Five Costs Associated With Selling Your Home
Selling your home, the traditional way involves listing your house with an agent or agency. Most are going to want you to make your house as presentable as possible (rightfully so, the nicest houses sell first). While making your house “sell ready” may make the house list for more, the costs incurred making the house ready to sell may not be worth it. Here are five major costs you should be know about before you list it if you choose to sell your house in the traditional way.
Home Repairs
When selling your home, some repairs will be required to get the price your expecting or hoping for. These repairs can add up fast. Repainting your house, for example, can cost thousands. If your house needs major repairs, like rotted wood or roof replacement, the costs can grow exponentially. Now that you have the house listed and an offer is eventually made, your potential buyer will have an inspection done. Unfortunately, inspectors ALWAYS find something. No matter how small, they will find an issue (they have to justify their fee). Now it’s time to negotiate with the buyer and agents on the repairs you are and are not willing to fix. They may request that you credit them for some of the repairs or fix them before the property closes. All this could cost more money up front.
Professional Cleaning Service
As stated before, you’ll want to put your best foot (house) forward. Unless you are a professional house cleaner, you may require the services of a professional cleaning crew to make your house look it’s best. Or maybe you need to hire people to come in and rejuvenate stained hardwood floors. Even if you aren’t in a situation where you need to hire a professional cleaning company, you will still have to tend to these things yourself which requires your time. That in of itself is very valuable. Just in these two items, have you reached five figures yet? Wait there’s more…
Marketing and Advertising Fees
The level of marketing provided by a real estate agent depends on the number of MLS listings they are members of and how good they are at marketing. These fees are usually covered by the agent, but if you hire a flat rate agent, then you could be covering the cost of marketing yourself. Listing sites, signage, and print materials could have you looking at many expenses you hadn’t planned for.
Agent Commissions
In most cases, working with a good real estate agent can be great. Paying the standard 6% commission fee is well worth the price of selling your house fast. However, paying this amount for an agent that doesn’t represent you the right way can make selling your house a pain. Six percent of your final sale price can be a large sum of money. Make sure your agent will be able to get you enough money for this high cost to make sense. Run the number before signing a listing agreement with a real estate agent. For some homeowners, a direct house buyer can be a better choice for the sale of your unwanted house.
High Closing Costs
You can negotiate this cost with your buyer. Closing costs of $150- 200,000 houses can reach $7-10,000. Closing costs can leave you pulling out your checkbook at the closing table. Things like recording fees, settlement fees, title search, surveys, and pro-rated taxes are all paid at the closing table. If you have to pay at the closing table to sell your house, look for other options. Many of these costs can be eliminated by working with Real Estate Problem Solver.