I have a hobby of perusing Zillow to look at houses. It seems the majority of what is out there for sale is homes that need work.

Lots of reasons why people use this type of "service". I've personally bought over 500 single family homes over the last 25 years. Never held a gun to anyone's head to do it. And I've on more than one occassion paid MORE than the client was asking. My goal is to be fair, but also to make a reasonable profit, just like any other business. I would always tell the client what my purchasing formula was before ever going out to their home to inspect it. If they were comfortable with the possible numbers then we'd schedule a meeting. My dad was a builder/realtor and never understood why ANYONE would sell their house at less than market value to me. I took him out to a house in north Garland with me on one visit. This was a very nice neighborhood, (well, it WAS Garland so there's that), and a house in pretty good shape, but needed a facelift...i.e. kitchen/bathrooms updates, etc. But the major: roof, foundation, major plumbing, and major electrical were all good. This guy was in trouble with the IRS and was going to get foreclosed on in about 15 days. We met at the house, did about a 15 minute walk through (and if you can't get a reasonable idea of your repair costs in that amount of time you're not well versed in construction), sat down and got all the details on the foreclosure. Gave him a solution to his problem, worked out a deal with the IRS to give us an extension to prevent the foreclosure, and all parties were happy. Dad was pleasantly surprised I wasn't trying to "steal" someones house and the seller was relieved to be out from under a large weight off his shoulders when we finished. Foreclosure, smelly (but not phyically in bad shape) houses, divorce, moving out of state, inheritance property, and of course the P.O.S. etc are just a few reasons people. I would say generally the P.O.S. houses were less than 30% of the ones I bought. My goal was to net a minumum of 15% net after all the costs were done. Sometimes we made a little more, sometimes a little less. Of the approximately 500 we bought and sold, I physically lost money of 3 or 4. No one knows "exactly" what a house will sell for, or "exactly" how much the rehab will cost as those are the two varialbes that are really unknown. But if you have a very good background on both, you should be able to be able to live with the 15% net spread unless you've made a big error in your homework. I've retired now, but still have previous clients that call me and refer me to friends/family. We're not all wolves or thieves, although there are many of those out there. I have TONS of video and written testimonials from people we've bought from who were very, very happy with what we provided them. If anyone has questions pm me and I can try to answer them for you. It may be that that avenue is NOT for you or your family. But, it may.

I despise those companies. I wish no one sold to them... ever.

Mark my words when I say if the trending continues it will be a rare thing in 20 years for anyone to own a home. The will almost all be owned by corporations and be rentals.

This denies folks pride of ownership, pride of community, the opportunity to grow wealth and to set their kids up to have it a little better than they did. There is a strong correlation between crime rates and areas that are filled with folks who are renting, be that apartments or single family homes. Take Dallas County for example, where 30% of all home sales last year were bought not by a family, but by a firm. 55% of all homes in Dallas County are owned by... a company. If the trending continues in less than 20 years owner occupied homes in Dallas will be in the single digits as a percentage.

And its not just a Texas or Dallas issue. Minnosotea and other states have been looking at ways to slow the trend. Considering laws that limit how many homes in an area can be owned by folks who do not occupy the home etc. But its a tough reach. After all... its a free market. We can choose who to sell to.

Alas people dont know what they are doing or what the implications are. They just figure this will be easy for me. They wont haggle or want inspections. I can pick when I move out. They will even front me the money so I can buy another house easily. They will even pay for my move... wonder why they are so eager to be so very accommodating? Just nice guys I am sure.

Dont forget, "You will own nothing... and you will be happy". If you dont know that phrase or where it's from, Google it. When it was first muttered in 2016 I thought it was tin foil hat kind of non sense. But no. Its all true. Its happening now, and most dont even see it.

So no Dawg, I have not used one. Never would and would encourage others not to. You know in China no one gets to own a home, works great for them. So maybe I am all wrong on this one.

I wouldn’t fix anything if that’s what you want. Can’t hurt to list it as is.

Lots of reasons why people use this type of "service". I've personally bought over 500 single family homes over the last 25 years. Never held a gun to anyone's head to do it. And I've on more than one occassion paid MORE than the client was asking. My goal is to be fair, but also to make a reasonable profit, just like any other business. I would always tell the client what my purchasing formula was before ever going out to their home to inspect it. If they were comfortable with the possible numbers then we'd schedule a meeting. My dad was a builder/realtor and never understood why ANYONE would sell their house at less than market value to me. I took him out to a house in north Garland with me on one visit. This was a very nice neighborhood, (well, it WAS Garland so there's that), and a house in pretty good shape, but needed a facelift...i.e. kitchen/bathrooms updates, etc. But the major: roof, foundation, major plumbing, and major electrical were all good. This guy was in trouble with the IRS and was going to get foreclosed on in about 15 days. We met at the house, did about a 15 minute walk through (and if you can't get a reasonable idea of your repair costs in that amount of time you're not well versed in construction), sat down and got all the details on the foreclosure. Gave him a solution to his problem, worked out a deal with the IRS to give us an extension to prevent the foreclosure, and all parties were happy. Dad was pleasantly surprised I wasn't trying to "steal" someones house and the seller was relieved to be out from under a large weight off his shoulders when we finished. Foreclosure, smelly (but not phyically in bad shape) houses, divorce, moving out of state, inheritance property, and of course the P.O.S. etc are just a few reasons people. I would say generally the P.O.S. houses were less than 30% of the ones I bought. My goal was to net a minumum of 15% net after all the costs were done. Sometimes we made a little more, sometimes a little less. Of the approximately 500 we bought and sold, I physically lost money of 3 or 4. No one knows "exactly" what a house will sell for, or "exactly" how much the rehab will cost as those are the two varialbes that are really unknown. But if you have a very good background on both, you should be able to be able to live with the 15% net spread unless you've made a big error in your homework. I've retired now, but still have previous clients that call me and refer me to friends/family. We're not all wolves or thieves, although there are many of those out there. I have TONS of video and written testimonials from people we've bought from who were very, very happy with what we provided them. If anyone has questions pm me and I can try to answer them for you. It may be that that avenue is NOT for you or your family. But, it may.

thats a great story

Not yet, but you never know. We are in that special place where our house is 25 yo, we are now empty nesters looking to downsize a bit and this house needs quite a bit of work. Not sure we want to pour a bunch of money into it to fix it up or just bail on it and call it good.