5 Money Saving Tips When Selling Your Home
Now that you have decided on selling your home, how will you turn your home into the most valuable asset it can be? Your home is undoubtedly the most valuable asset for the vast majority of us. Getting it ready and selling it can cost you thousands. Using theses 5 money saving tips in this article should help you reduce the cost of selling your home.
1. Selling your home with a real estate agent
Estate Agent fees vary, so shopping around and don’t forget to haggle and play one off against the other. When you decide on an agent, you should aim to negotiate for the lowest commission rate, also push then to limit the tie-in period to no more than 6 weeks, this gives then enough time to sell the house, but if they can’t you can move to another agent. Ensure you get a fair valuation, never tell an estate agent what other agencies have valued your house at. They will use this to manipulate its offer, often resulting in wide distortions.
2. Choosing a real estate lawyer
It is a myth to go with the cheapest real estate lawyer, so get recommendations from all the real estate agents you speak to and remember to ask for the name of specific lawyers, rather than just the legal firms. Give them a call and ask what their fees are, also note whether they are they friendly, helpful, and most important efficient. Fees are also negotiable! You can combine legal services such as a getting a will (which you should already have, right?) to get a discount.
3. Selling your home yourself
Selling you house yourself can save thousands. One in twenty sellers are now taking the For Sale By Owner route which could save you thousands in real estate commissions. That is a massive money saving tip, but there are a couple of downsides, basically “time and effort”. You could consider newspaper advertising, flyers and signs. Newspapers usually charge per line or per word so try to keep your advert as brief as possible without making it uninteresting. The simplest way would to sell your house yourself is to use one of the many online house selling service.
4. When to sell your home
Obviously it is best to sell your house when the market is strong and demand is high, so keep an eye on the local property market. Generally, the market tends to be stronger in early and late summer than the rest of the year, so aim to sell your house then. Also avoid competing with your neighbours so if there are already a few “For Sale” signs on your street, it might be better to wait a bit.
5. Staging your home
Research has shown that a poor presented house can take longer to sell and may reduce the price by thousands. So get your paint brushes out, give your home a lick of paint and finish all of those DIY jobs that you haven’t got around to yet. Also talk to the real estate agent about adding value to your property, it maybe worth spending a bit of cash to increase the value of your home. However, be careful not to over spend, you might not get your money back, so talk all planned improvements through with your estate agent.
6. Bonus Tip
Get your finances in order – have a budget for your home improvements, lawyer fees and moving costs. Have a mortgage pre-approved and bridge financing in place so your ready to put an offer on your new home when your old one sells.
If you are determined to save money when selling your home, do some more research, as they say knowledge is power. Research which home improvements have the best return on investment, home decorating trends and ask friends and family for referrals to real estate agents and lawyers.
Andrew W. Bradley
Photo credit: aag_photos via Foter.com / CC BY-SA
Great tips. I will be sure to share this with my brother who is thinking of selling. Thanks!
Great tips and it really is amazing what a fresh coat of paint does. Before moving when selling our previous house, we also packed up a lot and put it into storage, less clutter means the house looks more spacious.
Another thing the estate agent mentioned, was not to leave personal things around like photos. Perhaps so you stay incognito, I don’t really know the reason I’m just guessing.
Number 6 is a really important one. It is so easy to overextend yourself without intending to. You need to make a budget and then add at least 20% on top for unexpected costs.
Totally agree and thanks for bringing it up!
I had never thought of negotiating with the real estate lawyer, but that’s a great tip that I’ll keep in mind.
I used to do home staging….can’t express it enough on how much of a difference this makes!
Since I have this experience, I’d probably try and sell my home myself, after some thorough research!
I think we often forget about tip #6 & what the costs will be on the new home!
Knowing when to sell your home and selling privately have both really worked for my family.
Great tips!
A friend of mine is selling their home right now. What a chore.
this list will come handy when it is time to sell
Great tips – thank you 🙂 I already sold my home, but for the future I’m hoping to do somethings better and wiser!
But when selling our home just under 3 years ago we did use a lot of these tips!