Real Estate Information
Home Find a topic Links Guest Book
Welcome

Selling a House is Easy


The thought of selling a house strikes fear into most people. The contracts, the legalese, the exorbitant costs - they all conspire to make the experience unpleasant at best, and a nightmare at worst. It doesn't have to be that way, though.

Let's take a look at three different scenarios for selling the same house. We'll assume an average house in an average town in America, whose market value has been established at $150,000.

Scenario 1: A Traditional Home Sell

If the value of the home is $150,000, a realtor will often suggest a list price of $149,900 - and rightfully so. Although you lose $100 before the house ever goes on the market, studies show that buyers actually see a difference in the two prices much greater than $100, so the ultimate benefit outweighs the initial loss.

Statistics show that the average home sells for 90 to 95% of the asking price, so let's suppose you accept an offer of 93% - or $139,400. That's not bad, but it's not what you actually walk away from closing with. There are several other costs that figure in.

The realtor, on average, will take a 6% commission. That reduces your price by $8,360 to $131,040. The average seller contribution to the buyer's closing costs is 3%, so your final amount is reduced by another $4,182 to $126,858. Add in $1,000 or so in realtor-recommended upgrades to make the house show better, and your ultimate take is down to $125,858.

The other factor is how long it takes to sell the home. After finding and interviewing realtors, going through the listing appointment and getting the home into the Multiple Listing Service (MLS), your first offer usually will not come in until more than 30 days from the point at which you decided to sell. And from the point that the offer is accepted, it then often takes 60 days or more for the sale to close.

So an average home in an average American town will take more than 90 days to sell, and the homeowner will walk away from closing with just 84% of the home's actual value.

Scenario 2: Using a Discount Realtor

A home selling method increasing in prominence across the U.S. over the past few years has been the use of a discount realtor. These services take a much smaller commission, allowing you to pocket anywhere from 2 to 5% more of your initial asking price - as much as $7,500 for the average house in our example.

The downside of discount realtors is that they often provide services much more limited than a full-service realtor, and while your home does get listed in the MLS, it's frequently not shown by other realtors specifically because it was listed through a discount realtor. In fact, the Wall Street Journal reported in May 2005, that U.S. antitrust regulators are preparing to file suit against the National Association of Realtors for practices they believe are intended to stifle Internet-based rivals and discounters.

So until those practices cease, selling a house through a discount realtor, while cost-effective, may lead to a time-to-sell much longer than the 90 days under a traditional realtor - still a good route if you don't need to sell right away.

Scenario 3: Selling to a Professional Home Buyer

Another home selling method that is growing in popularity is selling the home to a professional home buyer or real estate investor. These individuals will buy a home for 80 to 90% of its market value and can usually close in 10 days or less. It's free to get an offer from a home buyer, and there's no obligation.

Under this scenario, you could easily walk away from closing with more than you would under a traditional scenario and do it in less than two weeks. Additionally, you set the timetable for closing. If you need to sell the house in two months instead of two weeks, the home buyer works on your schedule, instead of the other way around.

The downside of going through a home buyer is the risk of working with someone unscrupulous who doesn't mind taking advantage of you. There are any number of ways to get ripped off and be left with no home and no cash - or, worse yet, no home, no cash, and a mountain of debt. To prevent that, be sure to read "We Buy Houses" Scams - How to Spot Them and How to Avoid Them.

So going through a home buyer, the average home in our example could sell for just as much as through traditional methods, but sell in just 10 days instead of 90 days or more.

Conclusion

These scenarios all assume an average house in an average American town, so your actual experience could vary significantly. Homeowners in red-hot real estate markets like areas of California and Florida, for example, frequently receive offers matching, or even exceeding, their asking price.

So it's imperative to review all your options before you sell. Non-traditional methods are gaining in prominence because they're a very viable, and often better, alternative to going through a traditional realtor. They deserve a good look the next time you decide to sell a house.

Duane LeGate is president of House Buyer Network, one of America's largest networks of home buyers. Since 2002, they have helped more than 45,000 families and individuals who needed to sell a property fast-processing more than $7.5 billion in property during that time.


MORE RESOURCES:

Real estate bust: Toledo wins at Big House
San Francisco Chronicle,  USA - 7 hours ago
AP Michigan's KC Lopata missed a 26-yard field goal with 4 seconds left, giving the Rockets a 13-10 win over the once-mighty Wolverines in Ann Arbor, Mich. ...


Bushnell looks at life and real estate in the Village
eTaiwan News, Taiwan - 22 hours ago
The "Sex and the City" author turns her trenchant wit and eye for social folly to real estate with "One Fifth Avenue", which focuses on characters ...


Real-estate agents, mortgage brokers hurting
Bolingbrook Sun, IL - 6 hours ago
By BOB OKON bokon@scn1.com The 49-year-old Bolingbrook resident said he made a six-figure income selling mortgages and investing in real estate before the ...


Washington Post

Hypo Real Estate Denies Report It Withheld Data on Liquidity
Bloomberg - Oct 9, 2008
By Oliver Suess and Karin Matussek Oct. 9 (Bloomberg) -- Hypo Real Estate Holding AG, the commercial property lender that needed a revised 50 billion-euro ...
Video: Wells Fargo's bid for Wachovia ReutersVideo
CEO of embattled Hypo Real Estate to step down International Herald Tribune
German Govt rescues Hypo Real Estate in a Euro 50 bn package Hindu
Bloomberg - Bloomberg
all 1,743 news articles


New York Magazine

Real estate in Acadiana and Wall Street
The Daily Advertiser, LA - 7 hours ago
Fortunately, the Acadiana real estate market is still strong because we did not have the speculation that was seen in other parts of the country. ...
Video: Obama: 'Taxpayers Shouldn't Pick Up Tab' AssociatedPress
McCain Reshuffles Rescue Deal Wall Street Journal
McCain's Messy Mortgage Buyout: Digging Holes and Filling Them In Clusterstock
Boomers-Bank - Bloomberg
all 1,042 news articles


Sunday Real Estate Round-Up, 10/12/08
Luxist, CA - 2 hours ago
--More Ben Affleck and Jennifer Garner real estate rumors, this time it is said that they have put their home in Brentwood on the market for around $8 ...
DC, estate listed for $49 million Chicago Daily Herald
all 3 news articles


Peters Township Real Estate Team Rolls the Dice for Easter Seals ...
PR.com (press release), NY - 8 hours ago
Washington County Real Estate Broker Sponsors Easter Seals Casino Night at Valley Brook Country Club. Pittsburgh, PA, October 12, 2008 --(PR.com)-- The 2008 ...
Real estate people Asheville Citizen-Times
all 2 news articles


Real estate experts: Buying a second home
Jerusalem Post, Israel - 58 minutes ago
A native New Yorker, Shelly Levine is owner and manager of Tivuch Shelly Ltd., a leading real estate company that services all of Jerusalem and its ...


Real Estate Newsmakers
The News-Press, FL - 10 hours ago
Alex Wright, a transaction specialist with Woodyard Associates Commercial Real Estate, has earned Certified Commercial Investment Member designation, ...
Housing market will rebound eventually, with a bang The News-Press
Tropical history: Who was he? The News-Press
all 11 news articles


Williams Trew Real Estate Services | Fort Worth
Fort Worth Star Telegram, TX - 7 hours ago
Joan Trew, with Williams Trew Real Estate Services, invites homebuyers to an open house today from 1 pm to 3 pm at 4209 Shady Creek Drive. ...
Williams Trew Real Estate Services | Fort Worth Fort Worth Star Telegram
Williams Trew Real Estate Services | Aledo Fort Worth Star Telegram
all 3 news articles

Real-Estate - Google News

Home | Guest Book |Site Map | Recommended Resources | Search

Powered By: TJTMEDIA

© 2006
Google