Selling a house is one of the most stressful tasks a person can take on, even in the best of circumstances. Toss in other stressful life events that force the need to sell a house fast, and getting a house sold can become overwhelming. Life transitions such as a new job, a sudden illness, divorce, or any number of unexpected crises will increase the pressure to sell quickly and make a homeowner’s situation even more stressful. If you need to sell your house quickly, you’re probably wondering what options are out there and how to make the best decisions possible to accommodate both your current situation and your future goals. Below we’ll take a look at some ways to sell a house, and we’ll cover how to sell your house fast.
Find a real estate agent
Most sellers pick up the phone and call a real estate agent to help with a traditional home sale, and for good reason. Agents are educated in all the ins and outs of the complicated process of selling a house on the MLS. From complex contracts, disclosures, and other documents to coordinating the listing language, showings, and communicating with the attorneys, an agent is helpful in a traditional home sale. When you use an agent, the speed at which your house sells still depends largely on the local market, including how many other homes are for sale and price points. Selling with an experienced agent may get you a higher price, however keep in mind there is a cost to selling a house in a traditional home sale. Preparing a house for photos and showings, making repairs and upgrades, giving credits to the buyer for inspection items, and paying closing costs and commissions can add up to thousands – or even tens of thousands of dollars!
For Sale By Owner
Maybe you want to sell your house to a traditional retail buyer, however you feel pretty confident you can manage the process yourself. Besides, avoiding paying an agent’s commission means you’ll save about 5-6% of the sale price and in a seller’s market you probably won’t have trouble finding a buyer. What you might not realize is that if you don’t have an agent, you are still liable for the transaction process and the upholding the contract and disclosures. You’re also responsible for the wording of the listing and how the property is representing in any marketing. For sale by owner might work best if you are selling your house to someone you know already, like a family member or a neighbor. When you’re deciding how to sell you house fast, it may seem as though this type of sale should go more quickly than using an agent. It’s important to remember you’ll still need at least one attorney and a title company to put together all the documents for a legally binding sale. In short, selling your house FSBO doesn’t guarantee it will close more quickly than a sale using agents, especially if the property has any liens or other issues with the title.
Short Sale
The name “short sale” doesn’t actually refer to the amount of time it takes to sell. If you’re wondering how to sell your house fast because you can no longer afford mortgage payments, you might think this is the way to go. Contrary to its name, a short sale means the lender has agreed to take less than the remaining mortgage amount. Some short sales can last a few months, and some can take over a year! Even after the bank agrees on an amount, it can still be very complicated to finally get to closing. Keep in mind that lenders aren’t obligated to agree to a short sale, even if technically you’re eligible because you’re behind on the mortgage and facing foreclosure. If you’re wondering how to sell your house fast, this is simply one option that won’t work.
An Auction Sale
There are many benefits to auctioning a house. You can sell relatively quickly, it drastically shortens any negotiations, reduces showings and open houses, and since buyers who use an auction system need funds available right away, there’s no waiting on underwriting. You’ll be able to pick the date of the auction, although dates may not be available immediately since marketing a house for auction still uses a listing. Even though you can set a minimum bid, there is also limited control over what the outcome of the final sales price. Buyers could bid up the price or you might be stuck with the minimum bid, there’s no way to know for sure. You will also need to pay a fee to the company that handled the auction. If you’re exploring how to sell your house fast and you’re researching an auction sale, remember to take into consideration the costs associated with an auction sale.
Accept Cash Offers
Maybe you’ve decided that you don’t have time or money to put into preparing a house for showings, whether it’s for a traditional sale, for sale by owner, or an auction listing. Maybe you either can’t afford the daily costs of owning your house any longer, or don’t want to keep paying for it and you need to get out from under it as soon as absolutely possible. If you’re wondering how to sell your house fast, we can help! Sellers who choose to sell their house off-market directly to a cash home buyer skip all the repairs and upgrades, cleaning, photos, showings, staging, agents and retail buyers. Sellers who do the math on what it will cost to sell a house in a traditional sale and need to sell quickly often find it doesn’t make sense to go through all the headaches involved by listing a house when the net financial profit isn’t that much different.
Not only does a seller working directly with a cash homebuyer avoid the high costs of listing a house, but also avoid waiting while a buyer’s lender underwrites the loan. This alone saves about 45 days of holding costs and headaches. A traditional buyer using financing will require an appraisal and may even require additional inspections, depending on the loan product. Usually additional inspections mean additional work for the seller to do before the lender will approve the loan. Sometimes a buyer’s loan doesn’t end up bring approved at all, forcing the seller to look for another more qualified buyer. These situations almost always end up costing you, the seller, more time, more hassle, and more money in the end.
When you’re faced with a difficult life event and you need to sell your house fast, give Kendall Partners a call. As an experienced cash home buyer in the Chicagoland area, we can work with you to sell your house fast, as-is, and for a fair price. You won’t need to make repairs or upgrades, and you won’t even have to clean the house out – just take what contents you want and leave the rest for us to handle. Don’t waste time waiting for potential buyers to run across your listing. Don’t wait for showings, offers, complicated contracted and disclosures. Don’t wait for a buyer’s lender to take 45 days to approve the loan…. you can sell your house in as little as 10 business days, AND we pay your standard closing costs.
We understand that selling a house when you need to sell quickly is extremely stressful. The good news is you have the choice to sell your house directly to a cash home buyer like Kendall Partners. Learn how to sell your house fast! If you’re ready to talk with one of our friendly team members about your unique situation, give us a call today at (630) 389-8232 or submit your information below and we’ll call you shortly. We treat each of our sellers with respect and compassion and we use a simple on-page contract, making the process as straightforward and hassle-free as possible. Check out our 5 star Google reviews and see what satisfied sellers are saying about Kendall Partners!