How to Sell a Home Quickly

Tips For Getting Your Home Sold Fast

Do you need to sell your home quickly? Selling a home can be really stressful. For some folks, a house can become a financial burden for reasons out of their control. Life often gets in the way and creates problems. There could be any number of reasons, including a death in the family, divorce, loss of employment, and a myriad of other reasons.

When this happens, numerous people turn to try to get their home sold fast. To sell a house fast will take some forward planning. You don't want to be left with future regrets, which can easily happen under tremendous stress.

Let's take a look at what you can do to sell a house fast without making mistakes or having regrets.

Options For a Quick Sale

Homes are selling very fast, and in 2017 often only took 16 days, and then in 2019, up to an average of 28 days. In most areas of the country right now, homes are flying off the shelves. In many areas, there are bidding wars. Inventory in many states is at unprecedented lows, which is fueling a real estate boom. By year-end, the average days on market are more than likely going to be super low.

Typically, the low priced homes will sell faster, and the higher the house price is, usually the longer it takes to sell because fewer people have the money for a higher-priced property.

Who knows for sure how long the current seller's market will last. Real Estate markets can turn quickly. When a buyer's market does takeover, it becomes harder to sell a home quickly.

However, you can do some things that could enhance your chances of selling fast in any market (some will certainly be better than others).

There are the things for consideration:

• Price your home aggressively just under the market value.
• List your house with the leading real estate agent in your area.
• Try requesting a cash offer through a cash sale platform such as iBuyers. (These vary in different places).
• Look for a traditional real estate investor.
• Think about trying an auction of your home.
• Try selling as a for sale by owner.
• If you owe more than your house is worth, a short sale may be necessary.

Of course, there are pros and cons to these methods of selling a home fast, which we will dive into.

Price Your Home Aggressively

Folks, selling a home isn't rocket science. When you want any product sold quickly, including homes, you price them just under market value. In real estate sales, those homes that are marketed at a very fair price almost always sell fast.

If you are working with a real estate agent, explain the need to get your property under contract quickly. Give them your goals for getting an offer. Look at the comparable sales in your area and price your home just under the going rate.

List Your Home With a Leading Agent

Hiring one of the best real estate agent is just plain smart. Most real estate agents charge the same amount of commission. In a sea of real estate agents, why not pick one of the best? If it's not going to cost you more, it makes sense to seek out the creme of the crop. They are likely to do the best job.

The best recommendation in real estate sales is a track record of success. Excellent real estate agents will have a marketing plan in place that will ensure your home sells fast. You can expect exceptional photography, enhanced internet marketing, well-crafted marketing material, and someone who works around the clock pounding the pavement to find a buyer for your home.

Great real estate agents are skilled in sorting real buyers from time wasters. When you get offers on your home, they will be able to recommend who looks promising and who doesn't.

You can't underestimate the value of people with expert local knowledge who will have sold houses in your area before.

Cash Offers For an Instant Sale Through iBuyers

You may find yourself suddenly needing to move to another state either for work or family reasons, meaning that you will have to sell your house quickly. When you move, you will need money for your new business opportunity, and so to sell a house fast is part of your business plan.

You really don't have time to prepare your house for the market, as instant cash is a priority and an attractive option. If you have to take a slight price cut, you will make it up in the future. If you wait for the buyer to have a loan approved, it will take longer, possibly another 4 weeks, and you don't have that time available.

Often you may find an investor who always has cash available for a good buy. So there are platforms to use to identify cash buyers quickly. If your home is in good condition, there are what's known as iBuyers who will purchase your home.

You won't sell your home for as much money as you would selling your home in the traditional fashion, but it will be quick.

You really need to make a fully informed decision, so don't rush into choosing this method.

Selling to a Traditional Investor

There are upsides and downsides to selling to a real estate investor. If you want to sell your house fast and are not concerned about your bottom line, this would be a viable option. On the other hand, if you want to sell quickly but your return is also critical, this would not be the way to go.

Investors looking for properties to purchase will not pay anywhere near the market value of your home. You'll need to keep this under consideration.

Selling as a For Sale By Owner

You could contact some buyers agents in your area to see if they have cash, ready clients. It would not be a bad idea to contact your immediate neighbors as well, to see if they want to expand their holdings or know someone looking to buy.

Some owners like to go with a flat fee listing company to try and save money. You will more than likely still be paying a buyer's agent's fee and might not net as money in this scenario.

Taking Your House to Auction

If you take your house to auction, it can be risky, especially when there aren't many buyers. Set your minimum price that you are willing to sell at, and if there are a couple of bidders on the day, they may well push the price up a bit.

Once your property sells, it will take 4-6 weeks to settle and get the money, so really, this method is not that quick but does provide certainty.

Having an auction on-site will attract interest, and you may well come up with a buyer that has noticed the advertising campaign and shown up on the day. Unfortunately, not all properties are suitable for the auction process. You will need to research companies in your area that conduct auctions.

Once you have been in a home for more than 10 years, you should have enough equity to make an auction worthwhile.

How to Sell a House Fast Yourself

You can sell a house fast, but it will take a bit of planning. Selling really quickly means that cash offers are always the best but are often lower than waiting a bit longer for a buyer to get a loan to pay more.

If you sell the house yourself, you will avoid paying the real estate agent's commission, and this could be as much as 5-6% saving on the deal. Moving forward as a FSBO, you will need to understand the local laws and the documents involved.

When selling by owner, you will also need to price your home aggressively, so you will not "really" be saving a commission. With speed as a goal, you can't look for the long dollar. Buyers looking at FSBO's often are looking for a deal anyway.

Without an agent to guide you, selling for sale by owner often comes with unexpected problems. Sometimes things don't run smoothly, which is often the case when you are out of your element.

Should I Short Sale?

Some people hear "short sale" and think that means they can sell their home fast. Unfortunately, it is the exact opposite. Short sales take a ton of time to complete as the lender who holds your mortgage must approve the sale.

You can only short sell a property when you are underwater. So this option would only be available if you are in dire straights with paying your mortgage.

Final Thoughts on Selling a Home Fast

Once you have sold your house and realized the profit, you will know with certainty whether it was worth it. People always want to think they are getting a bargain, even in the housing market.

So the whole key to selling a house fast, maybe in how you present the property and the advertising. Ensure that you draw attention to any local attractions to appeal to as many buyers in your price range, and get them lining up to see your house!

Never underestimate the importance of pricing accurately and picking a top real estate agent. Hopefully, you have found these tips for selling a home quickly to be useful.