CNN
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Roofstock is disrupting the real estate industry by connecting buyers interested in investment properties directly with sellers. But you may not be aware of everything the sellers are getting out of the revolutionary service. Getting started in real estate, or advancing your current real estate investing portfolio, is easy with Roofstock, here’s why.
If you’ve already looked into selling a property or have gone through the process before, you surely can feel the headache of all the associated costs of the usual property sale fine print. Expecting to make $500,000 by unloading that summer house on St. Simons Island? Think again. You’re looking at, say, $18,000 in lost rent while you wait for buyers to come along and the sale to go through, $10,000 in capital expenses fixing the place up and $30,000 in brokerage fees. That’s nearly $60,000 in lost costs, meaning the half mil you were hoping would go to your kids’ college tuition will really be closer to $440,000. Guess Junior and Missy are going to be waiting tables in the student center rathskeller that final year of college.
With Roofstock, all those costs simply vanish. Instead, you have a single 3% fee and…well, that’s basically it (putting aside the fees, like escrow fees, that are unavoidable no matter who you use). So instead of slipping almost $60,000 of your $500,000 sale into other people’s pockets, you’re paying just $15,000. In other words, you get to keep almost the entirety of your half-million sale. That’s enough to buy a brand-new Tesla and still have enough left over for a couple’s stay at a resort on Bora Bora.
It’s not just about the dollars and cents either. Roofstock lets you take control of the process yourself instead of relying on a broker or agent who, let’s face it, is a stranger who’s in it for their own commission and not necessarily prioritizing your needs. Roofstock doesn’t limit you to the expertise of what your agent knows — which often doesn’t extend beyond a single town or even a neighborhood. Roofstock’s comfort zone is the entire world, and you’ll be fielding offers from people all around the globe, not just the usual lookie-loos not looking for a new home but really only curious about how their neighbors redid their patio.
The process is streamlined and easy — not full of arcane rules, confusing side work and, as we mentioned before, unexpected expenses. You submit your listing, then sit back while Roofstock does the due diligence on the sale prep, including lining up the inspection, ordering the preliminary title report and compiling all the critical documents you need. At the end of that, you’ll get a Roofstock certification. This multi-point Roofstock review process acts as a gold seal to reassure potential buyers that the listing is legit and that the property is a quality one. All you have to do, then, is greenlight the listing — and let Roofstock use its expertise to design and publish a listing optimized to attract interested buyers. It becomes a total turnkey rental property experience.
Then the fun begins: You let the offers roll in, pick the buyer you like and let Roofstock manage the whole closing step by step. Within 30 days, in most cases, you’ll have a signed purchase agreement and a lot more money in your bank account, and you’ll be able to do it all online. Do you have tenants in place? You don’t have to kick them out or disrupt their lives or — and key point here — lose rental property income while you arrange a sale.
Owning a rental property is one of the best real estate investments you can make. It can set you up for early retirement, along with generally advancing your personal financial portfolio. Save money, save time and save yourself the headache by selling your property to the world through Roofstock.