Not one of their sucess stories
Sadly we were not one of Revive’s Sell 360 success stories. When we were first presented with an estimate, the numbers showed that we would likely receive more money by going with Revive than by selling to a regular flipper. The end result was that we received less money - after we sold the house to them, they renovated it and then sold it. Note – we only received 2/3 of the sale price when we sold it to Revive – they held back 1/3. When we got the final check, the total money we received by selling to Revive was 9% less than if we had gone with a regular flipper. I.E. we most likely left money on the table by going with Revive.
We had given them a detailed list of everything that we knew was wrong with the house before they gave us the preliminary estimate. We wanted to make sure they knew of all the potential problems.
Part of the blame for the sad story lies with us – we should have waited to make our moving plans until after Revive had finished their estimates. The second estimate was still making us a little more money, however the third estimate was much higher renovation costs and meant that we would likely make less. Unfortunately, by that time we had already spent money on our planned move out of state, so we did not want the additional stress of having to put the house back on the market and trying to handle everything over the phone.
We have also noticed that the salesperson for Revive who provided the first estimate is no longer working for Revive – so possibly some of the blame lies with him.
Final Note – after they had given us the final number for the second check, they ‘discovered’ a change order that had not been included in the renovation costs, which meant that the final number was actually less by a couple of thousand. The change order was dated a week after they had sold the house.
Basically, if you want to work with Revive, do not finalize any move out plans until after they have given you a FINAL estimate. You may have to push them to give you extra time for moving out, but it’s definitely something to consider if you want to avoid unpleasant surprises. Be sure to keep all the estimates they give you so that you can see the changes, and be sure to check their math.
Also – in case it might affect your tax status – the tax form provided by the escrow company shows the full sale price for the house, not the 2/3 price that we received as the first check.