered.
4. If you are going to pay about the same to sell the home you have lived in for years and had so so many memories in, wouldn’t you want a little more “love”/warm and fuzzies from an individual that will understand that and make the experience a positive one for you and your family?

Pros to using Knock, OfferPad or Opendoor:

1.  The turnaround time to sell your home is going to generally be quicker using one of these companies.
2. The process is generally seamless versus some transactions in a traditional real estate process.

Cons to working with Knock, OfferPad or Opendoor:

1.  Generally there are fairly strict restrictions on value, location and condition of the home that these three companies will allow.
2. Generally the home’s title must be “clean” and potentially owner occupied or vacant only.
3. These companies are all fairly new and are not operating in all of our 50 states.  Knock is only operating in Atlanta at this time.
4. Knock typically charges 6% fee to sell the home in addition to OfferPad and Opendoor. However, OfferPad and Opendoor also charge a risk fee which is anywhere from 0-6% depending on what company you go with to account for potential sales of the home falling through to the new buyer and/or the length of time it takes the home to sell to someone else.
5. It is truly hard to really know if you are selling your home for actual market value if you are working with one of these companies.

Bottom line… selling your home is not an easy thing to do especially if it is under circumstances that are not for-seen.  In some instances, I could truly see where you are “in a pickle” and really need to get rid of a home, and get rid of it fast.  In this particular circumstance I can understand where you do what you gotta do, however selling your home with a experienced professional that will always have your best interest, is the way to go.

To get more information, take a look at each of their websites.  Give me a call if you want to use the proven traditional way of selling your home with using a real estate agent.