Clever Offers: Is This Cash Offer Service Legit?

Published July 24, 2023

Written by Steve Nicastro
Edited by Jenny Rollins

Who it’s made for | How it works | Pros and cons | FAQ

Clever Offers is a free, legitimate service that sends homeowners cash offers from vetted buyer partners in the Clever Real Estate network.

The service is ideal for homeowners who want to compare various offers, get the best deal, and sell a home fast.

Clever Offers provides cash offers from local and national investors. You can also explore alternative home sale options, like seller financing or listing with a local realtor.

A customer service representative, known as a Clever concierge, will help you decide the best route to take.

If you decide to list your home on the open market, you’ll only pay a 1.5% listing fee — about half of what most realtors charge. Try Clever Offers for free.

Who can benefit from Clever Offers?

Clever Offers works for all home sellers. In particular, it’s a good fit for those on an accelerated timeline and those who need extra support

Home sellers who need to sell fast

Clever can connect you to local and national cash buyers who can close on a sale within just a few weeks. Normally, it can take 2–3 months to sell in the open market.

Home sellers facing major repairs

Clever’s network of cash buyers don’t shy away from buying homes that need major repairs, such as roof replacement, plumbing, and fire damage. These cash buyers purchase homes as is and factor the required repairs into their offer.

People who inherited an unwanted property

Clever can quickly help you turn an inherited property you don’t want to use into cash.

Homeowners who need the cash

If you’ve fallen behind on loan payments or the home is worth less than your mortgage, Clever’s connections can speed up the sale process and help you avoid foreclosure.

Property owners with difficult tenants

Clever’s partners can help you sell the property fast — even if the tenants are destroying your property, not paying rent, or refusing to leave.

Home sellers interested in seller financing

If you want to make even more money, Clever can help you with seller financing. During this process, the seller would borrow money from you to make the purchase instead of taking out a traditional loan. So you, the seller, would basically become the bank.

Unlike a traditional mortgage payment, this kind of loan usually has a large payment when the full amount comes due, typically 3–10 years after the sale.

How Clever Offers works: A step-by-step process

1. Fill out Clever Offers’ online form

Clever Offers will ask you for:

The property’s zip code
The type of property (single-family, townhouse, condo, multi-family)
Your name
Your email address
Your phone number

Clever Offers protects your information and, unlike other cash buyer services, won’t spam you with calls.

Selection screen to choose a property type

2. Connect with a Clever concierge

Your Clever concierge will call you within two hours of completing the form to confirm details about your property, including:

The address
How much you think the home is worth
The property’s condition (move-in ready, needing serious repairs, or needing a few repairs)
If you’re working with a realtor

Clever will also ask if there’s anything else to know before matching you up with cash buyers. You can use this step to disclose any relevant information, such as your motivations for selling and any renovations or upgrades you’ve made to the home.

3. Get an optional free home assessment from a local realtor

Clever will match you up with several local realtors, who can provide you with a free comparative market analysis (CMA) to help you understand your home’s fair market value.

You can use a CMA to negotiate with potential buyers and get a fair price for your home. A CMA is based on the realtor’s careful examination of:

Comparable properties in your area
Your home’s condition
Your home’s unique features or upgrades
The latest market trends in your neighborhood

4. Compare your cash offers

After getting a CMA, Clever will present you with offers from its buyer partners, such as local and national real estate investors or companies that buy houses for cash.

Then you can decide whether to accept any of the offers presented, request more offers, or list your home on the open market with a realtor.

If you’re not happy with any of the offers, you can counter or negotiate them directly with the buyer through your preferred contact method (email, phone, or text).

» Ready to try it out? Get your cash offers for free today!

How Clever chooses its cash buyers

Clever has an extensive vetting process for choosing cash buyer partners. The team only works with cash buyers that have a proven track record.

Clever’s selection criteria includes:

Experience: Clever’s cash buyer partners must have at least 5 years of real estate investing experience and have closed at least 10 deals.
Liquidity: Partners must provide Clever with proof of funds (such as bank statements) to show they have the money to close a transaction without delay.
Closing rates: Clever examines recent closing statements to confirm that cash buyers can follow through on offers.

Clever Offers: Pros and cons

Cons

Potential for some low offers
Limited service availability in some areas

Pros

Maximized sale price

Clever solicits offers from multiple cash buyers. This competition encourages each buyer to offer their best price to secure the deal.

Having more than one offer can give you more negotiating power, leading to a higher sale price than you might receive elsewhere.

Flexible options

Clever can help you get cash offers, but it also opens the door to other creative solutions.

Novation agreement: Instead of buying your property, the buyer fixes and flips it on your behalf, then you split the profits.
Mortgage assumption: The seller takes over your loan payments and frees you from future obligations.
Seller financing: With a “seller becomes the bank” deal, you create a mortgage that the seller repays over time, earning you a steady income.

Of course, you can always opt for a traditional sale on the open market with an agent (at half the cost), if that’s the best choice for you.

Fewer headaches

The Clever Offers handles outreach and communication with cash buyers, so you don’t have to field calls or fill out various website forms on your own.

All of Clever’s buyer partners meet strict quality and experience criteria. This vetting process protects sellers from scammers and predatory buyers.

Clever also handles the delicate task of declining an offer or breaking up with a buyer if you decide not to work with them. Then you can focus on getting more offers rather than handling awkward rejections.

Full support

Clever provides its customers with a team of experts who help you through the sales process. The Clever support team, which includes your concierge, is available 8 a.m.–8 p.m. (Central) by phone or text.

Your assigned realtor will have their own hours, but they will likely be available during regular business hours for their time zone.

Cons

Potential for low offers

Cash buyers, including Clever’s partners, usually use the 70% rule to evaluate properties, which might get you seemingly low offers. For example, a seller may bid $350,000 on a house that’s worth $500,000 after it’s fixed up.

The 70% rule is a common approach to real estate investing that means a buyer will offer less than 70% of a home’s after-repair value (ARV) — i.e., the estimated value of the property after repairs and renovations, minus those costs.

Clever has taken measures to reduce the odds of its clients receiving lowball offers:

It provides a free CMA from an experienced agent, so you know how much your home is worth before entering into negotiations.
The company solicits bids from multiple cash buyers, encouraging competition for your property and higher offers.
Clever’s partners may offer alternative options, such as novation and seller financing. This may put more money in your pocket compared to a traditional cash offer.

Limited service availability in rural areas

Clever Offers is available nationwide, but its network of buyers may be limited in some rural areas, which could mean fewer and lower offers.

Few investors are actively looking to buy property in more remote places because there aren’t many potential buyers and renters. The low number of comparable properties might make it hard to get an accurate CMA. Also, there might not be as many inspectors or contractors in those areas to help renovate.

✍️ Editor’s note

It might be harder to get a fair cash offer in markets with a high capital gains tax rate, such as California or New York. Investors need to account for those higher taxes in their purchase price if they plan to flip the property for a profit. Learn how to avoid capital gains tax when selling a house.

💰 Compare cash offers today

Need to sell ASAP? Get multiple cash offers or creative financing options from reputable buyers in your area. Feel free to accept, counter, or decline offers at any time — there’s zero cost or obligation to move forward.

Complete this brief questionnaire and start comparing your options!

FAQ

What does Clever Offers cost and how does it make money?

Clever Offers is free for home sellers. The cash buyer pays Clever a referral fee at closing, so Clever only gets paid if it successfully matches you up with a cash buyer.

If you decide to list your home on the open market with a realtor instead of selling to a cash buyer, you'll pay a 1.5% listing fee, about half of the cost of using a traditional agent.

How many buyers does Clever Offers connect you with?

Clever Offers connects sellers with up to five cash buyers in the first 24 hours of filling out the form. Each cash buyer in Clever’s network is screened through a strict selection process.

What happens if you work with Clever Offers and don't want to accept a cash buyer’s offer?

There's no obligation to accept an offer. You can counter or decline any offer, if desired. Clever's team handles the offer rejection or the break-up process if you choose not to work with a cash buyer.

Will I get spam calls and emails with Clever Offers?

No. Clever’s sellers only receive an introduction text to their cash buyers with the buyer's name, email address, phone number, and company name. The buyer may reach out via the group text as an introduction and ask for a good time to connect. You determine when and if you want to talk to them.

How is Clever Offers different from other cash buyer websites?

Clever Offers helps you get multiple offers rather than a single offer. That way you can compare the offers and pick the best one for you. And it protects your private information so you won’t get spammed.

Clever Offers: Is This Cash Offer Service Legit?