Lead brokers, contract flippers and buyers
The first kind is a lead broker. They are not buying anything. They collect your details, sometimes with a form promising an instant offer, and sell that information to several buyers. The tell is that the "offer" never arrives as a figure, and you suddenly start hearing from multiple companies at once.
The second kind puts a house under contract at a low number and then sells that contract to somebody else before closing. This is wholesaling. It is legal and it is not automatically bad, but you should know it is happening, because the person you shook hands with is not the person who will close.
The third kind buys with its own funds and closes. That is the only one where the number you are given and the number at closing are the same thing by default.
How to test any offer in five minutes
Four questions do most of the work.
Proof of funds? A real buyer has it and shares it. Excuses are an answer in themselves.
Closing yourselves, or assigning? You are entitled to a plain answer before you sign, whichever it is.
Can the number change after inspection? If it can, treat the offer as provisional, because it is.
My own attorney? Always, in New York. Be wary of anyone steering you to theirs or suggesting you skip it.
The red flags, in order of seriousness
An offer made before anybody has looked at the house. Nobody can price a Massapequa property from a public record and an aerial photograph, so a firm figure arriving that way is a device for starting a conversation rather than a number anyone intends to pay.
Pressure on timing. Real offers do not evaporate at midnight. Any deadline whose purpose is to stop you getting a second opinion is telling you what the offer is worth.
A request for money from you, for any reason. There is no legitimate circumstance in which a buyer needs a fee, a deposit or an application payment from a seller.
And anybody suggesting you do not need your own attorney.
What a legitimate Massapequa cash sale actually looks like
Viewing, written offer, attorney review, signed contract, deposit in escrow, title search, closing. In Nassau County that is the entire process, and it is meant to be simple.
Knowing it is useful because anything outside it stands out. Skipping the attorney, a deposit held by the buyer, or a new price after signing are all departures from a process that exists to protect you as the seller.
Our own answers to those four questions
We will send proof of funds when you ask, and you should ask. Our written figure is the figure at closing; we price the condition before we make the offer, so an inspection does not change it. You use your own attorney, and if you need one we will suggest names rather than provide one.
On assignment: we buy houses, renovate them and sell them on. Ask us whether we will be the one closing on your house and you will get a straight answer for your specific property rather than a slogan.
We buy in Nassau and Suffolk only, and when listing your Massapequa house would serve you better, we say so. That happens more often than you might expect.
Where your information goes
Sometimes it goes to one company. Frequently it is sold on to several, and occasionally it is sold repeatedly over months, which is why homeowners who filled in one form years ago are still getting texts.
The test is simple enough. Look for a privacy policy and read the paragraph about sharing with third parties. A site that promises an instant offer, asks for a phone number before showing you anything, and has no clear policy is collecting rather than buying. Massapequa homeowners get a lot of these.
Assignment, explained properly
The contract you sign contains a clause saying whether it can be transferred. If it can, the buyer can find somebody else to step into their place and take a fee for arranging it.
There is nothing inherently wrong with this and a lot of houses trade that way. The risk you carry is completion risk: your sale now depends on a third party being found, and if none is, you have lost the time. A buyer closing with their own funds carries no such dependency. Whichever you are dealing with, you are entitled to know which it is before you sign, and your attorney will tell you what the clause actually says.
What to do if you think you moved too fast
Take it to an attorney today rather than trying to work it out yourself, and take the whole document including anything you signed at the door.
What matters is what the contract says: whether there is a period in which you can withdraw, what the deposit arrangements are, whether it is assignable, and what happens if either side does not complete. Those are specific questions with specific answers, and an hour with an attorney is worth considerably more than any reassurance from the other party.
Do not rely on a verbal assurance that you can get out of it. If it is not in the document, it does not exist.
Common questions
Are all the companies texting me about my house scams?
Most are not scams in a criminal sense. They are lead brokers and contract flippers operating legally, and the problem is usually that nobody explains which one you are dealing with. Ask directly and the picture clears up fast.
Should a cash buyer ever ask me for money?
No. Never, for any reason. There is no legitimate fee, deposit or application payment that a buyer collects from a seller.
They offered more than everyone else. Is that good?
Treat a conspicuously high offer with more care, not less. A number well above the others is sometimes real and is often a way to secure the contract and take other buyers out of the picture, after which it is reduced. Ask whether the figure is binding and whether it can change after an inspection, and get the answer in writing.
Do I really need my own attorney?
In New York, yes, and use your own rather than one suggested by the buyer. It is the single most effective protection available to you, and it is standard practice on both sides of every residential sale in the state.