4 Best Ways for Selling a Home in Ohio

When selling a home in Ohio privately, you won’t need to get your property ready for buyers.

You can avoid painting, installing new carpeting and window coverings, and you won’t need to rent any furniture to stage your home to give it an updated look to attract buyers.

Selling privately also allows you to skip advertising and touring the public through your home.

How do you sell a property in Ohio privately? The first step is to locate private buyers.

What Are Home Buying Companies?

Before we describe the private sale process, let’s introduce the category of people who do the buying — real estate investors, also called cash home buyers.

Cash home buyers operate as collective firms or as individual purchasers. Hedge funds also acquire residential property for investment purposes.

Real estate investors in Ohio purchase all types of property, from single-family houses to land, and many times they’ll buy in as-is condition.

Private cash investors will then restore, remodel, or repair the property for resale to the general public. Real estate investors are also known for buying properties for rental income.

They’ll also buy investment properties in Ohio in turnkey condition if they don’t require repairs but could be a profitable asset.

Selling your home to an investor is usually a fast transaction. This is one of the main benefits cash buyers offer to sellers and one of the main reasons why sellers choose to work with them instead of hiring a real estate agent.

Private sales are also a benefit for homeowners who don’t have any interest in marketing and having the public walk through their property during open houses.

Such a sale also prevents all the haggling over home repairs after the buyers get a report from a professional home inspector showing everything that needs to be fixed in the property.

Investors can assist homeowners:

• selling a house before it goes into foreclosure
• selling a home with renters
• selling a house before bankruptcy
• selling a house in disrepair
• selling a marital property during divorce
• selling an estate home
• selling house for job relocation
• selling a house with a state tax lien
• selling a property to downsize

And there are many more reasons homeowners elect to sell to an investor for a fast sales transaction with none of the major headaches.

Cash buyers typically work with investor-friendly title companies in Ohio that have experience with cash transactions and can close the sale quickly and professionally.

Selling your house privately to an investor has a number of advantages for the homeowner.

Pros of Selling to a Home Buying Company

• A cash home buyer moves quickly to close on your property.

• No need to wait for the lender to approve your buyer, or for the mortgage company to conduct an appraisal of your property — a cash sale means no mortgage is involved.

• No need to do any repairs to your home. You also can skip the house cleanout, even when you’re selling a hoarder’s house.

• No need to pay any real estate commissions. That’s at least a 3% of the final sales price savings on the seller’s side of the transaction in Ohio.

• Cash investment buyers typically pick up the tab for the home seller closing costs!

But selling your home to a cash house buyer in Ohio has a disadvantage as well.

Cons of Selling to a Home Buying Company

• Your offer from cash real estate buyers in Ohio likely won’t match the home’s current market value.

That’s because investors factor in the repair costs to set the estimated market value of your home. They also add a potential profit margin into the resale value.

However, when you balance the savings from skipping Realtor commissions and closing costs, the bottom line for your sales price may come close to the current market value of your home.

How to Find an Ethical Home Buying Company

Not all people involved in the real estate industry act in good faith, and real estate investors are not an exception.

That means, as a homeowner, you’ll need to do some basic due diligence by vetting home buying companies.

Locating cash buyers online is easy, and there are a number of firms that use the slogan “sell my house fast for cash,” but not all operate professionally or ethically.

Some basic screening includes researching the background of the cash buyers.

Locate the “About Us” page on the website. This should include information about the training, experience, and expertise of the investor or the firm.

The web page should also identify the investment company’s personnel or the name of the individual investor.

Make sure the investor has a minimum of three years specifically in real estate cash buying before you add them to your prospect list.

Check Yelp, Google, Trustpilot, Facebook, and Real Estate Bees for reviews of the investors on your prospect list.

Also, search the complaint page on the local branch of the Better Business Bureau for filings.

The last step is to check the webpage of the Ohio Attorney General for consumer complaints against the investor or cash buying firm.

If all this research is more than you want to do, you can take the quick and easy route to locating an ethical investor. Simply use our website to request a cash offer.

At HouseCashin, we have a nationwide network of seasoned cash home buyers. The investors working with us are vetted and prescreened for you to ensure they operate professionally and can close sales quickly.

You won’t pay any commissions or fees, whether you decide to accept an offer or you decline all of the offers you receive.

Most often, when someone sells a house in Ohio, they use a real estate agent who takes care of the sale on the seller’s behalf.

Here is how to sell a home in Ohio via a Realtor and the pros and cons of this method.

Who Are Real Estate Agents?

Real estate agents can assist you with listing, marketing, and contract negotiations when selling a house in Ohio.

An agent is also your guide after the sales contract has been accepted. They’ll ensure your legal paperwork is properly completed.

Realtors facilitate the title and escrow services and will represent you to ensure officers for these agencies handle their duties in a timely manner.

Agents representing themselves as “Realtors” are members of the Ohio Realtors, a branch of the National Association of Realtors (NAR) professional trade group.

Members of NAR agree to follow the highest level of business practices. They also take an oath to operate ethically.

Pros of Using a Real Estate Agent

• A Realtor is your guide through the steps involved in selling a property in Ohio. They have the education, training, and experience to avoid major snags that can happen during a sales transaction.

• Agents use proprietary databases that catalog listings and comparable sales in your area. This helps you set a price that’s in the ballpark for houses like yours. It also means a mortgage lender’s appraisal will likely match your sales price.

• Real estate agents have fiduciary responsibilities to you to make sure your needs are placed above all others in the transaction.

Cons of Using a Real Estate Agent

• You’ll pay a commission to the brokerage involved in listing and selling your home. This fee is a major portion of the cost of selling a house with a Realtor.

• It may take some time to sell your property, particularly if it’s a fixer. Agents will market your home to the general public, while most people are more picky than investors who’d buy any property at the right price.

• The general public typically needs a mortgage to purchase a home. An application and approval for a loan can add weeks to the time it takes to close your sale.

How to Find a Good Real Estate Agent

An important step in selling a house in Ohio with an agent is to make a wise choice in selecting a real estate professional to represent you in the sales transaction.

Begin your search for agents by asking family, friends, and coworkers for their recommendations. Make a note of the professionals who have experience selling homes in your own neighborhood.

After you have a list of prospects, start your background research of the agents’ experience, training, and sales record.

Use the online lookup at the Ohio Department of Commerce Division of Real Estate eLicense Center to make sure the agents on your list have a valid and active license.

Confirm agents on your list have at least three years of experience working in sales in your area.

You can research complaints filed against members of the Ohio Realtors (OR) association by contacting the local OR board.

The final step is to select three agents to invite to your property for a listing presentation. After hearing the pitches, select the agent with the best marketing plan for your home.

The next sales option is selling by yourself. Offering your home as a for-sale-by-owner listing is known as “FSBO.” Since you won’t have an agent to process the sale for you, you will need to find the market value of your home and do research on the rest of the formalities.

One of the most difficult parts of an FSBO sale is attracting buyers. There are a number of ways to do this.

Ways to Market Your House Yourself

• Market your listing on the best FSBO websites.

• Mark your house with a professional-looking sign or two.

• Make a video of your property that you can post on the internet. There are professional services you can contract to do this if you lack these skills.

• Design a flier for your home that highlights the amenities and features you think will attract buyers. Distribute these fliers across the mailboxes in your and nearby neighborhoods.

Pros of Marketing Your House Yourself

• You won’t have any commission fees when you sell as an FSBO. Commissions are the largest fees among the seller’s closing costs in Ohio.

• You control all aspects of your listing, from the sales price through the final closing date.

• Unlike a real estate agent who must serve multiple clients, you have only your own listing to promote.

Cons of Marketing Your House Yourself

• You’ll need to have some mastery of Ohio real estate law and mortgage lending to assist your buyers during the sale.

• Just like when selling via a Realtor, you should be prepared to wait while your buyer applies for a mortgage and accept the delay involved in the lender’s underwriting.

• You won’t have a professional to protect your fiduciary rights during the transaction.

• Even minor mistakes you make can delay the sale, and you may end up in court if the mistake isn’t so minor. You might also overpay your FSBO closing costs when you aren’t familiar with the normal fees and charges.

You may have located a home to buy, but you haven’t even listed your current property for sale. That’s not a problem.

You can use the “buy before you sell” services of iBuyer companies to facilitate both the purchase of your new home and the sale of your current residence.

iBuyers in Ohio can provide the cash you need to buy your new house by using the equity in your current property. This allows you to make a cash offer on your new place.

Without that cash, you’d need to offer a contingency sale and hope you can quickly attract a buyer for your current home.

When you’ve closed on your new house, the iBuyer will then close on the sales contract on your former home.

Now, let’s go over the main stages of the standard home selling process in Ohio.

The first step in a Buckeye State property sale is signing a listing agreement with a real estate agent, if you elect to sell through a brokerage. You’ll skip this step when selling to a cash investor.

Before Signing a Purchase Contract

The Ohio Revised Code § 5302.30 requires all sellers to complete a Residential Property Disclosure Form and provide a copy to all prospective buyers.

This disclosure is the seller’s written statement that informs buyers of “certain conditions and information concerning the property.” It’s not a warranty and isn’t a comprehensive list of all conditions.

You can find more about the specific items on the disclosure by reading our article — Selling a House As Is in Ohio.

Marketing the Property

You’ll need a marketing plan when selling to the general public. When you use a real estate brokerage, this is typically done by your agent.

Marketing can involve a sign on your lawn, advertisements in media publications, open houses, and promotion by using real estate websites.

Your home could sell quickly, but in slower markets, it might take months to locate a buyer.

Condition also plays a factor in sales. Homes in need of major repairs typically take longer to sell compared with turnkey properties.

The general public typically isn’t interested in buying houses that they then need to repair. Cash investors, on the other hand, are interested in fixers and hard-to-sell properties.

You won’t need to market your home to real estate investors. They have an investment plan and a price to offer for any house.

Accepting an Offer

Buyers’ offers typically use the Ohio State sales contract, but the use isn’t required under law.

Chapter 1345 of the Consumer Sale Practices: Written Agreement or Offer to Purchase, however, does require the use of certain language when other sales contracts are used.

Buyers will use real estate agents to present the offer to you or to your agent if you are represented by one.

You’ll have offers presented directly to you when listing as an FSBO or selling to an investor.

The buyer will submit an earnest money deposit to accompany their offer. That shows an honest intent to purchase your property.

If you accept the offer, you, your real estate agent, or your investor will open escrow on your property. Escrow in Ohio may be a separate office, but it is typically handled by a title agency.

Escrow is a licensed neutral third policy that executes the sales contract. They also handle the cash involved in the sale, including the cash deposit made with the offer.

Buyer Due Diligence Period

The next step involves your buyer doing their due diligence in inspecting your property. This includes paying to have a title search done on the deed to discover any liens on the property or other encumbrances.

Your buyers have the legal right to hire home inspectors to examine your property during this time, although some may have done this prior to offering a final sales contract.

Buyers requiring a mortgage to buy your home will arrange for their loan during this time. Your home will undergo an appraisal, and you’ll wait for the underwriter to make final approval of the home loan.

Investors bring cash to the sale, so they won’t need any loan approval or appraisals.

Closing

Your title or escrow officer, and in some cases, your agent (if you use one), will help you in handling the legal documents needed to close the transaction.

Once your closing paperwork is ready, you’ll sign the final escrow documents, and you’ll pay your closing costs.

FSBO sellers and homeowners using an agent will pay these, and also a commission to the brokerages involved in the sale.

Investors cover their costs and will typically also pay your closing fees.

The final step to closing the sales transaction is to record the deed with the county recorder’s office. Either your title company or escrow officer will handle the recording.

After Closing

Once the transaction has closed, your buyer will receive the keys to the property.

Now you know what the Ohio house selling process entails and the four ways to sell your home.

The next step will be contacting investors and iBuyers to shop for offers and real estate agents to get quotes for their commission fees.

Since you are already on our website, start with requesting cash offers from HouseCashin investors!