Selling your house can be a profitable endeavor. After making the necessary improvements and getting the property appraised, your expected profit will go down if you need to pay a commission to the realtor out of the selling price.
The good news is that you have a choice not to hire an agent at all. There are other options available if you want to sell your home but don’t want to pay a service commission. Keep reading to find out your options.
1. Companies That Buy Homes
Are you hoping for a fast house sale? You don’t even have to put your house up for sale in the traditional way and spend weeks or months waiting for a buyer to make a reasonable offer. Instead, you can call companies that may be interested in buying your property right away. Homebuying companies will purchase your home as-is, whether you’ve done renovations or not. However, you may want to improve first, as they will offer an amount lower than the market value.
Provide information about your property, and the company will make an offer. You have the choice to think about the offer and accept it or not; there are no obligations. The benefit of home buying companies is that they understand urgency if you need the money soon. They will only take action if you permit them.
There are two types of house-buying companies:
- Online companies that will take time to view your home wherever you are in the United States
- Real estate companies in your area that invest in local communities
How are such companies beneficial? While they won’t list your home as agents do, they pay in cash, and closing can take only days, depending on your decision. They make the improvements and market the homes themselves. If you need quick cash to pay debts, or if you want to relocate as soon as possible, contacting a home buying company might be the right course of action for you.
2. For Sale By Owner (FSBO)
FSBO is exactly what is – improvements and marketing fall under your responsibility alone. If you have the capacity to deal with interested buyers and don’t have a strict timeline, FSBO might benefit you. In-demand homes on the market will typically sell faster, so it’s a good idea to find if your home falls under that category.
If you are confident in selling your property on your own, you must know the real estate market and which professionals can help you, since selling property also comes with legal considerations. There are a few steps to take if you want to make it on your own:
- Analyze the market and set a price on your home. Prepare creatives for an enticing listing with a detailed description of your home and clear pictures of the property’s main rooms and features. Add a precise floor plan to give potential buyers a virtual view of the home.
- Clean and organize your home. It doesn’t have to cost much money if you’ve taken care of your home as much as you could. There are many simple ways to improve your home. If you have the funds, use them to make improvements and repairs on your property, such as fixing tiles or floorboards, adding a fresh coat of paint or wallpaper, changing light fixtures, and so on. Check out the latest interior design trends and see where you can apply them to your home.
- Market your house by putting up the listings and the photos you prepared. Print ads and flyers to let people know about your property. Make sure to include methods on how potential buyers can contact you.
- Set aside time to browse through text messages, calls, and emails of interested buyers. Arrange a schedule for showing your home and make sure that everything is ready before that day.
- Once you’re able to settle on a buyer, prepare the sales contract and negotiate repairs if the buyer finds something, they wish to have fixed.
- Settle on a closing date when you and the buyer are both free.
3. Online Brokerage Listings And MLS
You may be willing to pay a fee, but not the 6% charged by real estate agents. In this case, you can search out brokerage listing platforms online to help you look for property buyers. It used to be that only agents could help determine the market value of your property. But times have changed, and property owners now have the same access to property information to determine their homes’ market value.
Tech brokers use software for property owners to find interested buyers. These brokerages only ask for $5,000 at closing, and homeowners save thousands of dollars in commission.
Another option is to look for discount agents who will charge you as low as 1% on your home’s closing deal. They are also known as MLS-only agents as they offer a service called multiple listing service. MLS is a database of useful real estate information on properties for sale. It is the go-to of various agents who aim to help clients buy and sell properties. The listings include the dimensions of the property, open houses, and more. MLS are regional because the market covers specific locations. Nevertheless, they all adhere to the National Association of Realtors guidelines.
You can find them as features in some of the best real estate apps. Some of these apps are free to download and browse through. Not only can you sell your home, but you can also find commercial properties on the market, auction schedules, as well as local vendors and their ratings. You may even find design ideas from some of the apps that can help you determine real estate trends that sell.
In Conclusion
Real estate agents are good at selling properties because of their knowledge and connections. They have the ability to find the right buyers and appropriate offers. However, if you want to make some extra cash on your property – particularly if you live in a high-demand area – it’s worth looking into alternative options. Be aware that the responsibility for all the usual real estate agent tasks will fall to you if you go it alone. If you want a quick sale without renovating, a home buying company may also be considered.
