With the current lack of homes for sale in the Raleigh NC area, many home owners ask me if they should sell their home themselves. I can never give a quick yes or no to this question as there are a lot of different factors involved.
Below I’ll go over the questions that Raleigh home owners should ask themselves before going “For Sale by Owner”…
Should I sell my home in Raleigh myself?
Before you go sell your home yourself, ask yourself these questions:
Why are you selling?
Why are you selling your home? Are you compelled to move out of state, for a job, or family, and will leave the home vacant? Are you having trouble keeping up with the mortgage payments and maintenance? This is a scenario where it is best to sell your home yourself by calling a professional buyer or listing your home with a qualified agent.
Maybe you aren’t in a hurry, and just want to sell your home for practical purposes such as downsizing, or moving closer to your job. If you are willing to roll up your sleeves and do some work, this is an ideal market to sell a home by owner.
What is your level of experience?
How much experience do you have with buying and selling real estate? Is this your first time selling a home? If you have bought and sold homes before then the current market will give you a wide margin of error.
If this is your first time, you can still give it a try. Just make sure you have enough resources to go through the process alone. Also, if you have been living in the same home for 20 years, keep in mind that the process has changed. I would recommend taking a couple of weeks to thoroughly research the process and come up with a plan.
How much free time do you have?
How much time do you have to dedicate to researching, planning, staging, marketing, selling, negotiating, and the myriad of other tasks associated with selling real estate? Your ability to be successful will be dependent on your available resources.
Are you a single person with a full-time job and all the other responsibilities of being an adult? If this is the case, you need to ask yourself how many hours per week you have to dedicate to the project of selling your own home. Are you prepared to put your social life, and all other hobby projects on hold? Keep in mind you will have to find another place to live, as well as pack up your things.
If there are multiple people in the household, it will be easier to divide tasks and labor.
What kind of budget do you have?
Do you have money to make the necessary repairs and do all the prep work for staging the home? You’ll also need money for marketing. Figure out how much money you have to invest in this process before you start buying materials. It is true that you would have to invest money in repairs even if you hired a realty company. However, if you sell your home yourself, you will have added marketing costs in addition to the repair costs.
By not hiring an agent you will save on the brokerage fee, which is one of the largest costs associated the sale of a home. Just remember that you will not realize that gain until after the transaction closes.
How is your local market?
Take local market conditions into mind before making your decision. The current housing market in Raleigh NC, and Wake County as a whole, favors the seller.
This may not be the case in more rural areas of the state. What is the average number of days on market in your local area? Is it more than 40 days? Remember to do your research.
If you have a home you need to sell in Wake County, Greenville, Greensboro, or Fayetteville NC, let Otranto Real Estate Co make you an offer.
We are scheduled to buy a home in North Raleigh at the end of this month from a single homeowner that could no longer keep up a 2500 square foot home with 3 acres of land. She is saving herself all the hassle and costs by selling to us direct.
Related Post:
Should I Sell My Home in Raleigh Myself? |