Is it Possible to Sell Your House in 24 Hours?

It may be possible to sell your house in 24 hours if the buyer is proactive. This bold statement came from Cindy Sosa Sanchez, a professional home buyer and the founder of We Buy Houses Cash DMV. Many times, this is only achievable if the homeowner is selling to a home buyer that is buying with cash.

According to her, home buyers are able to give a cash offer within 24 hours and close within a week or two. However, in situations where time is of the essence and the homeowner needs to sell as soon as possible, the home buyer can give a cash offer and expedite the title search on the day of offer and close as soon as the title search is clear, which most likely will be the next business day.

She further emphasized that home buyers are able to close much quicker than the traditional forms of selling real estate because they pay cash and do not require official home inspections or appraisals to purchase a house. On the flip side, however, what if a potential homeowner (or a seller) is not keen on paying (or receiving) cash?

Below are some expert suggestions and actual experiences from professionals on why it is and why it is not possible to sell your home in no time.

Michael DiSchiavi, a Licensed Real Estate Agent with EXP Realty shares it is possible, as long as:

It is absolutely possible to have an accepted offer on a house within 24 hours; I have done it. I also had a situation where the house sold to the very first person who looked at it; he just took his time before making his decision. Here are some tips to sell the house quickly and at the best price.

Keep it clean

You want the house to be pleasant to walk through. There should be minimal clutter, the bathroom and the kitchen especially should be clean, the house should be dusted, and the air should be fresh. Use air freshener and open windows to get rid of smells of cigarette smoke. You can use scented candles also (but check to see if anyone coming has a fragrance allergy).

Keep pets out of sight and reach wherever possible

You love your pet; the potential buyer does not. I have had customers who would not enter a house that has a cat or a dog. If possible, take the animal out of the house during showings and especially during open houses.

DO NOT do paint jobs or repairs in anticipation of selling

The buyer may have totally different tastes. I have seen an expensive brand new kitchen and bath put in to increase the value of the house. Unfortunately, most of the buyers hated it and used it as a negotiating tactic to lower the price.

Stay away from bargain priced realtors

The old saying, you get what you pay for is an old saying because it is true.

Mind the split

Make sure that the listing agent is sharing the commission equally with another agent (it would be shown in the listing agreement). I have seen agents take a listing for 5 percent and offer 1 percent to an agent bringing a buyer. That is unfair and will discourage agents from showing the property—thus decreasing exposure.

Jonathan Faccone, a Managing Member of Halo Homebuyers claims it is highly unlikely, because:

As a professional home buyer in New Jersey, the fastest we ever closed a home from start to finish has been five business days. It is possible to sell your house in 24 hours, but also highly improbable if you are dealing with legitimate investment professionals. Here are the reasons why:

Title

I would venture to say 99.9 percent of home buyers will want to order title and obtain title insurance in order to make sure the deed can be conveyed cleanly to the next buyer. This process can take 48 hours to two weeks just to get the report back. Right now during COVID, it can even take longer.

The next step is for the seller or the seller’s attorney to work with the title company to satisfy the conditions appearing on the title commitment report. This process can take one day to several days—depending on what type of title issues need to be addressed by the seller side before the title company will issue a clear to close.

It is extremely rare for a home buyer to want to bypass this process because it presents a huge risk. If the title cannot be conveyed to the next buyer cleanly (who most likely will want title insurance) the property will be unsellable until the conditions of the buyer’s title company are met. This process can be expensive and time-consuming.

So, in sum, a buyer can purchase a property without title insurance but most buyers including professional home buyers like ourselves will not take on that risk.

Township inspections

Most townships require that the seller or seller’s representative obtain a smoke certificate that fulfills the fire safety requirements and possibly a certificate of occupancy. These inspections are supposed to be completed before the transfer of title, in other words, before you sell the property to another buyer.

If the seller does not complete these inspections, they can be fined by the township. There are a few times when we have bought properties without completing these inspections. In every case, it was to help our seller clients meet a hard deadline if they were faced with foreclosure and about to lose their equity. However, it is always best to abide by the township rules to avoid fines and avoid a bad reputation.

Also, if sellers are represented by attorneys, their attorney will most likely not allow the closing until these inspection certificates are in hand, even if it is a cash transaction. In sum, yes, a buyer and a seller can skip this process if the title company and seller’s attorney allow it, and as long as it is a cash transaction. However, there is always the risk of being fined by the township.

Buyer inspections

There are many home buyers that will purchase homes in their as-is condition. However, that does not mean that most buyers will completely waive their inspection contingencies.

We personally do not do home inspections when we purchase property, but we do require inspections on the bigger ticket items like septic systems and buried underground oil tanks. This has become our standard business practice because the costs of remediation and replacing septics are in the thousands of dollars.

These items can literally create nightmares for home buyers. It usually takes about one to three days to order an underground tank sweep and septic inspection, and another one to five days to get the results. The buyer can certainly decide to move forward and buy a home without conducting these inspections, but that is up to the discretion of the buyer.

These are some of the main reasons why buying a home within 24 hours is logistically impractical and rarely occurs. If somebody does buy a home in that time frame, then they are bypassing the typical closing process procedures and exposing themselves to a lot of financial risks.

In Conclusion

In hindsight, selling a house requires taking a proactive role throughout the whole process of listing, site tripping, purchasing, so on and so forth. You tick all the boxes regarding how to sell your home as fast as possible, but at the end of the day, there are certain uncontrollable factors that must be addressed in order for the stars to line up in your favor, so to speak.

We sure hope this article clears the air and shows you a better picture of the intricacies of selling your home quickly. Be sure to leave a comment down below and share it on social media if you find this piece interesting.