Sell your Houston house fast — for cash, as-is

What is different about a cash sale

A listed sale has four things that can each add weeks or end the deal: the buyer's mortgage approval, the appraisal, the inspection negotiation, and the insurance quote. In Houston the last of those matters more than most places, because flood coverage, coastal windstorm policies and municipal utility district tax escrow all get recalculated late in the process.

A cash purchase has none of them. There is no lender, so no appraisal and no underwriter with an opinion about your roof. We assess the property once, in person, before we write the offer, and the number we put in writing is the number that appears on the settlement statement.

What we buy, and where

We buy across greater Houston and the surrounding counties — Harris, Fort Bend, Galveston and Brazoria. Houses that need everything, houses that flooded, houses with tenants in them, houses in probate, houses with liens attached, houses standing empty and houses that are perfectly fine but need to be sold on a particular date.

There is no condition threshold. Foundation movement in the clay soil, a roof at the end of its life, fire or water damage, unpermitted work by a previous owner, a renovation somebody abandoned halfway. If it is standing and the title can be insured, we can make an offer on it.

Three steps, and what each actually involves

First, you send the address and roughly what condition it is in. Second, we research the property and walk it once — one visit, usually under half an hour, and not an exercise in building a repair list to negotiate against later. Third, you get a written offer within 24 hours with the terms in plain language.

If you accept, we open title with a local title company and you name the closing date. We pay the standard closing costs, there is no commission because there is no agent on our side, and you can leave behind anything you do not want — furniture, appliances, whatever is in the attic. If you decline, that is the end of it. No fee and no follow-up campaign.

When you should not sell to us

If your house is updated, in a strong school zone, and you have three or four months, an agent will very probably net you more than we will. We would rather say that on the first call than have you find out afterwards, and we will say it if we think it.

A cash offer is worth having anyway, as a floor. It is free, it is written, and it does not evaporate because you talked to somebody else. Plenty of the houses we buy started as a listing that stalled or a buyer whose financing fell through.

Questions worth asking any Houston cash buyer

Not every company making cash offers behaves the same way, and a handful of questions separate them quickly. Are you buying this yourself, or assigning the contract to somebody else? If it is being assigned, the person who eventually shows up is not the person who made the promises. Is the offer in writing, with the terms? Will it change after an inspection?

Then: what is the earnest money, and is it non-refundable at any point? How long is the option or feasibility period, because a long one is effectively a free option on your house. Which title company, and who chooses it? We answer all of those directly, and we would encourage you to put the same list to anyone else you speak to.

Proof of funds: what to ask for, and what it should look like

Anyone can say they buy houses for cash. The document that separates a buyer from a hopeful middleman is proof of funds, and you are entitled to ask for it before you sign anything. What you want to see is evidence of money that exists now — a current bank statement or a letter from the institution holding the funds. What you do not want is a mortgage pre-approval, which is a lender's opinion about a loan that has not been made and is not a cash purchase at all.

Read what you are handed. A statement with the account holder's name blacked out tells you nothing about whether the buyer controls the money. A letter dated eight months ago tells you nothing about today. A 'proof of funds' from a company you cannot find any trace of is not evidence, it is stationery. If anything looks thin, ask to verify it with the institution named on it, and treat reluctance as the answer. This costs you one email and it is the single most effective filter against the pattern where a contract gets signed, the house sits off the market for weeks, and the buyer turns out to have been looking for someone else to fund it.

Comparing two cash offers without being fooled by the headline

Two cash offers on the same house are rarely comparable at the top line, because the number is only one of the terms. What lands in your account depends on who pays closing costs and the title policy, whether any commission or 'transaction fee' is deducted, how the taxes prorate on your chosen closing date, and what comes off for liens or payoffs. A lower gross offer with the costs absorbed can beat a higher one that hands them back to you.

Then read the contract itself, because that is where the difference between a firm offer and an option lives. Look for how long the buyer has to inspect and walk away, whether the earnest money is meaningful or nominal, whether the price can be revisited after an inspection, and whether the contract can be assigned to someone else. An assignable contract with a long inspection window and token earnest money is not really an offer on your house — it is the right to go looking for a buyer while your house is off the market. Ask both buyers for a written net sheet with your closing date on it, and compare those two documents rather than the two numbers.

Where to find us

Sell Your House Fast Houston, 7439 Brace St, Houston, TX 77061. Call or text 281-918-8908.