Who is behind Sell Now 253?
I’m Austin Hellickson, a Managing Broker with LPT Realty. My office is at 1230 Fryar Ave in Sumner, a short drive up the valley from Tacoma, and this site is about the houses west of it, from foursquares in the North End to split-levels in University Place.
I built this site for a specific kind of phone call. Someone owns a house in or around Tacoma and has a reason they can’t wait: a move, a divorce, a parent going into care, an estate with several heirs and one house, or a rental that stopped making sense after the last tenant left. Often the house is older and needs work nobody has the time or money to do.
Plenty of them have seen the signs stapled to telephone poles promising cash in a week, and they’re wary. They should be. This site exists to give them a straight comparison instead of a pitch.
What do I do for a seller?
I lay out both options and put numbers on them. On one side is a cash offer request: your property details go through the Homexa® network, a group of 300+ agents across 25 states, to independent buyers who purchase houses directly, and some of them may make an offer. On the other side is what the house could reasonably do on the open market if we prepared it quickly and listed it well.
Then I show you the net on each. That means the figure after commissions and closing costs, and after the months you’d keep paying the mortgage while the house sells. A cash offer that looks low next to a list price can look reasonable once those costs are counted. It can also look worse. You’ll see the figures either way.
If you decide to list, I can represent you. If you decide to take a cash offer, I’ll go through the contract with you line by line so you know exactly what you’re agreeing to: the earnest money, the inspection terms, who pays what at closing, and what happens to anything you leave behind.
Why older houses?
Because Tacoma is full of them, and they’re where sellers most often get stuck. The fir floors and built-in buffets buyers love in a North End foursquare tend to come with an oil tank question and a clay sewer line, and a buyer’s inspector will write about both.
Part of my work is helping you decide what, if anything, to fix before you sell, and making sure Washington’s seller disclosure form is complete and accurate. A careful disclosure protects you, and it gives a buyer fewer reasons to walk away late in the deal.
How does working with me start?
Usually with a phone call. You tell me about the house and the deadline. If it makes sense, I come see it, or we walk through it on a video call if you’re out of state. After that I put the comparison together, and you decide what to do with it. How long the rest takes depends on the house and the buyer, and the closing date is set in the contract.
A word about Homexa®, since the name is on this site: it’s the agent network the cash offer requests go through. Brokerage services here come from me, as a licensed Managing Broker with LPT Realty.
Call me at 206.940.0942, or write to Austin.Hellickson@homexa.com. I’m glad to come to the house.
