5.0 on Google, 39 reviews
BBB Accredited Business, A+ Rating
Columbia and the Midlands Home Buyers
Sell Your House Fast in Columbia, SC for Cash
Need to sell your house fast in Columbia, SC without fixing it first? Get a fair written cash offer for it as-is, with no repairs, no commission and the closing date you choose.
- No Repairs Or Cleaning
- No Agent Commission
- You Choose The Closing Date
- A Written Offer, Explained
See Your Cash Offer, We Handle the Rest
A Columbia Based Home Buyer Serving Richland County
Office At 1122 Lady Street
Owned By Matt And Emily Hipp
Attorney Handles Every Closing
Not A Franchise Or An iBuyer
What Makes Selling a House in Columbia Different?
MIXED INTENT
Two Different Transactions, One Search
An iBuyer holds the top result for this search and a listing agent holds the third. That is not an accident: some people searching want a fast sale, not necessarily a cash one. Decide which one you are before you price anything.
THE COUNTY LINE
Columbia Sits In Two Counties
The city crosses into Lexington County at its western edge. Which county your address falls in decides which assessor, register of deeds and tax office handle the property, and it is not always the one people assume.
OLDER HOUSING STOCK
Financed Buyers Fail On Condition Here
Much of Columbia inside the older ZIP codes predates what a lender’s condition requirements expect. A financed sale that collapses at appraisal or inspection is the usual failure on these houses, not a rare one.
THE TRADE OFF
A Cash Offer Comes In Below Market
A direct sale is priced under what a prepared house fetches on the open market. If yours is sound and you can wait, an agent will usually net you more. Here is how our buying process works if you want the mechanics.
Why Columbia Owners Come to Us
Rarely the house itself. Usually something happening around it. Each of these has a page with the detail.
Sell House As Is
Foreclosure
Divorce
Inherited House
Relocation
Rental Property
Bankruptcy
Vacant Property
Too Many Repairs
Some are settling an estate near Elmwood Cemetery or handling probate in Forest Acres. Others are relocating for a position at Prisma Health, MUSC Health, the state government or Fort Jackson. Some are dealing with a rental near the University of South Carolina that has become more trouble than it is worth.
Should You List It or Sell It Direct?
Both routes end with the house sold, but they are not the same transaction. Listing nets more on a house in good order. A direct sale trades that price for certainty: no lender, no inspection renegotiation, no marketing period. Which one is right depends almost entirely on the condition of the house and how much time you have.
| Listing with an agent | Selling direct for cash | |
|---|---|---|
| The price | Higher on a house in good order. Usually meaningfully higher. | Lower, and it has to be. The buyer takes on the repairs, the holding costs and the resale risk. |
| What comes out of it | Commission, preparation, repairs, and whatever the inspection negotiation gives away. | Nothing deducted. The figure agreed is the figure at closing, subject to normal payoffs and liens. |
| Money out before you are paid | Repairs, cleaning, staging and holding costs, in advance. | None. |
| Time | A marketing period, then underwriting, appraisal and inspection. | Set by the title search and any payoff, not by a lender approving a buyer. |
| What can go wrong | Financing fails late, usually on condition or appraisal. On an older Columbia house that is the usual failure. | A buyer who intends to assign the contract rather than complete. Ask before signing. |
| Who it suits | A sound house, a seller who can fund preparation and wait. | A house needing work, an empty house costing money, or a seller who wants one decision. |
When Listing Clearly Nets You More
- The house is structurally sound and would pass an inspection without argument.
- You can fund the preparation without borrowing.
- You have a few months and no deadline imposed by somebody else.
- You can manage access for showings.
- Nobody is living in it who complicates showings, and there is no code, permit or tenancy position that would unsettle a financed buyer.
If four or five of those describe your situation, talk to a Columbia agent before you talk to any cash buyer, including us. A direct sale earns its lower figure where the house will not pass a lender’s condition requirements, where it is empty and costing money, or where a deadline belongs to somebody else.
Where an iBuyer Fits
An iBuyer prices from a model rather than a visit. It suits a newer, conventional house and it declines or reprices the older stock that makes up much of Columbia. The number quoted is not the net: a service fee comes out, and a post-inspection adjustment can arrive after you have committed. Ask for the net figure in writing.
Why Has My Property Tax Bill Changed Since I Moved Out?
Because the four percent rate follows the owner, not the house. A house you live in is assessed at four percent of value as your legal residence. Other residential property is assessed at six. When you stop living there the four percent rate stops applying, and there is a duty to tell the assessor within six months of the change, with a penalty for not doing it.
This catches people who kept a Columbia house after a posting, a move or a family change and let it sit or rented it out. The bill arrives higher than the one they remember, and the gap is not a mistake. It is the assessment ratio the state applies working as written.
The four percent classification does not transfer to a buyer, so an offer built on your old tax figure is built on the wrong number. And if the classification changed while the house sat, the arrears sit with the property and surface in the title search.
Check your classification with the Richland County assessor before you price anything.
Can I Still Sell a House That Has Gone to a Tax Sale?
Usually yes, for twelve months. A property sold at a delinquent tax sale in South Carolina can be redeemed for twelve months from the date of the sale. Until that period runs out the tax deed is not delivered and the defaulting taxpayer keeps possession, so the house can still be sold.
Redeeming means paying the delinquent taxes, assessments, penalties and costs, plus interest on the amount bid at the sale. South Carolina Code Section 12-51-90 steps that interest up over the year: three percent in the first three months, six percent in the second three, nine percent in the third three and twelve percent in the last three, subject to the cap the statute sets.
The practical consequence is that a sale inside that window has to clear the redemption figure as well as any mortgage payoff, so the arithmetic is different from an ordinary sale. Ask the Richland County delinquent tax office for the redemption amount in writing before agreeing a price, and note that the twelve months runs from the date of the sale, not from the date a notice reached you.
This page is general information, not legal or tax advice. Peak Home Buyers does not practice law. Property tax classification, tax sale redemption, arrears and disclosure obligations should be confirmed with Richland County or a licensed South Carolina attorney for your specific property.
What Columbia Sellers Say
“I have done business with Peak Home Buyers Network on and off for the past 6 years and I highly recommend them.”
Alex B. | Verified Google Review
“Great company to do business with. The agent was so wonderful to work with, so friendly, I feel I have made a friend for life.”
Judith T. | Verified Google Review
“This company is outstanding. Their attention to detail and ease to work with is why I have given them 5 stars.”
Dickie W. | Verified Google Review
More of what Columbia sellers have said is on the reviews page.
How Does Peak Home Buyers Buy a House in Columbia?
Peak Home Buyers is Matt and Emily Hipp’s company, run from an office at 1122 Lady Street in downtown Columbia. We buy houses across South Carolina with the company’s own funds, so no lender is underwriting the purchase, and every closing runs through a licensed South Carolina attorney.
Matt grew up in Chapin and Emily in Camden, so the Midlands has always been home. We know the difference between a Shandon bungalow and a Northeast Columbia build, and we price accordingly. We are not a brokerage and cannot list a house for you, so if yours is sound and you can wait, an agent will very likely get you more. Read our full story.
| Step | What happens | What you get |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Tell us about it | The address, the condition, whether it is rented, and which county you are in. Say if you do not know the last one. Most people do not. | A straight view on whether this is a property we can take on. |
| 2. Somebody walks it | The house and the paperwork around it, then a written figure with the reasoning behind it. | A number you can set against an agent’s opinion of value. |
| 3. You decide | Accept and a licensed South Carolina attorney handles title and closing. Decline and the file closes. | No chasing, no repeat calls. |
No date gets quoted before the title search is back and any payoff figure has arrived. A company that gives you a closing date on the first call has not asked about either.
Tell Us About the Columbia Property
You do not need the tax classification checked or the paperwork found first. Those are the parts we deal with.
Areas We Buy In Around Columbia
We buy across the city and Richland County: Shandon, Forest Acres, Rosewood, Elmwood Park, Earlewood, Wales Garden, Heathwood, Olympia, Granby, Quail Valley and Lake Murray Estates. In Shandon and Rosewood that is often a longtime owner downsizing or an estate settled from out of state. In the Harbison corridor and Northeast Columbia it is usually a Fort Jackson posting. Near Five Points it is a landlord leaving the market.
- sell a house in Lexington
- Irmo homeowners
- West Columbia
- Cayce
- Chapin
- Blythewood
- Lake Murray
- Forest Acres
ZIP coverage runs 29201 through 29229 and the surrounding Richland County codes. If your address is not on the list it is still worth asking.
Columbia Seller Questions
Faster than a financed sale, because no lender is underwriting a buyer, but nobody can give you a date on a first call. What sets it is the title search, any mortgage or lien payoff, and whether there is an outstanding code or permit position on the property.
On a house in good condition, yes, and often by a meaningful margin. That is the trade. The comparison above sets out the cases where listing clearly wins, and if several of them describe your house you should list it.
Columbia crosses the line, so a Columbia address does not settle it. It decides which assessor, register of deeds and tax office handle the property. The county planning department can confirm which applies to yours.
Yes, about what you actually know. What a seller has to disclose in South Carolina is set out in the property condition disclosure law, and agreeing an as-is sale does not remove the duty. As-is settles who pays for repairs. Disclosure settles what the buyer is told.
No agent commissions and no hidden fees. South Carolina does charge a deed recording fee of $1.85 for each $500 of the value conveyed, and the state deed recording fee statute places that on the grantor, which is you as the seller, unless the contract says otherwise. Which of the other closing costs each side covers is agreed between the parties rather than fixed by law, so ask us to put it in writing and compare any offer on the net figure.
Peak Home Buyers, from an office at 1122 Lady Street. Matt and Emily Hipp own the company, the purchase money is the company’s own, and a licensed South Carolina attorney handles every closing. The number is (803) 991-0959.
Find Out What It Is Worth As It Stands
You do not need the tax classification resolved, the paperwork found, or a decision made about any of it. Those are the parts people call about, and finding out where you stand costs nothing.
If a Columbia agent would do better for you, that is what you will be told. If this is not a property we can take on, you will hear it in the first conversation.