Who is actually sending those Valley Stream offers
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 Valley Stream homeowners come from this third group than most people assume, which is the whole reason this question gets asked.
The questions to ask any Valley Stream cash buyer
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
The list, roughly worst first: a number before a viewing, pressure to sign before you can get a second opinion, a request for money from you, hesitation over proof of funds, and vagueness about who is really buying.
One of these alone does not prove anything. Several together describe a buyer who is counting on you not to ask. The answer is always the same: slow down, put your questions in writing, and have your attorney look before you sign.
The process, so you know when it is off-script
The buyer sees the house. Each side has an attorney, as is standard in New York, and yours reads the contract before you sign. The deposit goes into your attorney's escrow account rather than to the buyer. A title search turns up any liens, judgments or open permits. Then you close on the date written into the contract.
Three things should never appear in that sequence: a price cut because of an inspection, a different purchaser turning up, or a request for money from you. If one does, call your attorney before you call the buyer back. This is how it works across Nassau County.
Applying the same test to us
You should apply the same four questions to us, so here are the answers without being asked.
We will show proof of funds. Our written number does not move between offer and closing, because we price the condition once rather than discovering it later. You instruct your own attorney. And if you ask whether we will close ourselves or assign the contract, you will get a straight answer for your specific house rather than a slogan.
We also tell Valley Stream sellers when listing would net them more than we will pay. That costs us deals and it is the correct advice in a meaningful share of the calls we take.
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
- $38,750 at 5% of the Valley Stream median none
- Seller closing costs
- About $15,500 on a $775,000 sale. We can cover these. none
- Repairs to make it listable
- Everything a buyer would flag, paid for before you list none
- Cleanout and removal
- Per truckload, before anyone views it none
- Carrying costs while it waits
- Taxes, insurance and utilities through the 78 to 93 days a listing takes to sell and close 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.