When you are selling your home, you may be wondering how to save money when selling your home. Whether you are selling your home as a result of your divorce and your divorce lawyer advised it, or it is just time for you to move forward, you need to learn how to save money when selling your home.
There are ways you can save when you are trying to sell your home if you take certain steps. A lot of people do not realize that there is a great deal of expense involved in selling a home. Learning how to save money when selling your home can help you save thousands of dollars.
What are the Costs Associated with Selling Your Home?
There are quite a few costs associated with selling a home. One of the largest investments that you may be required to make is in property maintenance and repairs. For example, if you are using a real estate agent to sell your home, they may suggest painting, some landscaping, making other repairs, and more.
Many people make the mistake of thinking that some of the suggestions are musts. The fact is, they are suggestions. Do what you can afford to do to make your home look its best, and while you are doing those things, keep it on the market and try to sell it during the process. Sometimes it is not worth investing in all the repairs and upgrades when you can just sell it at a lower price and not have to put the money out of your pocket.
However, some investments are worth the cost. For example, if you are selling a home that you do not live in and you are not nearby too, then paying a property management company to keep up with the property is a good idea. If you cannot be there to manage your property, you do need a trusted source that can.
A fresh coat of paint, a well-cared-for lawn, and other small fixes can give your home a well-cared-for look that attracts motivated buyers. Again, if you are trying to get the most profit from the sale of your home, how much you do or do not know is largely up to you, however, there are a few things that every homeowner that is trying to sell should do:
- Make sure the outside is void of any trash or debris.
- Make sure interior spaces are clean.
- Make sure you offer full disclosure of any big issues like roofing leaks or HVAC problems.
If you have debris lying around your yard, load it up on a utility trailer and get rid of it. If you want to turn off potential buyers having debris strewn around will certainly do it. Yard debris makes the yard look smaller and unkempt and it can make it hard for that family that just came to see it imagine the yard with a great swing set for the kids.
If you do not want to pay someone else to do the cleanup, do it yourself. One of the things you should know about how to save money when selling your home, the more work around the home you do yourself the less expense you are going to have.
Of course, there are other costs that are associated with selling a home that has nothing to actually do with the home like:
- Real estate agent fees.
- Legal fees.
- Other closing costs.
When you sell your home the process typically involves a contract, an inspection, an appraisal, and finally the closing. At the closing table, you may be responsible for some costs. For example, with some government-backed loans like VA loans, the seller (that’s you) assumes all closing costs which is a percentage of whatever the home was sold for.
With other lending vehicles, the buyer pays the closing costs. In most cases, each party will pay for their own legal representation. If you use a real estate agent they will get their share of the sale as well. If you have a good agent they will have figured their cut into the purchase price in the first place, but typically selling for the asking price does not happen often.
It can be expensive to sell a home. Curtailing some of the costs can be one of the best tips for how to save money when selling your home.
Other Ways to Cut Costs
You can list the property yourself, of course, if you do you will not get the professional support that a real estate agent brings to the table, but you can save some money by taking a DIY approach to selling your home.
Of course, doing it yourself means that you will have to handle all the advertising, all the calls, all the showings on your own, but if you do not mind doing it all, you can save at least a few thousand dollars.
Keeping the help that you hire to sell your home to a minimum is one of the best tips about how to save money well selling your home. The less money you have to dole out after the sale the more money you get to keep. However, you do need to weigh your options carefully before you sideline any professional help. Consider the following:
- Do you have the time to assume the duties of the professional when selling your home? Whether it is listing the house for sale on your own or painting the second bedroom, you have to evaluate whether or not you have the time to dedicate to the task. If time is something you are short on, then maybe going pro is the right path.
- Do you have the skillset to avoid critical errors in the process? Selling your home on your own is doable if you either have some of the skills that are needed or you are a fast learner. There are a lot of little parts that go along with selling real property. Making sure you do not let anything fall through the cracks that can come back and haunt you is important. Can you do it?
- Is it worth it? Ultimately how you move forward with selling your home is a personal decision. For some people how to save money when selling your home, is the most important part of the transaction. For other people, they just want to get out from under the property and savings is not their biggest concern.
Cutting corners when it comes to hiring people to manage part of the process for you is fine and it is one of the things on the list of how to save money when selling your home, however, there are some professional services you never want to cut corners on.
Never Skimp In this Area
There are plenty of paths to take when it comes to how to save money when selling your home. Most of those paths will not have negative results. For example, should you decide to paint the exterior of your home instead of hiring a painting contractor, there’s likely no harm, space get painted, and there is no negative fall out because you did it yourself.
Unless you are an attorney, it is strongly suggested that you do not try to manage the legal areas of the transaction on your own. The transference of real property from one party to another requires very specific steps and knowledge.
Having legal support is vital in ensuring that you are protected from the contract phase to the closing table and beyond. You can cut a lot of professionals out of the process but you cannot cut out having solid legal support.
A real estate lawyer can provide support every step of the way. They have the expertise to understand the process and the legal requirements for selling real property in your state.
They can provide financial accounting services for the final accounting for the transaction, ensure that all documents are filed correctly, and minimize the risk of errors. Of course, they can also help to protect your interest in the property.
Most people would never go through the divorce process, or even dealing with a speeding ticket without the help of an attorney, you definitely do not want to sell your home without one. The repercussions can be tremendous.
Everything Can be Negotiated
Sellers often do not negotiate as much as they should when they are selling their home, but they should. Everything is open to negotiation. Let’s say you have an interested buyer that is offering close to the purchase price but for you to break even you need to figure out how to squeeze $5000 more out of them. Throw in the household furniture. Sometimes how to save money when selling your home, is more about getting creative.
Selling off everything lock stock and barrel to up the ante can help you save on the cost of a moving company, and get you out from under the mortgage. You may not make a fortune but you can start with a clean slate.
As a seller, your negotiation tool is your ability to sweeten the deal. Throwing in things into the package that you do not really need or use anyway can be the tipping point. Do you really want to disassemble the kid’s giant swing set, or can you ask the buyer for an additional $500 if you throw it in? What about the custom made bar stools that were made specifically for your kitchen? Will, they even fit in the new kitchen or can they up the price by a few hundred dollars?
In many states you do not have to sell the appliances with your home, but if you include them, will that sweeten the deal for your buyer? Use what you have to negotiate a higher price. Sometimes you have to get creative with buyers to help them see the real value of your home.
How To Save Money When Selling Your Home On Repairs
We touched base on property maintenance and repairs but what if you just do not want to do the upgrades that are needed? What if you are already in your new home and just trying to get out from under your old one and do not have the money to invest?
Offer an allowance for new flooring, but raise the price first to cover it. Sometimes how to save money on selling your home is more of a how-to keep the money you got. Let’s say your carpet in the home your selling is just not cleanable any more but you do not have the $2000 to replace it right now.
Raise your asking price by $3000 and offer an interested buyer an allowance for flooring replacement. This may seem like a bit of fancy footwork, but this is exactly what retail giants do all the time. They raise prices, then they run sales on the new price that is already inflated.
This can work on many cosmetic things that need to be done and even on some big-ticket repairs like HVAC replacement or roofing repairs. If you do not have the money to put out of pocket up front, it is a lot easier to hand a check over at the closing table, when all you are doing is giving them back their own money.
How to save money when selling your home may mean thinking outside the box to come with unique solutions that satisfy both the buyer and the seller and ensure that everyone gets what they need out of the transaction without costing you any money.
Know Your Market
The final tip for how to save money when selling your home is to keep your expectations realistic. Get to know the market in your neighborhood. You do not want to invest too much money into repairs if it is going to price your home out of the market. Take a look around and see what other homes have recently sold and take a virtual tour of those homes to get an idea of what you should or should not invest before you list.
With some leg work and some creative thinking you will be able to save money when you sell your home.
