How To Sell My House

Three Ways to Sell a House in Mobile or Baldwin County

Before you decide how to sell, it helps to see the three real options next to each other, because the right one depends almost entirely on the condition of the house and how much time you have.

List it with an agent. If the house is clean, financeable and you can wait sixty to ninety days for the right buyer, this usually nets you the most money. You pay commission, you make the repairs the buyer’s inspector finds, and you keep the house show-ready for strangers — but on a house in good shape the retail price generally makes up for all of it.

Sell it yourself. You keep the commission and you do the work: pricing, photos, showings, negotiating, and following a buyer’s lender through underwriting. It works best when you already have a buyer in mind — a neighbour, a tenant, a family member.

Sell direct for cash. That is what we do. You get a written offer on the house exactly as it sits — no repairs, no cleaning, no showings — and you pick the closing date. The offer is below what a fixed-up house would bring on the open market, and that difference is what you are trading for speed and certainty. For a house that needs work, a house you inherited two counties away, or a deadline you cannot move, that trade is usually worth it. For a house in good condition with time to spare, it usually is not. We will tell you which one you have.

What Actually Happens, Step by Step

There are five steps and none of them require you to spend money.

1. You tell us about the house. A ten-minute phone call or the form on this site. Where it is, roughly what shape it is in, whether anyone is living there, and why you are selling. You do not need repair estimates or a survey. If you do not know the answer to something, that is fine — most sellers do not.

2. We come and look at it. Usually within a day or two, because we are based in Fairhope and everything we buy is inside an hour of here. Do not clean, do not move anything out, do not fix a thing. We are looking at the roof, the foundation, the systems and the floor plan. A walk-through takes about twenty minutes.

3. You get a written offer. Normally the same day or the next morning, in writing, with the number broken down so you can see how we got there. There is no obligation attached to it and no pressure to answer quickly. Take it to your family, your attorney or your agent.

4. You choose the closing date. This is the part people are most surprised by. If you need to be out in two weeks, we can usually do that. If you need ninety days because a lease runs out or a child finishes a school year, we can do that too. The date is yours.

5. You close at a local title company. They run title, clear anything that shows up, and handle the paperwork. You sign, and the funds go out that day. You do not haul anything off, and whatever you leave behind becomes our problem.

How the Number Is Put Together

Nobody should accept an offer they do not understand. Here is the arithmetic behind ours, in the order it happens.

• What the house is worth fixed up. Recent sales of comparable houses on the same streets — not a county-wide average, and not an online estimate, which in this market can be wildly wrong on an older or unusual house.
• What it will cost to get it there. Roof, HVAC, electrical, plumbing, floors, kitchen, bath, and whatever the crawlspace is hiding. This is the number that moves the offer most, and it is the number sellers most often underestimate.
• What it costs to hold and resell it. Taxes, insurance, utilities and interest while the work is being done, then commission and closing costs on the way back out.
• What is left. A margin that has to be there, or we do not stay in business long enough to close your deal.

We will show you each of those lines. If you think we are wrong about the repair number, say so — sometimes we are, and a contractor’s bid you already have in hand can change the offer.

What It Costs You to Sell This Way

No commission, because there is no agent on our side or yours. No listing fee, no marketing cost, no staging, no photographs. We pay the standard closing costs a buyer pays in Alabama. You make no repairs and you do not clean the house out. If there are back taxes, a mortgage payoff or a lien against the property, the title company pays them out of the proceeds at closing and you get what is left — you do not have to bring money to the table to settle them first.

What You Will Need to Close in Alabama

Title companies here ask for the same short list nearly every time:

• Proof that you own it. The deed, or enough information for the title company to find it. In Alabama, land records are filed with the Probate Office of the county — Bay Minette for Baldwin County, Government Plaza in downtown Mobile for Mobile County.
• Photo identification for everyone whose name is on the deed. If a co-owner has moved away or passed, tell us early; it is solvable, but it is the single most common reason a closing slips.
• Mortgage payoff information, if there is still a loan. The title company orders the payoff letter; you just need to know who the lender is.
• Probate paperwork, if you inherited the house. Usually letters testamentary or letters of administration. If probate has not been opened yet, we can still write the offer and work to the timeline the court sets.

Closings in this part of Alabama are handled by a title company or a real estate attorney. You are welcome to use yours; if you do not have one, we will suggest two or three and you pick.

When You Should Not Sell to Us

If your house is in good repair, would pass an appraisal and a home inspection, and you have two or three months, list it. You will very likely net more money than we can offer, even after commission. We would rather tell you that on the first call than waste a week of your time.

Selling direct makes sense when at least one of these is true: the house needs more work than you want to fund, it is sitting empty and costing you every month, you are behind on payments or facing a foreclosure date, you inherited it and do not want to manage a renovation from out of town, there are tenants in it you would rather not deal with, or you simply need a date you can count on.

Common Questions

How fast can you actually close?

Seven to fourteen days is typical once title comes back clear. The limit is almost never us — it is how long the title search takes and whether anything unexpected turns up, like an old lien or an heir nobody knew about. If your title is clean and you want to close next week, next week is realistic.

Do I have to fix anything or clean the house out?

No. Not the roof, not the floors, not the smell, not the shed full of things nobody wants. Take what matters to you and leave the rest where it sits.

What if I still owe money on the house?

That is normal and it is not a problem as long as the payoff is less than the offer. The title company pays the lender directly at closing and you receive the difference. If you owe more than the house is worth, tell us early — there are still options, but they take longer.

What if the house was inherited and probate is not finished?

We buy inherited houses regularly and we are used to working around a probate calendar. We can write the offer now and close when the court allows it. What we need to know up front is who the personal representative is and whether all the heirs agree on selling.

Are there any fees or commissions?

None. No commission, no listing fee, no closing fee charged back to you. The number on the offer is the number the title company wires you, less any payoff, liens or unpaid taxes attached to the property itself.

What if there are tenants living in the house?

We buy occupied rentals and we do not ask you to remove anyone before closing. Send us the lease and tell us whether rent is current. Handling the tenant relationship after closing is our job, not yours.

Talk to Someone Local

We are a small family business in Fairhope, and we buy houses across Mobile and Baldwin County — the full list of towns is on our service areas page. If you would rather see a number before you talk to anybody, start with a cash offer request. If the house has a specific problem — fire damage, an inherited estate, a foreclosure date — say so, because it changes the conversation more than the square footage does.

Call or text (251) 655-1515, or read more about selling a house in Alabama first. Either way, you will talk to a person who has actually stood in houses on your street.