If you have a home you need to sell right away, there a re
a few ways to go about doing so. Below is a list of several
ideas that can help you sell you home quickly along with the
positives and negatives of each way.
1) List your home with a real estate agent- The positive
side to this choice is you are trying to get full price for
your house and have a chance at doing just that. The negatives
could make up a very long list, so I will just name a few.
First, you will have to pay a commission, usually 6% to the
agent. This is a fee that in my opinion is rarely justified.
Most real estate agents will simply put your house on the
Multiple Listing Service and let it sit until another agent
brings a buyer. This is good for them because the agents are
making thousands of dollars for doing next to nothing, but bad
for you because you are paying them. The next negative is, as
you may already know, real estate agents are notorious for
overpromising and underdelivering. That is not to say that
every agent will overpromise ad underdeliver, but the chances
of that happening are high. It is very hard to know if this is
what is happening until its to late. Once you sign the
contract to list your home with a real estate agent, you can
expect to have to pay them thousands of dollars when it sells,
whether they find the buyer or you find the buyer. The third
negative may actually be the most important to you, which is
youre probably much less likely to get a quick sale on your
home if you use an agent. See, agents get a percentage of your
home sales price. The higher that amount, the more they make.
A real estate agent is usually there to get the highest price
because that way he gets paid the most. However, if you really
need to sell fast this is a disadvantage because you can
probably expect your house to sit for several months or longer
before selling.
2) Stick a For Sale By Owner sign in the yard- The positive
to this is that you stand a chance to end up putting more
money in your pocket from the sale of the house than you even
do with the real estate agent. The negative is that you can
expect it to take even longer than it would if you used an
agent. You will be dealing with unqualified buyers wasting
your time tromping through your house who have probably never
bought a home before and cant get financing to do it now even
if they wanted to. Using the FSBO (for sale by owner) is O.K.
if you are in a very hot market, can afford to wait and know
how to screen your potential buyers. However, if you dont know
how to thoroughly screen your buyers, you are setting yourslef
up for a whole lot of headaches and frustration.
3) Sell to a real estate investor or investment company-
There are several positives to this method, but
a few negatives to pay close attention to as well.
First the positives. When selling to an investment
company you may get the benefit of a fast sale on
your home with no contingencies for financing and
the home can be left in as-is condition. What this
means to you is the buyer has all cash so he doesnt
have to wait 30 + days to wait for a decision from
the bank to say whether or not he can qualify for
a loan. Also, when dealing with an investment company
you can expect to sell your home as-is with no repairs
made. In other words, these companies will by an
ugly house or yucky house just as quickly as a pretty
house. The negative side to this route is that you
will not usually get full market value for your
house. Its similar to trading in your car for a
new one. You don't deal with the headaches of selling
that car on your own, but youre going to get less
money for it too. Also, when you deal with investors
make sure you are dealing with a reputable, established
company. You really have to watch out for the mom
and pop type establishments. Late night real estate
gurus combined with the recent sizzling red hot
real estate market have made a ton of people think
they can call themselves real estate investors and
runout and get rich quick. These "seminar graduates"
end up wasting your time because they really arent
cash buyers and dont know what they are doing. When
the time comes, they wont be able to buy your home.
When everything is said and done, the decision is up to you
on which route to take. If time is of the essence, and you
NEED to sell as opposed to want to sell, then an established
real estate investment company is probably the way to go. If
time is on your side, try the agent or FSBO method. If you
decide you NEED to sell in days, not months you can get help
at http://www.luckybuysyuckyhouses.com There you will find a
well established, reputable company to make you a fair offer
on your house.