Before You Sell Your House Clarify These Top Five Doubts
If you are thinking it’s time to sell your house, then let’s look at the top doubts people have about selling their homes and how each of those doubts can be offloaded onto their Realtor®. Your Realtor® can ease your doubts. Your Realtor® will have solutions from experience. And your Realtor® has a large pool of professionals, buyers, and connections to help alleviate all those doubts.
One of the most common, frequent, and frustrating doubts people ask regards whether this exact moment is the optimum time to sell the house. Everybody wants to make the most profit they can on in-demand reality and rumors abound about this or that time is the most advantageous. So what is the truth? When is the best time to sell?
Want to sell your house? Here is the reality. . .
The truth is this: While you are free to sell your Bay Area home any time you choose, in terms of history as well as informed predictions, Spring and Summer are the best times. Home sales ebb and flow with the seasons. But there is no getting around the fact that Spring typically brings the most buyers because many people want to move during the warmer months when the kids are out of school.
If you want to maximize the money you make on your house, a study from ATTOM Data (the self-described curator of the nation’s premier property database and first property data provider of Data-as-a-Service) shows that selling in June, May, or July are your best bets. Homes sold in June make about 9.2% more than average, while those in May sell for 7.4% more. There’s also data that shows what day you list your home matters, too. According to Redfin, homes listed on Thursdays sell for more money and at a faster pace than those listed on other days of the week.
Will it take longer to sell my home? Not likely, no. But “long” is relative, isn’t it? The average time it takes to sell a house in California in 2021 is 78 days — 43 days to get an offer and an additional 35 days to close. More specifically, according to Norada, most homes in Santa Clara County are sold within eight days. San Francisco itself takes an average of thirty-five days.
Here is the real truth of what it takes to sell your house:
The general industry standard for real estate is a 30-day close; so even if you find a buyer immediately, you can expect an additional month for the full closing process.
When you receive an offer on your home, it’s customary to respond immediately, and in fact, most offers will come with an expiration date of 1 to 3 days. The more promptly you respond, the faster the sale process will go.
When you accept an offer, the buyer will typically have 5 to 10 days to complete a home inspection. If the buyer offers to waive the home inspection, this can speed up the closing process, but it only happens in rare cases. If the buyer presents you with an amended home offer after the inspection is complete, you have the right to counter. Just note that any negotiations can slow down the closing process.
Should you make repairs before selling your home?
It makes sense, right? The less the buyer has to fix, the more attractive your home will be. That is not necessarily true because you do not always know what is in the buyer’s mind, although it would be helpful if you did. There are, however, a few things that are cost-effective when it comes to repairs.
All About Curb Appeal:
Yes, you should repair the garage door and the grand entrance. You are, of course, required by law to disclose any structural damage when selling a home. In the latter case, unless you wish to sell the home to an investment buyer, good advice would be to fix the problem yourself.
Lighting: Dark and shadowy homes seem drab and small, so go for updated light fixtures, more lamps, and the brightest bulbs. Buyers also like energy-efficient lighting. With the thought of lighting appeal in mind, let in more light by cleaning windows, opening curtains and shades, and illuminating dark corners with lamps before showing the home to potential buyers.
Windows: Right up there with lighting comes windows, one of the most undervalued, value-adding improvements. Good windows can even improve a homeowner’s quality of life by keeping heat in and cold out, and they dampen sound. They can add character and style, and certainly allow more natural light.
What if you’re trying but you can’t sell your house?
That seems hard to imagine, doesn’t it? Homes in the Bay Area always sell, right?
Yes, most of the time they do and they tend to sell fast and far above the asking price. So what seems to be the problem?
If you have waited beyond what you feel is a reasonable period of time and still your house remains unsold, you should evaluate what might be the cause or causes of the problem.
Here are some of the likely reasons:
- The home needs repairs or some projects begun remain unfinished
- The home lacks curb appeal, the outside of the house may need washed and spruce things up with plants and fresh flowers
- The home appears cluttered or you may need to hire a cleaning crew
- The interior colors are turning people off or your furniture may need rearranging
- Your personal items may need to be hidden or your pets (and their odors) may be frightening
- Your wallpaper may lack appeal and your bathroom might benefit from some luxurious upleveling
Do you need a Realtor® to sell your house?
A Realtor® can guide you in your home sale. They can list the home, coordinate photography and showings, market the property, and walk you through to closing.
They’ll also have access to local market data that can help you price and market your home appropriately. Since real estate commissions are not officially regulated, they are negotiable. It’s up to the seller and their listing agent to settle on a fair fee. That makes it important for sellers to know what they’re getting in return for the agent’s commission.
This commission pays for the Realtor®’s time, expertise and valued advice. The professional Realtor® will consult, negotiate and oversee the transaction. The Realtor® will work with you to develop a strategy and then implement that strategy.
As you vet your prospective Realtor®, here are some questions you may consider asking:
How long have you been a Realtor®?
In which neighborhoods do you specialize?
What is your usual marketing strategy?
What is your success rate?
There are, of course, many other things you will want to discuss, but these are a great way to open the door.
In conclusion on if it’s time to sell your house:
In conclusion, doubts are not only to be expected, they are a sign that you as the seller are motivated and thoughtful. The overall most effective way of disarming your concerns is to have a meaningful conversation with your prospective Realtor®.