Sell Your Home Fast & For Top Dollar With These 10 Tips
Selling your home quickly can appear attractive for many reasons. Let’s be honest, selling your home can not only be a time-consuming process, but it can also be stressful depending on other factors going on in your life.
Depending on why you’re selling your home, a quick sale might even be beneficial to your overall well-being, especially if being a homeowner or real estate investor is adding unneeded stress. Selling your house quickly allows you to move on with your life sooner, you don’t have to worry about keeping your home in top-notch shape and you won’t have unknown potential buyers entering your home for showings.
Before you decide to fire sell your home, consider alternative options to remedy the underlying reason why you are considering selling your home. For example, if you’re a real estate investor and the upkeep and maintenance of maintaining your rental properties is too much of a burden, consider hiring a property management company.
If you have exhausted all your options to remedy the need to sell your home and you still feel it’s necessary, here are some tips on how you can sell quickly while still getting the best price for your home.
Common Reasons People Need To Sell Their Home Quickly
Everyone has different reasons for why they need to sell their home quickly. For some, life may be changing quickly and in order to keep up with the changes such as getting a new job, relocating in a short period of time may be necessary. For others, the unfortunate realities of life may negatively impact a family such as terminal illnesses, accidents and even death. Here are a few common scenarios I’ve encountered as an agent when helping families sell their homes quickly.
Foreclosure
Losing your job unexpectedly could mean you’re no longer able to afford this particular home. Even if your mortgage company has initiated the foreclosure process, you can still sell your home independently. But depending on how behind you are on payments, you may only have a month or two to get the job done before the house goes through the legal proceedings.
Bad Tenants
Bad tenants who don’t pay rent or abuse the property cast a bad light on tenants in general and put undue stress on the landlord. With the Ontario Landlord and Tenant Board seeing a surge in cases, the length of time it takes to get an eviction order could take anywhere between 8 months to a year. Many small landlords simply don’t have the funds to keep their investment afloat for this length of time and need to sell the property.
Inheritance & Estate Sale
It often makes no sense to hold onto a property you inherited, especially if you live far away or you can’t afford to maintain the property such as property taxes, outstanding mortgages, etc. When you add up the costs of maintenance, utilities, and property taxes, the sooner you can sell the home, the better.
If you’re next of kin with other siblings, depending on the will, the property is to be evenly dispersed amongst everyone. Without the liquid funds to pay the amount due to other siblings, if you wanted to own the house yourself, there may be no other option than to sell.
Gentrification
Gentrification is a scenario not often talked about by many as a reason for selling a home quickly, but it is an unfortunate reality that affects many people. As urban sprawl continues to spread out into surrounding neighbourhoods and cities, the demand for real estate and public services increases. With a growing population, municipalities need to increase taxes to support the funding of road maintenance, schools and parks.
Even if the house is completely paid off with no mortgage, property taxes, condominium fees and the general cost of living increases. For people living on a fixed income or savings for retirement, the cost of living and expenses with real estate may outpace the affordability of these families. In this situation, the family would likely need to sell their home and move further away from the growing metropolitan area to find a more affordable lifestyle.
New Job
Congratulations! If you found yourself a new job which requires you to work on-site, it might be impractical to commute, especially if your job is located elsewhere in Canada. You might make the sacrifice to commute three times a week and you may be granted the opportunity to work from home the other days, but ultimately your employer will ask you to be on-site full-time. As a seller, working with a REALTOR® with international connections can help you not only sell your property but get you in touch with a local REALTOR® in the area you’re moving to.
Divorce
Selling your house can help you get a fresh start after a divorce. In addition, until the home is sold, at least one party will need to pay the mortgage and keep up the maintenance of the property, which can cause additional tension and financial strain. As such, many people going through a divorce are looking for a fast way to sell their home and move on to their next chapter.
Unexpected Life Changes
The unfortunate realities of life may hit you harder than others such as a life-altering injury, deteriorating health or other reasons which would require you to leave your home. You may even need to sell your home to free up some funds to support these life-altering changes such as medical bills, legal fees and other expenses. In this case, the timeliness of selling your home is critical.
Issues With The House
Many of the war-time bungalows scattered across the suburbs of major metropolitan areas are reaching an age of 100 years old. These homes will begin to experience major deficiencies simply because of their age such as foundational issues, structural issues or old building practices which aren’t up to today’s codes such as knob and tube electrical wiring. These repairs can be costly and not be a viable option for many people. It might be best to sell the home as-is to a home developer who will tear the house down and build a new one.
How Can I Sell My House Quickly?
As with anything, there are strategies you can implement when you’re ready to sell and get it done quickly. By following the 10 tips below, you’ll be on track to selling your home faster without sacrificing the value of your home.
10 Tips To Selling Your Home Fast
1 - Pick The Right Time
When the time has come for you to decide to sell, seasonality affects how quickly your home will stay on the market. For example, if you are trying to sell your home in January, it might be on the market longer than in other months. Certain seasons are notorious for having fewer potential buyers searching. One of the slowest seasons is winter. Here are a few reasons why winter is the slowest season to sell your home.
- Budgeting
- Major Holidays
- Bad Weather – Tough To Move
Seasons aren’t the only element affecting the sale of your home. It even comes down to the time and day of the week you list your home. Properties are more likely to get more showings when listed on Thursday. Thursday is when most real estate agents book showing appointments for the upcoming weekend for their buyers. Having a fresh listing on this day will appear in front of more potential buyers and buyer agents compared to listing on a Sunday or Monday.
2 - Hire An Experienced REALTOR®
It might be tempting to skip the real estate agent to save on agent commission fees and attempt a for sale by owner, but you might be doing yourself a disservice. Experienced and professional real estate agents, such as Marco Pedri – Broker with Shoreline Realty Corp., Brokerage, have a proven selling process which have been tested and adjusted to meet the current demands of the market. A selling process is a structured plan outlining key milestones before the listing goes live right till the deal closes.
Additionally, most buyers work with a buyer’s agent to help them buy a home. A buyer’s agent typically starts their search using the local multiple listing service® which is a cooperative platform for selling agents to list the homes they have for sale. To get your home listed on a multiple listing service® system, you would have to have a non-exclusive listing agreement rather than an exclusive listing agreement in place with a selling agent. Without a selling agent, you’ll be missing out on getting your home viewed by other buying agents. If you’re looking for an experienced real estate agent, call Marco Pedri.
3 - Have The House Vacant If Possible
Having the home vacant allows for showings to take place at any time of the day with minimal notice. Based on Shoreline Realty Corp., Brokerage’s appointment desk, 1 in 5 showings are booked for the same day. This means that if you need to give 24-hour notice to the tenant or owner, you’re potentially missing out on 20% of traffic.
A vacant home also allows the potential buyer to get a better sense of the home and the space. A home that is still full of personal items such as family photos makes it psychologically more difficult for the buyer to envision themself living there.
4 - Invest In Professional Real Estate Photography
We’ve all heard the saying, “A picture is worth a thousand words.” and the same applies to real estate photography. In fact, 60% of buyers state they spend more time looking at the photos rather than reading the description. With most home purchases beginning with an online inquiry, professional real estate photography greatly impacts your home sale. In fact, homes with professional real estate photography sell on average 21 days faster.
First impressions are everything and before a buyer or buyer’s agent books an appointment to view the property in person, they will view the photos first to see if there are any deal-breakers such as the current shape of the home, the layout of the home and the neighbourhood.
5 - Invest In Staging
Staging is a great way to showcase how a room can be optimally used. A professional stager will carefully plan the layout of a room and how to properly furnish it so it shows well. This will help buyers picture themselves living in the space.
Staging also helps with photos as it provides scale to the room. What might seem like a small room in a photo due to the lack of anchoring objects, staging the room with furniture can help put it into a better perspective.
Staging also brings a sense of life into a room. If the buyer is purchasing to use the home for themselves, they want to be able to see the home is more than just four walls and a ceiling. They want to be able to picture themselves living in the space, growing a family in the space and entertaining.
6 - Don't Do Unnecessary Upgrades
Unnecessary repairs and upgrades take time away from the listing process. Not only do they take time, but they cost money which won’t necessarily provide a higher ROI. Some common unnecessary upgrades and repairs might include:
- Updating light fixtures
- Repairing driveway cracks
7 - Prepare Supporting Documents Ahead Of Time
Depending on the type of property you have, you can save time by preparing supporting documents ahead of time. To get updated documents, you might need to look in your own files or request the documents from an individual or corporation which is not always instant. Some documents you might want to have on hand before listing your home for sale are:
- Tax Bill
- Survey
- Floorplans
- Rental Contracts
- Status Certificate
- Major Repair Bills
- Pre-Home Inspection
- Property Financial Statement
8 - Consider A Cash Offer
A cash offer is typically an offer that is not conditional on financing. This means they either already have a commitment from a lender or have the liquid cash available to purchase the property. If an offer is still conditional on financing, it will take longer for the house to sell as the buyer will need to arrange financing.
Just because the offer is not conditional on financing, keep an eye out for other conditions which may extend the length of closing such as:
- Conditional upon an inspection
- Conditional upon the approval of building permits
- Conditional upon a review of the status certification
- Conditional upon the sale of the buyer’s current home
9 - Price The House Accurately
Understanding what your home is worth and pricing it accordingly will help it get sold faster. By pricing your home too low, you’ll receive offers below your expectations. Pricing the home too high will reduce the number of potential buyers and result in fewer offers.
To get a better understanding of the value of your home, I offer free home evaluations which use appraisal techniques such as historic sale price data, recent home sales, market trends and other market indicators all summarized in a comparative market analysis. A free home evaluation will help establish a benchmark of what your asking price should be set at.
10 - Use All Possible Marketing Techniques
There are plenty of marketing techniques available to help get a home sold fast.
Understandably, depending on the situation you’re finding yourself in, you might be hesitant to use these methods as it opens your private life to the general public. For example, some families might not want the neighbours to know they’re selling so they would opt to have no sign and not have the house listed for sale online with photos. Others might not want certain people entering the house for showings or for open houses.
By hiring an experienced real estate agent with a proven house selling process, you’ll be able to discuss the available marketing techniques available and which ones make the most sense to implement. Using as many marketing techniques will help get your home seen by more potential buyers leading to a quicker offer and a quicker sale of your home. It will also help get the best possible price for your home.
To Hire Or Not Hire A Real Estate Agent?
If selling your home or condo has been a passive thought on your mind, you might be tempted to consider a private, all-cash offer. You’ve probably seen those signs on the side of the road or taped to telephone poles claiming they buy homes as-is and for cash. Or, you might have received a “hand-written” letter in your mail from someone claiming the exact same thing. Here’s the unsettling truth behind many of those flyers and advertisements.
These are typically real estate wholesalers who are unlicensed individuals. They get your house under contract at a below market value and will sell the house or assign the contract (assignment sale) to a buyer at a marked-up price. The difference between the below-market price you agreed to and the price the wholesaler flipped it for is all profit to the wholesaler when in reality, that should be your money.
Many of these contracts are exploitative and only benefit the wholesaler. It allows them to list your home for sale so they’re able to find a buyer and at times, it allows them to back out of the deal if they can’t find a buyer.
By hiring a real estate agent, you’ll have someone who is working for you, not against you. You’ll be guided by a professional who knows the local real estate market, has years of training and is able to properly market your home and find a buyer, even if you want to sell the home as-is.
The first option might seem beneficial because you’re able to save on commission fees, but you’re losing out on the margin these wholesalers are flipping your property for. Wholesalers have been known to flip houses from anywhere between $25,000 to over $100,000. An incomparable amount to the cost of commission fees if you hired a real estate agent.
Should I Sell My House For Cash?
A common question asked which deserves its own section is, “Should I Sell My House For Cash?”. The honest answer is – it depends.
As much as I hate to say that it’s situational, this is the only answer that is accurate as it really depends on many factors such as the type of home, the current real estate market and the overall offer as a whole.
Let me explain.
For starters, let’s begin with the above example from the section, “To Hire Or Not To Hire A Real Estate Agent”. What seems to be a great offer of having someone buy your home as-is for cash with any closing you want may actually negatively impact your bottom line.
Secondly, consider the current real estate market. When a real estate market is highly competitive with lots of buyers and few sellers, buyers will start to drop conditions on their offers such as financing to make their offer more appealing. In reality, some of these individuals may not have any financing in place to begin with. This is a huge liability for all parties involved, especially if the buyer struggles to get financing after you accept the offer.
In the end, many of the uncertainties when it comes to selling your home quickly can be resolved by hiring an experienced real estate agent. Consider a REALTOR® like Marco Pedri – Broker with Shoreline Realty Corp., Brokerage who has a complete and proven selling process that is not only nimble to meet your timing needs but is still capable of obtaining the highest value for your home.
