The three kinds of company contacting you
Lead brokers sell your information. You fill in an address, no offer materializes, and within a day six companies are calling. Nothing was ever going to be bought.
Contract flippers sign a contract with you and then market that contract to actual buyers at a higher price. The gap is their fee. The practice is legal and disclosed properly it is fine, but it introduces a party you never met and a renegotiation risk if they cannot find anyone.
Actual buyers close with their own money. Fewer of the messages reaching Commack homeowners come from this third group than most people assume, which is the whole reason this question gets asked.
Four questions that settle it
Can you show proof of funds? A real buyer has a bank statement or a letter and will send it without fuss. Reluctance here is the single most informative reaction you will get.
Will you be the one closing, or might you assign the contract? Ask it directly and get the answer in plain words. There is a defensible answer either way; there is no defensible answer for being vague about it.
Is the number binding, or can it change after an inspection? Many offers are deliberately high to secure the contract and then reduced once you are committed and other buyers have moved on.
Can I use my own attorney? In New York you will use one anyway. Anybody steering you toward a specific attorney, or suggesting you do not need one, has told you something important.
What should end the conversation
In rough order: a firm number given before seeing the house, a deadline designed to prevent a second opinion, any request for money from the seller, reluctance to show proof of funds, and evasiveness about who is actually closing.
None of these on their own proves bad faith. Together they describe a business model that depends on the seller not asking questions, and the remedy in every case is the same. Slow down, ask the question in writing, and talk to your attorney before signing anything.
What a legitimate Commack cash sale actually looks like
Somebody visits the house. In New York both sides instruct attorneys, and yours reviews the contract before you sign anything. A deposit is held in your attorney's escrow account, not handed to the buyer. Title is searched, which is where liens, judgments and open permits surface. Then you close, on a date in the contract.
What should not happen anywhere in that sequence: a renegotiation because of something an inspection found, a new party appearing as the purchaser, or a request for money from your side. If any of those occur, that is the point to stop and call your attorney rather than the buyer.
Our own answers to those four questions
The same questions, answered for us. Proof of funds: yes, on request. The number: it holds from offer to closing, because we price the condition up front. Your attorney: your own, always.
Assignment: ask us directly whether we will close on your house ourselves, and you will get a plain answer about your specific property rather than a slogan.
And when a Commack seller would net more by listing, we tell them. It loses us some deals. It is still the right advice for a real share of the people who call.
What you do not pay
Each of the following comes with a retail listing of a house, and none of it comes with ours.
- Agent commission
- $42,000 at 5% of the Commack median none
- Seller closing costs
- About $16,800 on a $840,000 sale. We can cover these. none
- Repairs to make it listable
- Whatever it takes to make it listable, paid in advance none
- Cleanout and removal
- Per truckload, before anyone views it none
- Carrying costs while it waits
- Taxes, insurance and utilities across the 74 to 89 days it takes to find a buyer and then wait on their lender none
What happens to your details when you fill in a form
On a lead broker's site, it is sold. Often to several buyers at once, which is why a single form submission can produce calls from six companies within a day. Some of those sites are built to look exactly like a buyer's site and never make an offer at all.
Before you enter an address anywhere, it is worth reading what the privacy policy says about sharing, and noting whether there is one. A company that will not tell you what it does with your details has answered the question. This applies to us as much as to anyone, and ours says we do not sell your information.
What it means when a contract gets sold on
An assignment clause lets the buyer transfer the contract to somebody else before closing. The person who signs with you is not necessarily the person who completes, and the difference between what they agreed with you and what they sell the contract for is their fee.
It is legal, and disclosed clearly it can be a perfectly reasonable transaction. Two things make it a problem. One is not being told. The other is that if no end buyer is found, you can reach the closing date with a contract nobody is in a position to complete, having taken the house off the market for weeks.
Ask whether the contract is assignable, ask whether they intend to assign it, and have your attorney read the clause.
If you have already signed something
See an attorney, and do it before the next conversation with whoever you signed with rather than after.
People in this position often feel foolish and stay quiet for a while, which is the worst available option because most of what can be done gets harder with time. Bring every piece of paper, including anything handed to you at the door and any text messages. Your attorney will tell you where you actually stand, and it is frequently better than you fear.
Common questions
Are all the companies texting me about my house scams?
No, though a lot of them are not buyers. The largest group is selling your contact details rather than buying property, and a second group intends to sign a contract and sell that contract to somebody else. Real buyers exist in the mix. The four questions above separate them quickly.
Should a cash buyer ever ask me for money?
No. Never, for any reason. There is no legitimate fee, deposit or application payment that a buyer collects from a seller.
They offered more than everyone else. Is that good?
Treat a conspicuously high offer with more care, not less. A number well above the others is sometimes real and is often a way to secure the contract and take other buyers out of the picture, after which it is reduced. Ask whether the figure is binding and whether it can change after an inspection, and get the answer in writing.
Do I really need my own attorney?
In New York, yes, and use your own rather than one suggested by the buyer. It is the single most effective protection available to you, and it is standard practice on both sides of every residential sale in the state.