Selling a home right now is easier than selling a home at nearly any other time in recent history. The reason is because property values have steadily gone up and inventory remains lower than expected. People are looking for reasonably priced homes that they can afford, even if it’s higher than what they normally would want to pay for a property. Their thinking is that going with a rental property is just a waste of money and they want to buy now rather than waste two or three years or rent. Here’s how the market is impacting you and what you should be doing if you want to sell:
- Don’t spend money right now on fixing up the property: You’ve been told for years about real estate investing and how you need to spend time and money to fix up a property before you sell it. That’s not the case right now. Let’s say for example the house you are selling needs new windows. You would think that doing them yourself will add thousands of dollars of value to the property. It will but the problem is that the cost of the windows, the cost to install them and the time you need to wait to get them is too much to make up for in the sale price. Materials and labor shortages are causing issues in the construction industry so it’s not the best time to make repairs or changes to the home. Just keep your money and focus on making the house as presentable as possible.
- List on tons of websites: There are dozens of websites that allow you to list your property. However, local websites may be a better place to start if you do not want to get bombarded by hundreds of calls and emails the first week.
- List your property among major cities near you, not just your city: If you own a property in Pompano Beach, Florida, try and make sure that Fort Lauderdale is mentioned in the description, even if it’s just showing how far from the city you are. The reason for this is that there are more out of town and out of state buyers who are searching based on the larger city names.
- Hire a realtor: A realtor will be your best friend throughout this entire process and eliminate the majority of the work you will have to do in selling your home. They can handle nearly everything including meeting with the potential buyers directly.
- Set your asking price high: Don’t be afraid to set a high asking price. In this market, you are not going to scare anyone away and qualified and interested buyers will try to come as close to your asking price as possible.
- Be open to unique deals: Some buyers will throw in some interesting deals like they will pay more but they have to sell their home first or they want to rent to own or something else. Be open to different options and speak with your relator about them. Some may be more lucrative for you in the long run.
- Be packed and ready to go: One of those unique deals may be for you to move out faster than expected. Again, out of town buyers are plentiful and if they are moving to a new city, they need the property as soon as possible.
Invest time into getting yourself situated and ready to move out. You will be amazed at how fast the process goes, especially with an experienced realtor on your side.
