The housing market in America couldn’t be more confusing.
If you’re thinking of selling your home and you want to do it quickly, then you need to know what’s going to slow you down. Although the national median price of a home has risen to well over $300,000, that doesn’t necessarily mean it’s going to be easy to sell your home to the right buyer.
Today, we’re going to tell you what you shouldn’t do when trying to sell your home. These 7 home selling mistakes will prevent you from selling your home quickly and getting a fair home price.
Are you wondering, “How much will it cost to sell my home?” Then keep reading for the answer and to learn how to get the right price for your home, regardless of location or condition.
1. Pricing Your Home Too High
There are a lot of buyers out there right now, but how much you can sell your home for still depends on its market value. You can’t price your home higher than other properties in your area and expect to make a quick sale. It’s important to do your research to get a sense of your home’s legitimate worth.
You can compare your home to similar ones in the area to get a ballpark idea of where you should start. The problem with most home sellers is that they always go straight to the high end of that price range.
When your house is priced too high, it’s going to stay on the market for a long time and when that happens, it becomes harder to sell. It’s a slippery slope, so don’t get too ambitious when you set an asking price.
2. Investing Too Much In Repairs
Depending on how long you’ve lived in your home, you may have a laundry list of repairs that you want to make to increase its value. Some of these repairs will benefit you when you go to sell, but you have to be careful not to dump too much money into repairs.
You may think that repairing homes before selling is going to add a lot of value to the home, but that’s not always true. When the cost of repairs is factored into the sale of the home, many homeowners end up losing money.
In many cases, it’s actually better to sell your house as-is, accept a little bit less money from the right buyer, and earn more in the end.
3. Not Considering Alternatives
For most home sellers, there’s one way of selling a home and that’s it. You get a realtor, fix up your home as much as possible, then list it and show it to interested buyers until you make a sale. Once the sale is made, months of paperwork will ensue until you can finally transfer your home to the new owner.
This works for a lot of people because they aren’t thinking about possible alternatives. If you’re trying to get out of your home quickly, for instance, doing things the traditional way isn’t ideal.
There are many reasons why you may need to sell a home quickly – divorce, stopping foreclosure, or a death in the family. In these situations, it’s better to sell to a quality cash buyer, like ibuyhomes.com. You’ll get a fair home price and avoid a lot of the obstructive costs of selling your home the traditional way.
4. Waiting for the Right Buyer
People tend to get attached to their homes. When they decide it’s time to move on, they want to sell it to someone who will enjoy it as much as they did.
Getting sentimental about selling your home is never productive. You can’t wait for the right buyer because that person may never come and, as we said, the longer your house stays on the market, the less it’s worth.
Don’t wait for conditions to be perfect. Sell your home to a reputable buyer that can make the process as painless as possible while getting you a fair home price. Whether that’s a first-time homeowner or a property investor shouldn’t matter.
5. Getting Emotional
Another byproduct of getting emotional about your home is driving away interested buyers. You can’t get insulted when your home isn’t fetching the price that you think it should. The housing market is fickle and timing often dictates how much a home will sell for.
Stay even-keeled and logical about the offers on your home. If you’ve got multiple offers, sit down and calculate which one is going to pay you the most after renovations, realtors, and the like are factored in.
6. Underestimating Selling Costs
It can be truly expensive to sell a home. First, when you hire a real estate agent, you have to pay them at least 5% commission on the sale of the home. This may not sound like much, but on a $300,000 sale, you pay your realtor $15,000.
That’s just the start of it, however. Closing costs, repairs, and other concessions that are often made to buyers can end up costing a further 10% of the sale price. Before you know it, the $300,000 that you thought your home was worth is actually closer to $250,000.
Selling your home for cash is a simpler and more cost-effective process. You fill out a secure online form on our website, then we contact you to get more details about your home and set up a viewing.
We then give you an offer, which you can choose to accept in cash or owner financing. The latter will pay you more for your home, but the paperwork prolongs the process slightly.
7. Choosing the Wrong Agent
Choosing a realtor is a big part of selling a home the traditional way. When you hire one, you’re hoping to get their expertise and network of buyers in order to get the most for your home. It’s crucial to look hard at agents before hiring one if this is the route you’re going to take.
Pick one that has your financial interest in mind, not someone that’s trying to get the most money out of you. You also need to think about their negotiation tactics, their marketing plan for your home, and if they have any listings that may compete with yours.
In truth, you can be your own agent and save yourself a lot of money. Selling to a cash buyer saves you time, money, and the pain of working with someone that doesn’t have your best interest in mind.
Avoid Home Selling Mistakes
Now that you understand the most common home selling mistakes that homeowners make along with the cost to sell a house, you can do the right thing for yourself and your family.
If making a quick and fair sale is what you want, then contact us at ibuyhomes.com. We help you sell your house for cash, fast.
