What Ways Can I Save Money When Selling My House?

Apr 25
18:37

2014

Melissa Gifford

Melissa Gifford

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If you are going to start the process you will find that selling your home can be very complicated. Even if you are using a real estate agent there are still going to be a lot of little things that you will have to decide, and depending on the local real estate market, there will also be a lot of time dedicated to selling. In the process there are some choices that are best to make if you want your home to sell quickly.

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Selling your home can be a complicated process. Even with the help of a real estate agent,What Ways Can I Save Money When Selling My House? Articles there are a lot of small decisions to make and the home sale process can take a lot of time depending upon your local real estate market. However, there are some choices that are better than others that can make your home sell faster and allow you to save money doing so. This article is about what the smart choices that you can make as a home owner and what to consider so that the decision is a right one for you.

Can you cover the bottom line?

If you don't have a specific timeline to sell your home, consider doing a cost analysis first to determine whether or not now is the best time to sell your house. You can do this either yourself or have a home appraiser do the cost analysis for you. If you are doing this on your own, consider the local real estate market in the past 6 months. What have comparable homes in your area sold for and what are similar current homes selling for now? Sometimes a real estate agent may give you a complimentary estimation in the hopes of receiving your business. From this estimation subtract six to nine percent off the price to account for the real estate commission fee and the closing costs of the home. What you have afterwards for a good condition home is your bottom line. Will this cost completely cover the expenses of your mortgage? Will you still be receiving a fat profit or will you have to tread carefully to break even? If you have repairs that need to be completed, your profit margin will also be lower to account for the cost of repairs or the addition of a buyer credit.

Stage for Success

The process of staging a home does not mean that you are going to have to do any fancy decorating. Staging is the real estate term that denotes the cleaning and decorating that you can do in order to show off your home in the best possible light to any home buyers. Staging includes both cleaning and decluttering so you are able to show off how spacious your home, and its rooms, are. You will want to put away and personal items and knick-knacks to help make your home more organized. Try to reuse your existing furniture to make sure that each room has a clear purpose, and that it is functional. Even if the buyer is not going to use the space the same way it will help them to see that each square foot has a functional and usable reason for being there. Think about why you bought the home initially and try to accent that feature so it stands out. As an example if you have a peaceful backyard put a hammock in the back. This is also when you will do things like steam cleaning the carpets, replacing lighting and fixtures for the kitchen and bathroom, or adding some color to the yard to up the curb appeal. If you are trying to save money doing an upgrade is not always require to get a good return on your investment, and sometimes it might not even be the best thing to accomplish that.

Professional Photographer

More than ever, people are shopping for homes online before they ever step foot into your neighborhood. Thus, it pays to have a good online listing, and photographs are what differentiate similar listings from each other. A professional photographer can show off the hard work you have done prepping and staging your home and make it come to life for buyers who are seeing the home from their bedroom computers.