Selling your house is a big undertaking.
Deciding to sell your house is a critical decision, and there are some questions you should ask yourself first before piercing your lawn with a for-sale sign.
Here are the most important questions you should ask before deciding you’re ready to sell.
How Much Did You Buy the Property For Originally?
The first question you should answer for yourself is how much you originally bought the property for. Knowing the original purchase price will help you determine a reasonably accurate figure for your home’s current value.
Did you haggle and bargain when you bought it?
Or did you offer to pay the asking price?
Conversely, maybe you inherited the home debt-free, in which case you will ultimately stand to make more money from the sale of the property even if you come down in price.
Have You Made Improvements to the Home Since You Bought it?
Next on your list of inquiries should be the number of improvements you have made since moving in. If you have:
Built a new deck.
Updated the kitchen with new countertops, cabinets, or appliances.
Retiled the bathrooms.
Had the roof replaced.
Or anything else that adds value to the home.
You should take that into consideration.
The more improvements you have made to the home, the more it should be worth.
This means that if you bought the house for $75,000 ten years ago and made continuous improvements, you can expect to sell it for several thousand dollars more than what you bought it for.
How Much Is Your Home Worth?
Determining the actual value of a property often involves an appraisal, but those are expensive. Appraisals are typically requested by the bank when a buyer applies for a mortgage.
If you are lucky enough to receive a cash offer for your home, you can skip the whole appraisal process.
You’ll want to take a few minutes to look at “comps” (comparables) that have recently sold in your area.
Comps are properties similar in style, bedroom and bathroom count, square footage, condition, and amenities.
Your house is very likely to sell around the same price per square foot as the comps in your neighborhood.
How Much Do You Want to Get Out of it?
Your home’s value and the amount of trouble it’s worth to you are two completely different figures.
Your home might be worth $390,000, but how much trouble do you want to go through to receive that amount?
Are you willing to make repairs as deemed necessary by a home inspector to make a sale go through?
These are essential questions to ask yourself when thinking about putting your home on the market.
How Long Are You Willing to Wait for a Sale?
You also need to ask yourself some more direct questions: How long are you willing to wait to sell your home?
Are you selling it in hopes of raising funds to downsize and pay for your kids to go to college?
Are you selling because you can’t stand living next to your neighbors for one more day?
Did you try your hand at fixing up a fixer-upper only to find that it wasn’t as much fun as it looked on television?
Are you on the brink of foreclosure and feeling the walls starting to close in on you?
Or are you selling it so that you can try out something new in a different town, a different state?
The reason you are selling your home will play a significant role in determining how long you can afford to wait.
Cash Offer or Conventional Financing?
There is, of course, the matter of financing. Do you want to stick it out long enough to go through the lengthy and tedious approval process typical of banks, credit unions, and other conventional financial institutions?
Or would you prefer the convenience of a cash offer?
What Are Your Goals?
In the end, it will ultimately come down to your own personal and financial goals. Run through the answers to the questions you’ve seen so far and compare them against your goals.
The combined factors of how much your home is worth, how long you’re willing to wait for it to sell, and how much trouble it is worth to you will all help you make better decisions when selling your home.
Skip the Line, With Contenza Properties
When you sell your house to Contenza Properties, you can cut through the red tape typical of selling a property to a conventional home buyer.
Call Contenza Properties today and get a cash offer!
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