Are you thinking about selling your house? Or maybe it’s more of a necessity than something you’re pondering. This can be the case for many homeowners.
Regardless of why you’re selling your house, do you know how much it costs to do so? The cost of selling a house is much higher than most people think, particularly homeowners looking to go the traditional route.
The problem is, when you’re selling a home in the traditional real estate market, you’re pigeon-holed into the standard home-selling process. This means doing everything in your power to make your home as appealing to buyers as possible. In a competitive market, the way you present your home (and the amount of work you put into it) will directly impact how quickly you sell it.
In other words, the more money you spend, the more likely you are to find interested buyers, obtain offers, and sell your home quickly. But what is the true cost to sell a house and are there any other options for people who don’t want to spend the money?
We’re here to address both of these questions. Keep reading for a complete guide on everything you need to know.
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How Much Does it Cost to Sell a House Traditionally?
First, let’s take a look at the most common home selling strategy. The cost of selling a house in the traditional real estate market varies greatly depending on a number of factors. This includes the condition of your home, the repairs you make, the realtor you chose, and more.
Let’s take a closer look at each expense you will encounter.
Realtor Fees
The majority of home sellers opt to use a realtor, and for good reason. The home selling process is more in-depth than you might think, it’s quite technical. Since you currently own your home, we’ll assume you’re familiar with the giant packet of documents involved in buying and selling homes.
However, realtors act as more than just a guide in navigating complicated paperwork, they also bring a lot of valuable skills and perks to the table. Realtors are highly knowledgeable and experienced in the field of real estate. They can help you prepare and list your home for the best results.
They also have important contacts in the community to help you sell your house faster. Namely, other realtors who have clients looking to buy.
The cost for these services runs you between 3% and 6% of your revenue. If you sell your house for $375,000, you’ll pay between $11,250 and $22,500 in realtor fees. In many cases, the seller pays for both realtors, which means the cost of selling a house could equate to between $22,500 and $45,000 in realtor fees alone.
Home Inspection Fees
Home inspection fees are one of the hidden costs of selling a house. It shouldn’t cost you more than $400, which isn’t a huge expense. However, if you’re experiencing financial problems, expenses like these add up quickly.
Unfortunately, home inspections are almost always mandatory. The buyer will want verification of the condition of your home before they finalize their offer. More often than not, their lender will require a home inspection before they back an offer on a house.
These stipulations are, of course, completely reasonable. You wouldn’t want to buy a house solely on the word of the seller that everything’s in tip-top shape. Banks and mortgage companies don’t want to lend money for a home that’s fraught with problems, as they could potentially lose money on it as well.
Aside from this added cost of selling a house, you should also be prepared to wait several weeks for your appointment. If you’re trying to sell your house as quickly as possible, this will almost certainly present a delay.
Upgrades, Repairs, and Renovations
To maximize offers, increase home value, and sell a home quickly, most home sellers invest in updates, renovations, and repairs. Your options vary greatly from minor updates to major repairs and renovations.
For example, low-cost cosmetic updates can improve the aesthetics of the home tremendously. These include things like:
- New paint
- Updated hardware (doorknobs, drawer handles, light fixtures, etc.)
- Drywall repair
- Trim repair
- And more
Conversely, some homeowners take on major renovation projects, which can significantly add to the cost of selling a house. For example, remodeling a kitchen can cost between $12,000 and $35,000.
It’s also important to recognize that your ROI won’t always be consistent with how much you spend. In some cases, you’ll add a surplus of value. However, it’s also possible that you won’t come close to making back the money invested.
Finally, if you want to sell your home traditionally, some repair costs will be unavoidable. If there are major damages or issues, they’ll need to be remediated before a lender will back a loan for a buyer. Things like roof damage, foundation issues, mold, pests, and other red-flag issues can make it impossible to sell your house.
Improved Curb Appeal
If you’ve looked into any other articles about how to sell your house, you’ve probably seen the term “curb appeal” over and over again. Curb appeal refers to the exterior of your home and how it looks to potential buyers.
It’s more important than you think, as the exterior of your home will be the first impression buyers get of your house. Therefore, many buyers invest in new exterior paint and landscaping services.
Depending on how much work you do yourself and how rough of shape your property’s in, this could end up costing thousands of extra dollars. And while it might sound good to paint your home on your own, it’s a much bigger project than most people imagine. Furthermore, if you do a poor job, it could end up turning buyers away.
Home Appraisal Fees
When calculating the cost to sell a house, don’t forget to account for your home appraisal fee. This is a third-party valuation conducted to determine the current market value of your home. Several things will affect the outcome of your appraisal, such as:
- The age of your home
- The condition of your home
- Outdated vs updated systems and components (plumbing, electrical, appliances, HVAC)
- The size of your home
- The size of the property
- Number of rooms
- Number of bathrooms
- The current real estate market
- The location of your home
- And more
Like your home inspection, this shouldn’t add more than $400 to the cost of selling a house. Once again, however, you should expect at least one or two weeks for an appointment.
Home appraisals are also a typical requirement from buyers and lenders. Both parties want to make sure they aren’t investing in a home for more money than what it’s worth. If the buyer defaults on the loan, they don’t want to lose money putting it back on the market.
Professional Cleaning Costs
Home presentation is everything in the world of real estate. You want to make a phenomenal impression on buyers the second they walk through the door. You can’t do that if your home is dirty, messy, filthy, or full of mysterious odors.
It’s also important to get rid of stains, clean out the appliances, clean all the windows, and hit all the nooks and crannies of your home. For this reason, many home sellers hire a professional cleaning company to conduct a deep cleaning of the home. While this shouldn’t add too much money to your cost to sell a house, some people prefer to do it themselves to save on expenses.
Of course, if you work full-time and have a lot of other obligations, this might not be a feasible option. Deep cleaning an entire home will take countless hours, and that’s assuming you have the proper equipment to complete the job adequately.
Staging Fees
If you really want to sell a home quickly, most realtors recommend staging the house. Studies have shown that staged homes can sell up to 73% faster than non-staged homes.
Staging a home with high-quality or designer furniture shows potential buyers the true potential of the home. It can also add a feeling of class and sophistication. Home staging companies have experience in interior design, which will also maximize your home’s appeal.
However, staging a house is quite expensive. The average home seller spends anywhere between $652 and $2,529 staging their house for buyers. If the home spends more than a few weeks on the market, your bill could easily reach (or surpass) $6,000.
Continued Utility Costs
The ongoing need for utilities is one of the hidden costs of selling a house. Even if you move out of the house, you don’t necessarily want to discontinue your utilities. When potential buyers come to tour the home, they’ll want to check the lights and faucets to make sure everything is working as it should be.
Furthermore, you’ll want to keep your HVAC running. Most home sales occur during the summer months when temperatures are highest.
If buyers walk into your house for a tour on a hot summer day and the house is 90 degrees, it won’t leave a very good impression. They’ll also be keener to get out of there as quickly as possible, which could reduce your chances of securing an offer.
Of course, your utility bills won’t be as high as if you were still living there, but they’re still something to account for.
Closing Costs
Finally, your cost for selling a house traditionally will be affected by the closing process. These are typically between 3% and 6%. To put things into plain dollars and cents, we’ll use the example from above.
If you sell your house for $375,000, you can expect to pay between $11,250 and $22,500 to close. Sometimes the buyer will take on the closing costs and it will get wrapped into their mortgage. However, this principle isn’t set in stone and depends largely on the negotiations that take place between you and the buyer.
Selling to a Cash Home Buyer
As you can see from the information provided above, selling a home costs a lot of money. Depending on how you sell your home, how much money you put into the process, and the current market value of your home, you could easily spend $50K or more.
So what are you supposed to do if you don’t have that kind of money? What if, in fact, you don’t have any money and can’t afford even the smallest home-selling expenses?
Don’t worry, you’re not as stuck as you might assume. You can sell your home to a cash home buyer. Cash home buyers are companies that specialize in purchasing homes from owners who can’t afford repairs or need to sell as quickly as possible.
But is it worth it to sell your home to these types of companies? Here are some of the perks to finding cash home buyers through iBuyer.com.
Sell Your House As-Is to Avoid Costly Repairs
A large portion of the cost of selling a house comes from the necessary repairs and updates demanded by buyers and mortgage companies. If you don’t have the means or the time to complete these renovations, where does that put you?
If you sell to a cash home buyer, it won’t matter. Many cash-buying companies will offer you a free cash offer, no matter how distressed your home is. This can save you thousands of dollars or help you get out of a home you can’t afford to maintain.
Bypass Realtor Fees
One of the biggest perks of working with iBuyers is that you won’t incur the massive realtor fees we spoke of earlier. Yes, selling your house as-is means getting less money for your home. However, if you’re saving tens of thousands of dollars on realtors, it will be well worth the sacrifice.
Skip Inspections and Appraisals
When selling to a cash home buyer, you can save close to $1K on appraisals and inspections. A cash buyer will conduct a free inspection of your home to give you an accurate cash offer. These are usually completed within 24 to 48 hours of reaching out to them, compared to the several weeks it takes to get a traditional inspection or appraisal.
Avoid Countless Walkthroughs and Open Houses
Opening up your home to the public is one of the most tedious aspects of selling a home traditionally, especially if you still live there. Yet, if you want to attract buyers and obtain offers, your home must remain accessible until you’ve secured a buyer.
If you still live in the home, this means picking up and leaving every time someone wants a tour so your realtor can show them through the house. It also means keeping your home immaculately clean 24/7 so it’s always show-ready.
If you sell to a cash home buyer, there will only be one inspection, as mentioned above, and your home doesn’t even need to be clean for it. Therefore, this will also help you save money on professional cleaners and home staging costs.
Gain Access to Free, Fast, and Guaranteed Closing
The traditional closing process can add to the cost of selling a house. When you work with cash home buyers, conversely, closing is free.
Additionally, the traditional closing process takes between 45 and 60 days, and that’s assuming nothing goes wrong. More importantly, traditional closing isn’t guaranteed. The buyer can drop out a single day before closing is complete.
This means you could wait 60 days just to start the entire home selling process over again, which is more common than you might think. Buyers fall out for any number of reasons. Aside from getting cold feet and pulling out voluntarily, they can also disqualify themselves for their loan by:
- Charging up a credit card
- Taking out a personal loan
- Buying a new car
- Changing their job
Any change to financial status could affect their home loan eligibility. Even if their new job pays more, they’ll have to provide three to six months of pay stubs to prove their income before they can re-qualify for the loan.
A cash buyer offers guaranteed closing. You can close as quickly as possible, sometimes in as little as a few days. Otherwise, you can choose the exact date you want to close.
How iBuyer.com Can Help You Sell Your House
Not all cash home buyers are created equally. Some will offer you more money for your home than others.
More importantly, some cash buyers are willing to purchase a home no matter its condition. Others might have certain stipulations regarding the homes they buy. For example, if your home has excessive or major damages, your buyer pool might be somewhat limited, even in the cash home buyer market.
This is where iBuyer.com shines where other companies fall flat. Our company acts as a go-between for homeowners and cash home buying companies. Our goal is to connect home sellers like you to the cash buyer who will give them the absolute most money for their house.
First, type your address into our free online estimation tool. We’ll provide you with an accurate home value estimation.
Next, set up your free iBuyer.com instant offer account to input important details about your home. This will help you get the current market value of your home based on its condition and other determining factors.
All you have to do now is wait for us to get back to you (online or offline) with the best offers from our buyers. Our buyer pool consists of:
- Local iBuyers and investors
- National iBuyers in your city
- Independent consumers who buy direct and fast
The question you need to answer is whether or not you should consider selling your home to a cash buyer.
Who Should Consider Selling to Cash Home Buyers
This leads us to our final topic of conversation. What types of homeowners can benefit most from iBuyers.com? In what circumstances should you consider selling to a cash home buyer?
Because cash home buyers work so quickly, this option is ideal for homeowners experiencing major life changes or financial issues. This includes:
- Homeowners with major home damages they can’t afford to make repairs
- Homeowners facing foreclosure who need to sell as soon as possible
- Homeowners who can’t afford the cost of selling a house and want to sell their homes as-is (regardless of condition)
- Homeowners who are going through a divorce and need a simple solution to liquidate assets
- People who inherit a home they don’t want or can’t afford to maintain
- Homeowners who have time-sensitive job opportunities in different locations
- Homeowners undergoing a major financial crisis
- And more
Selling to cash home buyers is a quick and easy solution. As noted earlier, some iBuyer agents can close in as little as a couple of days.
And if you’re worried about the results of selling through iBuyer.com, spend some time looking over our customer reviews. We take great pride in helping people like you sell their homes as quickly and conveniently as possible. Just as importantly, we make sure you get a fair offer.
Can You Afford the Traditional Cost of Selling a House?
As you can see, the cost of selling a house can be incredibly steep. If you want to sell your house traditionally and get as much out of it as possible, be prepared to make some heavy investments.
There’s nothing wrong with this approach and it is the most common method of selling a house. However, spending a bunch of money isn’t a viable option for all homeowners.
Whether your lack the time or the money, iBuyer.com can help you find the right cash buyer for your home. We can match you with a buyer who will purchase your home and close on the deal in just a matter of days. If you’re facing financial troubles or major life changes, this option can make your life a lot less stressful.
Check out this link for a more detailed guide on how it works. Or contact us today to get a free quote for your home. We would love to help you find an iBuyer in your location who will give you the best offer for your house.
