Inventory remains low. However, it is still possible to sell your home, for near asking price and quickly. There are a lot of things that factor into this including your property. If it’s in great shape, your home will sell quickly, especially if it is located in a good area. If it needs a lot of work, an investor may have interest, but you have to expect them to try and go with the lowest possible price to maximize their profits. They also may be faster to close on the deal which creates the question, do you care more about the money or the time the home is on the market?
If you can list your home today, you should expect to sell it within the next three months. Need it to be faster than that? Well, that’s not something you are going to have answered online. That’s where you need to hire an experienced realtor who can come to your property and review it to determine which option is best and what the asking price should be. The asking price is also a key factor in whether you want to sell it quickly or not. If you want to sell it as fast as possible, take 10% off the asking price and then go lower if you have not gotten a real offer in two weeks.
Current Condition
One of the first things that needs to be considered when you are listing a house is what the current condition of the property is. Can you get good value for the property right now or does it need a lot of work? The more work and money a property needs, the less you will get offered which means you will either need to lower your price or wait longer to get it sold. Working with your realtor, you can create a sheet of what needs to be fixed or upgraded and what the costs and time will be to do it. Then, you can choose one by one what needs to be done and how long it should take.
These things can include a variety of needs around the house like the lawn, the appliances, the windows, roof and more. If the air conditioning unit is over ten years old, you may want to replace it if you want to get full asking price. These are the little things that buyers think about and if buyers are thinking about what needs to be fixed or replaced in the home, they may not be as motivated to buy. That’s why you need to consider putting the work in early, especially if you are focused on what you will get the property sold for.
Current Market
What is the state of the current market, especially locally? Ask that to your realtor before you even begin because they will tell you if you can expect your property to sell in weeks or months. That’s another reason you want to consider working with realtors who are experienced with your area. They can give you that insider knowledge of what to expect from buyers who focus on your specific area whether it’s independent buyers or investors.
Your goal is to determine how to maximize the value of your property while getting your money as quickly as possible. However, if you set the asking price too high, it may take longer to get a realistic offer. The lower you set your asking price, the faster a buyer will be interested in your property. However, interest rates can play a big role in this situation. The interest rate increases have made it almost too expensive for most to buy a new home. The good news is that there are still tons of qualified buyers out there and the best way to get them interested early is with a newly cleaned home and a reasonable asking price.
Asking Price
When you set the asking price, try to think of what a reasonable value of your home is and then go up no more than 10-20%. Sometimes that can even be a bit too high depending on the current local market. You want to make sure that you set the price a little high, but not too high. Sometimes, people set their listing price far higher than it should be and when that happens it creates a long delay in getting realistic offers. If your property is worth $400,000 and needs $100,000 of work, you cannot list it for $500,000 and expect to sell it quickly.
You need to be realistic, especially if you want to get your home purchased faster. This is where a realtor can offer their experience and guide you in your decisions. Setting a fair asking price will create early competition for the property and get more buyers interested from the beginning. Yes, you run the risk of losing out on even more money, but you also improve your chances of getting good value, faster.
Expectations
What should your expectations be when you list your property? If you set a realistic asking price, you should expect anywhere from one to ten offers in the first two weeks. These offers will vary depending on if they are from independent buyers or investors. You have to work with your realtor to determine which ones are best because some that offer higher numbers may have challenging financing that comes into play.
You also need to consider the time of year. Buyers may be waiting until the new year to buy a property as they wait for interest rates to go down. Listing your property now may not mean it gets sold by the end of the year.
Realtor Recommendation
Your realtor recommends that you focus on getting your property into the best possible condition you can before listing it. Once it’s listed, upgrades will not benefit you with the asking price. Utilize the original listing as your best chance to get someone interested in your property. That’s why, before you list, you want to do everything you can to fix any issues or make any upgrades that are needed for your home. You know your property better than anyone and if you think there are areas that need to be improved, you can be sure that a buyer will feel the same way. Make those improvements now so that you can maximize your value later.
