Finance
February 2, 2024
Home sales are often complicated. Even if you do your due diligence, there may be a few things that you think are true that aren’t quite what you thought. Here are ten myths about selling your home that a lot of people have.
1. The Only Right Way of Selling Your Home is With a Real Estate Agent
There are several ways of selling your home these days including traditionally with a real estate agent. Today’s technology means that there are several options including instant offer services, our Sell & Stay program, and FSBO with easier access to the resources you need through the internet.
2. You Have to Upgrade to Sell Your Home
People sometimes assume that they’ll need to upgrade the dated areas in their home to sell it, but that’s not necessarily the case. Plenty of buyers and programs will buy your home as-is, and the value doesn’t necessarily need to suffer too much for it.
3. You Want a New Home So Selling This Be Emotionally Easy
The prospect of leaving even a home that you absolutely hate isn’t always easy. There are a lot of emotional ties to factor into the equation. Sometimes leaving your home can be emotionally taxing, even if you’re truly ready to move on. If you’re not really ready, it can make leaving heart-wrenching.
4. Listing a Home Is Only a Realtor’s Job
While an agent’s job is to list the home for sale, there’s a lot more to it than that. You may need to gather pertinent paperwork, do small repairs, make sure your home is clean, and any number of other tasks that come up. When it comes time to show your home, you’ll have to find another place to be, which can be tricky with kids and pets.
5. You Know How Much Your Home is Worth
Lots of people assume they know how much their home is worth. They paid for it, and surely it has increased in value, right? Not always.
6. You Won’t Need to Negotiate Since the Market Is Hot
Just because a home is a hot commodity doesn’t mean that a seller won’t have to negotiate some. Buyers may want you to accept a specific financing offer, or they may want to keep the buffet. There’s often still negotiation to be carried out, even when getting an offer isn’t a problem.
7. The Market Is Moving Quickly and That Means You’ll Sell Your Home Quick
The hot market doesn’t necessarily mean that selling your home will happen in a snap. Sometimes a home just doesn’t have what sellers in the area are looking for and it takes a while to get a decent offer.
8. Listing As-Is Means No Work for You
If you list your home as-is to make it less of a hassle, you may be sorely disappointed. There are still things that may need to be done for the home to comply with many buyers’ financing, and many agents will insist that you take time to make the best of the home you have by cleaning and decluttering. When selling your home, be sure to make sure you are setting yourself up for success.
9. You Can Take Any Repairs That Need to Be Done off the Price When Selling Your Home Conventionally
As we talked about in #8, there are some things that may need to be done so that your home can be financed, and projects left undone can be a real turn-off for potential buyers, as well.
10. You Must Move Out After Selling Your Home
It seems obvious, right? If you are selling your home, whether you’re doing it because you want to or because you must for financial reasons, you’ve got to move out. Wrong! With Sell & Stay, you can have your cake (or equity) and eat it, too.
