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Properly review - Real estate company that buys your house
Songsak C / Shutterstock
Best for:
- Speedy sales
- Guaranteed selling prices
- Online home appraisals
- Buying/selling real estate online
- Great for motivated sellers
About Properly
Properly is a Canadian real-estate tech start-up that streamlines the process of selling a home by buying properties directly from homeowners. Properly will make you a guaranteed offer on your home, and then proceed to clean, stage, photograph and list your home. If after 90 days the home does not sell, Properly will buy the home from you for the agreed-upon price. There is no waiting around to buy a house until your current home sells, and no chance of getting stuck with two mortgages.
Properly is a specialized real estate company known as an institutional buyer. These companies rely on specially designed computer technology to analyze factors like historical sold data, property details and more to deliver fast, accurate offers that make selling a home as hassle-free as possible. It’s a relatively new phenomenon in Canada.
Sellers can also take advantage of Properly’s Instant Estimate which allows you to instantly know the value of your home, based on the selling price of homes around it. Your home’s price is calculated using 125,000 actual sold homes from 70 different reporting sources. Sellers have access to a list of recently sold homes with similar features, and a report of recent market trends.
How does Properly work?
Signing up for an offer from Properly is easy.
- Type in your address (keeping in mind that Properly’s services are only available in Ottawa, Toronto, and Calgary) and select the service you want.
- Answer a series of questions about your house, including whether your home is detached, the number of bedrooms and bathrooms it has and the year it was built. Questions can be very detailed, such as asking about your kitchen countertop material and appliance colours. You’ll also be asked about the exterior of your home and lot size.
- Provide contact info so Properly can be in touch with their Sale Assurance Guaranteed Offer.
If the seller accepts the Guaranteed Offer, they are then free to purchase a new home and move out. Properly will then perform a handle the cleaning, staging, and photography of the home and list it for sale at top market value. If the home does not sell within 90 days, Properly will purchase the home directly from the homeowner for the Guaranteed Offer price. This service costs about 5% of the selling price, which is similar to using a traditional real estate agent.
Why sell your home with Properly?
Properly offers a quick and reliable way to obtain a guaranteed price on your home without the hassle and stress of cleaning, staging, showing and scheduling viewings for your home. The Guaranteed Offer system is ideal for anyone who plans to buy before selling their home, avoiding financial stress and guaranteeing that you can close on both properties.
While Properly offers fair and accurate pricing for your home, the downside of using Properly is that you may not reap the full reward of what your house is actually worth on the market. If there’s an uptick in sales, your house may unexpectedly receive multiple offers, driving up the price beyond the home appraisal’s estimated price. However, to offset this risk Properly has a “profit-sharing guarantee.” That means if they sell your home for more than what they paid plus the cost of improvements, they will give you 50% of the profits. One other thing: Properly is only available in a limited number of Canadian cities so far, and might not be the best choice if you are willing to wait for the right buyer.
Pros and cons
Pros
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Speedy sales — An incredibly fast and hassle-free way to sell your home. No worrying about cleaning, staging, frequent viewings, or negotiating on price.
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100% online — Any needed repairs will be done at Properly's expense
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No need to carry two mortgages or get bridge financing — If the home does not sell within 90 days, Properly will purchase the home directly from the homeowner for the Guaranteed Offer price.
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Freedom to buy a new home — Can buy a new home right away without worrying about selling your current home
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Profit share guarantee
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Guaranteed offer gives you better leverage when purchasing a new home
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Free instant estimate home valuation report upon request
Cons
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Limited availability— Currently only available in Calgary, Ottawa, and Toronto
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May not get best price possible for your home
How does Properly compare?
Institutional buyers are still a rarity in Canada and despite the fact that its services are available only in Ottawa, Toronto, and Calgary, Properly is the largest online buyer in the country. A Google search shows only one other company aside from Properly operating in Canada. Sweetly is available only in Edmonton and offers a similar streamlined home buying service for a 6.5% fee. However, a big drawback of Sweetly’s service is that you only receive your money once Sweetly re-sells your home. With Properly, you get your money within 90 days regardless of when the company re-sells the property.
Be careful not to get Properly’s services confused with an online fixed-fee real estate agent, like Purplebricks. Though Purplebricks is similar to Properly in that it charges a set fee rather than a commission for its services, it does not actually buy your property. Rather it acts as a virtual real estate agent to facilitate the buying of your property by handling matters like listing your home, receiving offers and handling paperwork.
Although there is no standard commission rate for real estate agents in Canada, a real estate agent usually charges anywhere between 3% to 7% of the home’s selling price. So if you don’t need a speedy sale, a traditional real estate agent is cheaper than Properly.
Who is Properly best for?
While a home is the most valuable asset most Canadians will ever own, the stress and confusion surrounding the selling or purchasing of a property can also make it the most anxiety-inducing asset for many. For sellers anxious about going through a laborious selling process that could take months and involve multiple open houses, expensive property lawyers and renovations to get your home up to snuff, going with Properly could be a godsend.
You could sell your home in less than a week for market value with as little disruption as possible. You also don’t have to worry about carrying two mortgages as you wait for your home to sell.
There’s no doubt that choosing Properly means a trade-off. The downside is that by not going the traditional route when selling your home, you risk losing out on higher offers—which could mean missing out on thousands, if not tens of thousands, of dollars. The upside, however, is pretty significant given that you will avoid what is for many people one of the most frustrating and time-consuming experiences of their lives.
Who is Properly not for?
Properly is not for sellers who want an interactive, personalized home-selling experience only possible through a one-on-one relationship with a real estate agent. If you can handle the ups-and-downs of selling a home and are not in a rush to sell, going the traditional route of using a real estate agent may lead to multiple offers for your home and thus provide more certainty that you got the very best price for your property. Keep in mind that if you are in a high-value neighbourhood, your home might potentially get multiple offers or even spark a bidding war, which could considerably increase the amount your property would fetch.
If you need to save every penny you’ve got, your best bet is to sell your home yourself. The DIY approach means that you’re not paying a commission to a realtor or an institutional buyer. But that also means you’re in charge of appraising your home, researching comparables, advertising your home’s sale, negotiating with potential buyers, and finding a lawyer to draft the deal. If you have ample time and don’t mind your house sitting on the market for months, it’s possible to DIY sell your home. But if you need a quick sale, just shell out the cash and hire a pro.
The bottom line: Is Properly worth it?
If your priority when selling your home is speed and convenience, then Properly is worth considering. Properly offers a singularly straightforward selling experience for a fee that is comparable to a real estate commission.
If, however, your main goal when selling your home is to garner multiple offers to get as much as possible for your property, Properly may not be for you. But be warned: you’ll have to be prepared to commit many hours and significant elbow grease to the selling process to get the best price. Whatever route you go, you owe it to yourself to do your due diligence and do your own research regarding your property’s potential value.
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