Compare Unicorn Real Estate Vs. Traditional Agent Vs. We Buy Houses

At Unicorn Real Estate, we believe you should be informed of ALL your options to sell a home before you make a decision. That’s what separates us from your everyday real estate agent and those “we buy houses” companies. Here’s what I mean…..

Your average agent is going to tell you “fix this, fix that and then we’ll sell for as much money as we can”. They don’t understand that sometimes it isn’t the best option to invest money into the home before selling. Most agents you talk to haven’t remodeled a house before and couldn’t tell you if spending $20,000 on a new HVAC system is a good deal or even worth it. Also, sometimes folks are ok selling for a little less if they can sell quicker. The basic real estate agent can only show you ONE option – invest money/time to make your house picture perfect and wait for it to sell on the MLS. They don’t have the skills or knowledge to help you see the other paths that could lead to netting the same dollars at closing and/or selling faster.

If you look at your standard “we buy houses” company, they are obviously trying to pay as little as possible for your home. The less they pay, the more profit they earn. So why would they tell you what your house is REALLY worth? What is their incentive to be honest about the repairs your home needs? These companies typically aren’t operated by licensed agents so they don’t have to follow the same ethical rules and laws as Unicorn Real Estate. They have ONE option to give you – sell as-is for pennies on the dollar.

Unicorn Real Estate operates on the idea that you shouldn’t be stuck with just one option when selling your home. We have decades of experience helping people sell homes, working as real estate agents, and even remodeling homes. We are uniquely positioned to help you see all your options so you can make the best choice on how to sell your home. If you want to go for top dollar, we can get you there while minimizing any time/money invested. If you want a quicker sale, we can help you sell off-market to investors or point out which repairs will provide the highest return on investment while we list your home for sale on the open market. Alternatively, if you just want the home gone tomorrow, we can prepare a fair market, as-is cash offer for you.

Unicorn Real Estate can help you make the best choice

Sometimes the best way to learn is to through stories. We’ve been in this business for years and bought/sold hundreds of homes. We’ve seen it all by this point. The benefit to you out of that is that we have witnessed all the wrong decisions people have made when selling a home. Whether it is by getting tricked into selling for a very low price by an investor or by following poor but well meaning advice from a realtor.

Here are a few major pitfalls we can help you avoid that your traditional agent or “we buy houses” company would put you in. …

Wholesaler equity theft

Most investment companies out there are actually nothing more than a middle man. These are called wholesalers. They present themselves to you as a cash buyer ready to buy a home as-is today. What they don’t tell you is 1) They have no intention or ability/money to buy your home and 2) once you sign a contract, you are stuck with them, and they’ll market your home for sale to other, legitimate buyers for a higher price. They make money by keeping the difference. So if you sign a contract with the wholesaler for $100,000 and they sell the home to another investor for $140,000, they just made $40,000. Put another way, they stole $40,000 from you. Don’t lose equity to wholesalers.

Wasting money on needless repairs

We see a lot of agents tell homeowners to make specific repairs that actually don’t improve their NET cash at closing. Most agents have never remodeled a home or invested in real estate to tell you what repairs/updates to perform to maximize your dollars when selling. We’ve seen families dump $20,000 on a new HVAC system that should have cost half that. We’ve seen homeowners install high-dollar quartz countertops when the ones they had would have worked just fine. In the worst cases, you will end up with LESS money overall when selling. In the best cases, you just break even. Don’t listen to repair/update advice from someone that hasn’t done it themselves.

Bait and switch

This is a tactic some “we buy houses” companies use to lure you in. First they make you what seems like a legitimate, fair off to buy your home. You sign a contract and think it’s all good. Then they come by for a “walkthrough” and the next day you get a call saying they found more repairs than they expected and have to reduce their offer by tens of thousands of dollars. You either agree to reduce the price or lose the buyer. The worst cases are where people actually move out of their home, expecting the sale to go through only to find out they have to reduce the price dramatically or cancel the sale. Don’t fall for the bait and switch tactic, use Unicorn Real Estate as your agent or sell your house directly to us.