Seller Education
The Buyer Who Wasn’t Looking
The right buyer for your house often isn’t a company. It might be a contractor, a landlord on the same street, or a neighbor who isn’t even looking yet.
By Martin Boonzaaijer
September 22, 2026
4 min read
The man who bought that house in Scottsdale wasn’t shopping for one.
A dated house in Scottsdale
The house was dated. Original kitchen, carpet from a couple of decades ago, and the garage and back rooms still full of a lifetime of belongings. It needed a full remodel, and the family selling it had no interest in doing any of that first.
Who actually buys a house like that
Ask most people who buys a house in that condition and you’ll get the same answer. A company. Somebody who does this at volume, gives you a number, and moves on to the next one.
That’s a real buyer, and sometimes it’s the right one. But it isn’t the only one.
Think about the contractor who can do the work himself and doesn’t have to pay retail for labor. Or the landlord who already owns two houses on that street and wouldn’t mind a third. Or somebody whose parents are getting older, who’d like them living around the corner instead of across town.
The Scottsdale buyer happened to be all three at once. He was a contractor, he lived a few streets away, and his mother needed somewhere to live. He bought the house, did the work himself, and moved her in. He wasn’t buying an investment. He was buying his mom a house near him, and his number reflected that.
The buyer who wasn’t watching listings
Here’s the problem, and it’s a problem for regular agents too. People like that are not sitting there combing through the MLS. A lot of them haven’t even had the thought yet. Ask that contractor on a Monday whether he’s shopping for a house and he’d have said no. Show him that particular house on Tuesday and the answer changes.
How we find them
So the work is finding them, and it isn’t a website. Part of it comes from a list we’ve built over the years, buyers I’ve known since I was the one making offers. But most of it is going out and turning up the ones who don’t know yet. Mail on the surrounding streets. Calls to owners nearby. Getting in front of people who have no reason to be watching listings and every reason to want this house.
Why the offers arrive together
Then we put all of it inside fourteen days, so the offers show up together instead of trickling in one at a time. That part matters more than it sounds.
A buyer who knows he’s the only one in the room behaves very differently than one who knows he isn’t.
Which brings me to the thing I most want sellers to understand.
The value of a house isn’t one number. It’s a range. Where you end up in that range has a lot to do with which buyers ever heard about it.
One buyer’s offer isn’t the market. It’s an opinion.
The value of a house isn’t one number. It’s a range. Where you end up in that range has a lot to do with which buyers ever heard about it.
Frequently asked questions
Who actually buys a house that needs work?
More people than most sellers expect. Investors and companies do, but so do contractors who can do the work themselves, landlords who already own property nearby, and families who want a relative living close.
How do you find buyers who aren't looking for a house?
We go to them. That means mail to the surrounding streets, calls to owners nearby, and reaching out to buyers we’ve worked with over the years. Most of them aren’t watching listings.
Why bring the offers in one fourteen-day window?
Because offers that arrive together can be compared against each other. When they trickle in one at a time, you’re deciding on each one with nothing to measure it against.
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