Hart Homes buy houses in Rochester, just not like the other folks advertising “We buy Houses”

The problem with “We buy Houses”

You may have seen the signs right here in Rochester: “We buy houses” You are walking down the road and see “We buy houses” taped to a Rochester telephone poll. Big billboards in downtown Rochester and lawn signs by Rochester overpasses are peppered with lots of promises “We buy houses!...quick closing, cash offer, top dollar.” Who are all these people buying up houses in Rochester? Do we want them controlling the housing stock in Rochester? What do they do with the houses after they buy them? Can you believe their promises that they will write cash offers, buy houses sight unseen, regardless of condition? Proceed with caution because selling your home to one of these companies is rife with pitfalls.

For most of us, buying a house is a big purchase. We might buy or sell a house only 1-4 times in our lifetime. It is no secret that there are investors both in and out of state buying houses in Rochester to make a profit. That is not inherently unethical. Buying a house, fixing it up, offering it for rent or sale after adding value is a fine thing to do. You might have houses in your neighborhood that you wish someone would buy!! Plenty of houses in Rochester could use some TLC and I think we would all be glad to see them sold, on the tax rolls again and improved to livable condition. We want to have safe and occupied housing units next to us. Zombie homes are not good for anyone.

However, the problem comes in when folks are trying to buy houses and steal equity by misrepresenting the value to unsophisticated house sellers. The house buyers that usually advertise their “service” are trying to target sellers who are in financial distress and do not know their house’s value and are desperate to make a deal. Sometimes they go to great lengths to conceal who they are. If you search the term “We buy houses in Rochester” you might get several google results that are really the same company with different ad copies. Some of them are likely providing more than one quote to give the appearance of competition, but it is the same company. Several Rochester house buyers are local, but it can be hard to tell who is dealing fairly with the public and who are not. I have additional concerns about potential collusion between different large companies and the proliferation of housing “wholesalers” who are doing multiple transactions every month and then assigning the contracts to other investors. Many times, they add value only to one another, without making any improvements to the property. They are not even reselling the houses; they are merely selling the contracts. 

In Rochester, usually a real estate agent can help you determine your houses value and help you sell it. They do charge, but they are highly regulated and licensed by the state, beholden to a code of ethics. If one acts inappropriately or does not disclose who they are, what they do, and how they get paid, there are avenues to hold them to account. Wholesalers and those claiming “we buy house” are largely unregulated.

Here are some of the folks that house buyers target:

Those who inherited a house: We buy houses operators will target these sellers because they might know what grandma’s house was worth and are not financially sophisticated.

Seniors: We buy houses operators will target seniors in areas that have recently appreciated. Gentrifying forces have caused many houses to appreciate faster than

Recently Divorced Individuals:  We buy houses operators know that the individual who retained the house is not always knowledgeable about the house’s value and so will try to convince the owner to sell at a cut rate under the guise of “helping” the individual downsize.

People of Color: These “investors” buying up housing typically target areas that are demographically populated by people of color. Unfortunately, formerly redlined areas have house values that attract real estate speculators, and those areas are largely populated by communities of color, because of historical and current injustices. Often these folks’ houses are their main asset, so it is particularly despicable when a someone offers to buy a house less than fair value in these situations.  

Yes, there are occasions where a homeowner might benefit from a quick cash sale and be willing to negotiate price to a house buyer to make that happen. However, those situations ought to be rare. Anyone who claims “we buy houses” ought to be doing so ethically and ensuring that the sellers are fully educated about all options, not frightened into selling.

What a “We Buy Houses in Rochester” operator will not tell you to do:

1)       We buy houses operators will not tell you to contact a real estate agent and compare their offer with the potential market price for the house

2)      We buy houses operators will not direct a financially distressed homeowner to many of our local resources to prevent foreclosure. Rochester has many organizations, such as the Housing Council at Pathstone, Ibero American Action League, The Urban League of Rochester, Action for a Better Community and more. These Rochester institutions can help prevent loss of your home investment. A we buy houses operator doe not want you to know your options. They want to buy your house for as little as possible.

3)      We buy houses operators will not provide you with information on recently sold comparable houses so you know what houses have sold for in the area and thus a good sense of market price..

How Hart Homes is different when we say “We buy houses”

At Hart Homes, we also buy houses in Rochester NY, but we recognize the problematic and predatory approach that these other house buyers are taking to separate house owners…or rather…HOME owners from their homes. Hart Homes has a social mission to help encourage homeownership and help our tenants become homeowners right here in Rochester. The last thing we want to do is buy a house from a seller who could benefit from the services of a real estate agent and sell for a top fair dollar on the open market. We will never scare a homeowner into selling and will always refer to foreclosure prevention resources when the seller of the house is in financial distress. The houses we buy, we really want to acquire from distressed landlords. We have an abundance of amateur operators, predatory slumlords, and gentrifiers buying and selling houses in Rochester.  It is from these individuals that we want to buy houses. Because when Hart Homes buys a house we remodel it fully and turn it into a home. We rent homes to our tenants and we hope that one day those tenants can be the ones to say “We buy houses…or just one house to make it our home.” We offer our investment houses up for rent, but they are available for tenant purchase. If, in the normal course of events, a tenant moves and the house is empty and available for sale, Hart Homes will sell the house to a homeowner whenever disposing of a house and realizing capital gains. That is the Hart Homes promise and ties into our value proposition.

Please visit our contact page if you would like to connect! Thank you.