Selling Your Home: 5 Money Saving Tips
Your home is undoubtedly the most valuable asset for the vast majority of us and selling your home can cost thousands of dollars. Using the money saving tips in this article should help you reduce the cost of selling your home.
Real Estate agent commissions and fees vary, so shop around and don’t forget to negotiate. You should aim for 1% commission. Also push them to limit the listing agreement to no more than 90 days. This gives them more than enough time to sell the house, if they know what they are doing, but if for some reason they can’t, you can move on to another agent without using multiple agents which could increase the fees to about 3%+, a big no-no! Also, ensure you get a fair valuation of your property and never tell a real estate agent what other agents have valued your house at. They will use this to manipulate their own valuation, often resulting in wide distortions.
It is a mistake to go for the cheapest brokerages, so get referrals from people that you respect. When asking for referrals, remember to ask for the name of specific people, rather than just the name of the brokerage. Call the Agent directly and ask what their charges are. Also note whether they are friendly, helpful, and most important efficient? Fees are negotiable so negotiate! The goal here is to get yourself the best service at the best price.
Selling your home For Sale By Owner (FSBO) can save you thousands. One in twenty homeowners are now taking the FSBO route which could save thousands. This is a massive money saving tip, but there are a couple of downsides, basically “time and effort”. You could consider newspaper advertising, flyers and signs. Newspapers usually charge per line or per word so try to keep your advertisement as brief as possible without making it uninteresting. The simplest way to sell your home yourself is to use one of the many online house selling websites.
Obviously, selling your home when the market is strong and demand is high, is best, so keep an eye on the local property market. Generally, the market tends to be stronger in early and late summer than the rest of the year, so aim to sell your house then. Also avoid competing with your neighbors, so if there are already a few “For Sale” signs on your street, it might be better to wait a bit.
Research has shown that a poorly presented house can take longer to sell and may reduce the price by thousands. So, get your paint brushes out, give your home a coat of paint and finish all of those DIY jobs that you have been putting off. Also talk to your real estate agent about which improvements add value to your property and which ones don’t. It maybe worth spending a bit of cash to make some more. However, be careful not to over spend, you might not get your money back, so talk all planned improvements through with your realtor.
If you are determined to save money when selling your home, another option is to work with a local real estate investor who buys houses. In virtually every city there are independent real estate investors who buy houses and either: fix them up and sell them, hold onto them as a rental property, or sell them to other real estate investors who will hold them as rental properties. Every area has reputable investors who you can contact to work with. Do some more research, as they say knowledge is power. A brief browse online will allow you to get all the information you need to save you a ton of money.
Jack BUYS Houses – Florida is Florida’s premier house buying company. We pay CASH for our properties, which allows us to close in as little as 7 days. We purchase all types of houses, As-Is and in any condition, so there’s no need to fix up the property. If you or someone you know needs to sell their house quickly for any reason, please visit www.JackBUYSHousesFL.com or call 407-307-3245 TODAY and we would happy to make an offer!