PENNSYLVANIA, USA — There is no shortage of signs and billboards about selling your home quickly for cash scattered across central Pennsylvania but some real estate wholesalers are taking their advertising tactics to another level.
In hopes of enticing more home sellers, wholesalers are shifting to mass texts and calls, raising the question among some people if these texts and calls offering cash for their homes are scams.
The Greater Harrisburg Association of Realtors says they are legitimate and legal offers... but there’s a catch.
"I want to be clear this is a service that they’re providing. They’re offering to buy your house as-is, with cash and a quick closing," said Wendell Hoover, president of the Greater Harrisburg Association of Realtors. "To some people that’s useful however, these offers are typically significantly undervalued."
They say the aggressive advertising tactic of texts and calls is attempting to expand their reach to potentially unknowledgeable and desperate home sellers amid a hot housing market.
"The wholesalers know that any property that they are able to buy, they can resell it immediately," said Hoover. "In almost every case for 20, 30, 40 percent higher than they just purchased it for."
In Pennsylvania, wholesalers can operate without a real estate license. The only exception is Philadelphia which implemented some safeguards in 2020 requiring wholesale real estate companies to purchase a $200 license and follow certain guidelines including a criminal background check and proof of insurance.
However, the lack of regulation elsewhere around the Commonwealth is causing concern among licensed Pennsylvania realtors.
"We just want to make sure that we’re separated from that wholesaling industry, which is really completely unregulated at this point," said Hoover.
The Attorney General's Bureau of Consumer Protection says it has gotten complaints about these texts and calls and has some guidance to protect people from entering into a transaction they may regret:
- If you do not recognize the number, do not respond to the request.
- Before entering into any agreement or providing information, do your homework and research the party and your property’s value.
- If you are planning to sell your home, consider your options. We have found that, in some instances, buyers contacting potential sellers do not pay “market value.”
Ultimately, realtors say do your homework.
"Talk to at least another professional, whether it’s a retailer, friend, just get a second opinion," said Hoover. "Don’t rely on one person’s opinion on what your house may or may not be worth."