Seller’s Advantage Review: Buying Homes Fast in Chicago, Philly, Phoenix, and SoCal

These days, buying homes for cash is hot. It seems a new company emerges daily, offering to purchase your property quickly and easily, without the typical pain points involved with selling a home.

The latest I’ve come across is called “Seller’s Advantage,” which I caught on TV while dining at a restaurant this week. This was just a week or so after I caught Tarek Buys Houses.

Anyway, I missed most of the commercial, but saw enough to know they were involved in the real estate industry, so I made a note to follow up once I got back to the office.

Now I’m writing a review of the company for others who may have seen it and have questions.

What Is Seller’s Advantage?

• An iBuyer based in Irvine, California
• They buy homes for cash fast in most any condition
• Can avoid the typical pain points involved with selling a property
• Including finding an agent, holding open houses, and haggling with buyers

In short, they are an iBuyer, which stands for instant buyer, of real estate. They will purchase your home for cash so you don’t need to find a real estate agent, list it, hold open houses, etc.

They are in business because some homeowners have no interest in dealing with all the stress and uncertainty involved with selling a home the traditional way.

Others may NEED to sell their home quickly, perhaps because they are relocating, or want to purchase a replacement home and can’t float two mortgages.

Or the home may be in need of major repairs, and the seller simply doesn’t have the time or interest in completing them, or haggling with a buyer to offer credits.

Whatever the reason, companies like Seller’s Advantage exist to help individuals sell their homes fast. They say they can close in 10-14 days.

To date, they’ve purchased more than 10,000 properties.

How Seller’s Advantage Works

• Fill out a short form on their website and a representative will call you and go over your personal and property details
• A market analysis will be performed to generate a price range for your home including necessary repairs
• An in-person inspection will be conducted to create a firm offer
• You can accept and close quickly or walk away with no obligation

First, you visit their website and enter your property address, followed by a short form to generate your free quote.

A representative will contact you by phone to go over property details, and to learn more about why and when you would like to sell.

After they perform a market analysis, they’ll provide you with a “realistic estimate” of the value range of your home, along with anticipated repairs.

Assuming you’re still interested, they’ll visit your home and do an in-person inspection to ensure everything adds up.

You will then be given a firm offer with no obligation to accept, nor any time limit to decide (within reason, otherwise the offer could change over time).

If you agree to the offer, they’ll open escrow and complete an all-cash purchase based on your desired time requirements. As noted, in as little as 10-14 days.

They say they pay all closing costs and that there are no other hidden fees or costs involved.

What Types of Homes Does Seller’s Advantage Buy?

• Single-family homes
• Condominiums
• Townhomes
• Manufactured homes (must own the land)
• Mobile homes (must own the land)
• Properties that need repairs
• Properties in the process foreclosure
• Properties owned by a borrower who is behind on mortgage payments
• Homes already listed with a real estate agent (you must pay any agreed upon commissions)

Where Seller’s Advantage Buys Homes

• Chicago
• Philadelphia
• Phoenix
• Southern California

As seen in the title of this post, they purchase real estate in four major metropolitan areas, including Chicago, Philadelphia, Phoenix, and Southern California.

The company actually got started in Phoenix, helping homeowners unload their properties from Buckeye all the way east to Mesa.

After several years of success there, they expanded to Southern California, opening a location in Irvine, CA, which is about an hour south of LA proper.

That location serves a vast area, including the counties of Orange, Los Angeles, Riverside, San Bernardino, San Diego, and Ventura.

Once that took off, the company made their way to the Midwest, setting up shop in Chicago.

They serve Greater Chicago, including the Chicagoland area, Arlington Heights, Aurora, Elmhurst, Evanston, Joliet, Naperville, Plainfield, and other areas.

And now they also serve the Greater Philadelphia area too.

Even if your city isn’t listed, you can contact them to see if your property is located in their service area.

And by the sounds of it, they may expand to other regions of the country sooner rather than later.

Should You Use a Company Like Seller’s Advantage to Sell Your Home?

• Many iBuyers exist today, including big names like Redfin and Zillow
• Take the time to shop different iBuyers if you want to go that route
• Also consider selling your home traditionally if possible for a higher price
• Put in the time to ensure you get the best return on your investment

The thing with all these companies is they are selling convenience. And we all know that convenience comes with a price.

For example, Postmates or DoorDash will deliver McDonald’s to your door, but they’ll charge you an arm and a leg for it.

Similarly, a company like Seller’s Advantage will let you forgo all the uncertainty and aggravation of selling a home, for a price.

The big question is what will that price be? They say they offer a no-cost, no-obligation assessment, so if you want to sell your home, and are looking into alternative ways to do so, you could include them.

There are many other iBuyers out there as well these days, including bigger companies like Zillow and Redfin.

If you want to be thorough, you should take the time to shop around with all the different iBuyers, assuming they all make offers free of charge or obligation.

Lastly, you should also consider selling your home the old-fashioned way too, even if it takes some work. That extra work could pay off big time.