The Ugly Truth Behind “We Buy Ugly Houses” • Hacker News Board

Re: The Ugly Truth Behind “We Buy Ugly Houses”

#241

Post by fuzzfactor » Sat, May 13, 2023, 9:38 PM UTC

chasil wrote: post #108

PraetorianGourd wrote: post #100

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A mixture of: 1. The home being in a state of disrepair such that most lenders won’t fund a mortgage 2. Being located in a region where the local economy can’t support high home prices 3. Because of the lack of desirability, a lack of speculative investment.

...and now that workers are remote and can live wherever they want, these are fair game. After driving through Port Lavaca, TX, that seems really nice. If you like snow, you will be happy with Rock Island.

If you like fishing you will be happy with Port Lavaca.

Re: The Ugly Truth Behind “We Buy Ugly Houses”

#242

Post by strix_varius » Mon, May 15, 2023, 9:33 PM UTC

rsp1984 wrote: post #173

poulsbohemian wrote: post #130

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>I wish more older Americans understood how these people really work. I wish more Americans overall understood how real estate works. I see people get screwed all the time because of bad information. Here's an example: several times a year I will talk with a member of the public who will say something like "we want to work with the listing agent because then we won't have to pay as much commission" not understanding…

Serious Q: What value do agents add? And what's wrong with buyers and sellers negotiating directly, as in pretty much any other market? As an outsider it seems that RE agents bring exactly nothing to the table except FUD around the transaction process which they then exploit for commissions so everybody, except the agents, are worse off. More than happy to be convinced otherwise.

I've bought and sold several houses and, for the most recent one, finally decided to skip realtors.

Best and easiest $21k I've ever made (saved).

RE agents have some value. Maybe $1-2k? For convenience, paperwork preparation, etc. Similar to a lawyer.

But I sold our house in record time, at a price that was good for both us and the buyers. No games of telephone, just meeting and sending emails directly to one another. The lawyer does the actual legal work, the agent mostly just prepares PDFs. The various PDFs took me maybe a couple of hours total to get together.

Re: The Ugly Truth Behind “We Buy Ugly Houses”

#243

Post by strix_varius » Mon, May 15, 2023, 9:55 PM UTC

scarface74 wrote: post #190

strix_varius wrote: post #57

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I hate to respond to arguments made in bad faith, but this is so ignorant that I simply have to. If you read the article, and the excellent primary reporting it links to, you'll see that these companies are swindling people for significantly less than they would get from the open market. These people could hire a realtor and retain 95% of the value of their home. However, scams like "We buy ugly houses" blanket areas…

> These people could hire a realtor and retain 95% of the value of their home. And it would take longer. If my parents house was dilapidated and I had moved away years ago, I would do something like this not to deal with the hassle. If I had to relocate quickly and didn’t want to sink money into a mortgage waiting for a house to sell, I might use something like OpenDoor knowing I could get more if I made the house re…

> And it would take longer.

And it might take longer.

I recently sold our old house without a realtor. It's the 5th house I've sold, the first one where I did FSBO, and it was the fastest to close.

If you presented the same people with: I can get you $150k today or I can get you $300k in 45 days, it's pretty ridiculous to suggest that any reasonable person would choose the former. There are plenty of means to get short-term loans of tens of thousands of dollars, as a homeowner, without setting fire to half the value of your largest asset when you're 65 or older.

Re: The Ugly Truth Behind “We Buy Ugly Houses”

#244

Post by poulsbohemian » Tue, May 16, 2023, 5:24 AM UTC

rsp1984 wrote: post #173

poulsbohemian wrote: post #130

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>I wish more older Americans understood how these people really work. I wish more Americans overall understood how real estate works. I see people get screwed all the time because of bad information. Here's an example: several times a year I will talk with a member of the public who will say something like "we want to work with the listing agent because then we won't have to pay as much commission" not understanding…

Serious Q: What value do agents add? And what's wrong with buyers and sellers negotiating directly, as in pretty much any other market? As an outsider it seems that RE agents bring exactly nothing to the table except FUD around the transaction process which they then exploit for commissions so everybody, except the agents, are worse off. More than happy to be convinced otherwise.

I'm not really here to convince you one way or the other - up to you whether you choose to work with an agent.

But - some of the things I have to know about in order to assist clients might persuade you that there's more to real estate than what you see on the surface. For example:

-- Environmental issues, including water bacteria testing, well issues, oil tanks and their mitigation, radon, lead, and asbestos issues.

-- Zoning, which includes a whole lot of topics. Can I build an ADU? Can I build a house on this ag-zoned property? Can I use this property as a VRBO?

-- Marketing. Sure, some properties sell themselves - but some require getting the property in front of a unique buyer. Ever try to sell an equestrian property? A vineyard? A single-wide?

-- Negotiating. Again, easy to think it's all about whoever brings the most money to a deal, but it's not always that simple.

-- Market Analytics. Good agents know their numbers and spend significant time in their week crunching numbers to understand what's really going on and how to help their buyers and sellers maximize their positions.

-- Psychology. Your buyers and sellers are from every background imaginable and you have to try to understand their familial and financial situation and help them achieve their goals. This is an art form.

-- Financing. Sure you might not be the mortgage lender, but understanding all the different types of financing options so that you can advocate for your client - both with the other party as well as with lenders - puts you in the best possible position.

-- Law. A real estate license is a limited license to practice law. And every year I have to not only stay up on dozens of standard state form changes, but also whatever the legislature has done and any meaningful case law that is changing how we do business.

That's just kind of a smattering... it's easy to get a real estate license in most states, but to actually become a skilled agent is another matter. If you believe that in software there exist 10x developers, I assure you the same concept exists in real estate - there are agents that are worth their weight in gold for the things they can do for their clients, and then there's the great unwashed masses who can barely fill out the forms.