How to Save Money When Selling Your House
Selling your home helps put cash in your pocket, but the process involved can be quite taxing. While it is one of the most significant financial transactions of your life, it comes with some hefty expenses, which include paying closing costs and the commission of the real estate agent. While several fees and costs cannot be avoided, planning ahead and using some smart negotiating techniques will help you keep your overall expenses down and get you bigger profits from your home sale.
Here are some important takeaways:
- Knowing how much your home is worth can help you save money when selling your property.
- Hiring a real estate agent can help you save money when selling your home.
- Listing your home at the right price can help sell your house quickly on the market.
- Although you may need to make certain investments to prepare your home for the market, the return far outweighs the expense.
Effective Ways to Save Money on Your Home Sale
While everybody wants to maximize their home sale, selling a house can be quite costly, largely because you need to pay commission costs and advertising. Surprisingly enough, selling your house with the help of a real estate agent is the more cost-effective way compared to selling your property by yourself.
Here are some tips for selling your home quickly and saving money:
- Do DIY Upgrades and Repair
Installing a new door or window, applying fresh paint, refinishing kitchen cabinets, and updating lighting fixtures are minor home improvements that help boost the visual appeal of your home and raise market value at a minimal cost.
While labour can be costly, you can save hundreds of dollars if you take it upon yourself to update or repair your home, especially in areas that do not require much expertise. Putting in some elbow grease on small DIY home improvement projects not only allows you to save money but also raises the possibility of getting the best resale value of your property.
- Install Smart Home Technology
Smartphone-controlled carbon monoxide detectors, home security systems, and foyer lights are features that give your property a wow factor and make it stand out from the many real estate homes for sale on the market.
These affordable features only cost a few hundred dollars and can tout your property as a state-of-the-art, smart home, which is a wise selling proposition to attract more potential buyers.
- Keep an Eye on Your Closing Date
Move into your new home as close to the closing date on your old house as possible so you don’t have to pay bills for both homes at the same time. This is an understandable oversight, albeit a costly one, since many buyers and sellers tend to forget about the moving costs. Take note that if you move into your new home a couple of months before turning over the key on your old one, you need to pay twice for home insurance, utility bills, and property taxes for 2 months.
- Do Not Offer Buyers More Than Needed
In the buyer’s market, some sellers offer things, such as prepaid home warranty, to sweeten the deal and attract more potential buyers. However, in the seller’s market, you do not need to offer your buyers more than needed as you want to save as much money as possible.
- Work With a Trusted Local Realtor
If you want to sell your home quickly and at a competitive price in Oshawa, hire an experienced real estate agent who is familiar with the area and knows how to price and market your home. While they require a commission for their services, their knowledge and skill gives you the opportunity to save money and allow you to avoid making extra mortgage payments. Among the benefits of using a realtor to sell your home is you can take advantage of their negotiating skills to talk someone into buying your property at a much higher price.
Other reasons why you should use a realtor to sell your home:
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- Expertise in home selling
- In-depth working knowledge of the real estate market in your area
- Correct pricing for your property
- Knowledge of the latest techniques in digital marketing and real estate platforms to increase the visibility and exposure of your home
- Access to a large network of buyers
- Professional experience in handling paperwork
- Guaranteed to do all the legwork to get your home sold fast
When looking for the top realtor in Oshawa, take time to get to know potential candidates by asking these key stats:
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- Median Day on Market (DOM) of Listings: This often indicates the average days of the agent’s listings on the market before they sell. The longer your property stays on the market, the more likely its price will decrease. To assess the expertise of the agents, research your area’s median DOM to compare their results.
- Total Annual Transactions: This will show the experience of an agent to sell properties. To find out about their selling expertise, compare the number of transactions that represent their sellers versus their buyers.
- List-to-Sale Ratio on Sold Homes: This figure will show you how well an agent prices homes and negotiates sales. You can obtain the list-to-sale ratio by dividing the sale price of your home by its list price. For instance, if the agent sold your home for $740,000 and was listed for $750,000, its list-to-sale ratio is 98%. As a seller, you want the rate to be near or above 100%. If the agent has a list-to-sale ratio of above 100%, it only shows that they can sell homes above their list price.
- Negotiate Your Agent’s Commission
Everything is negotiable in the world of real estate, even your realtor’s commission. You will get some wiggle room on commission in a seller’s market when your property sells for its list price (or above) with less work from the agent. Less work and time invested by your agent in selling your home means they are more likely to agree to a lesser commission. Better yet, work with a low commission real estate agent in Oshawa to save thousands in profits from your home sale.
- Make Wise Seller Concessions
When selling your property, some buyers will ask for help for their closing costs through “seller concessions” or the amount that a seller pays towards the buyer’s closing costs, which include:
- Legal cost
- Mortgage or discount points
- Loan origination fees
- Inspection fees
- Property tax and title insurance
- Recording costs
Instead of paying the seller concession from your pocket, you or the realtor can negotiate a slightly higher price for your home to cover these costs. For instance, if your home is on the market for $750,000, but the buyer requires $10,000 to make the sale work, then your final selling price will be $755,000. However, if you are going to use this strategy, be sure to have your property appraised for a higher value. Also, limit the amount of your concession based on the buyer’s mortgage type.
JamesJenn Real Estate is a trusted real estate agent that will help you sell your home fast while aiming to make you feel satisfied with your home sale. If you want to learn more about my low commission real estate services, call now at (647) 500-0441.