Sell My Big House: Downsize with Ease

Time to downsize and sell your big house?

Don’t want to pay a realtor?

Many homeowners believe that the only way to sell their house is to list it on the market with a realtor. However, realtors don’t work for free. The market rate for realtor commissions is between 5% and 6% of the sale price of your house. That can cost tens of thousands of dollars.

There’s no guarantee that they will actually find you a buyer, either! They can cost you months of time and money for mortgage, taxes, insurance, utilities, and maintenance. The national median time that a house will sit on the market is 1 to 3 months. That’s not even considering the 1 to 2 months it takes for most buyers to get their financing together to close!

Don’t want to sell it yourself?

Of course, you could market your home by yourself. However, without the marketing experience, photography equipment, and network of a professional realtor, your property may sit even longer. Not to mention, you will need to handle tens of prospective buyers calling, texting, and emailing you and even knocking on your door.

Once you find a buyer, you’ll need to make sure s/he will actually close and isn’t trying to scam you. Then, you must set up escrow with a title company and make sure the buyer provides all necessary documentation to complete the transaction. After all of this, hopefully the buyer you found won’t leave you at the closing table.

Don’t want to make repairs on your big house?

Unfortunately, even though you’re ready to downsize and sell, your house might not be. When selling your house, prospective buyers are looking for houses in move-in condition with recent updates. The recent mortgage interest rate increases have solidified this trend. Many buyers may ask for seller concessions or even ask you to complete repairs for them. Without a realtor, you may not even know which renovations will actually give you a return on your investment.

Still, you may decide that you’d rather just see what you can sell your home for without making any repairs. As stated above, normal buyers looking for a house to move into don’t want to pay for a home that needs work. Instead, you’ll attract investor buyers that will throw lowball offers at the wall to see what sticks! Even worse, if you list your house with a realtor, you’ll still have to pay their 6% commission from that lowball offer.

Don’t want to make repairs yourself?

When it comes to actually preparing your house for the market, you may initially try to complete the work yourself. However, life gets busy, and a month project may turn into a 2-month project, then a 6-month project, then a 1-year project. You may find yourself overwhelmed and out of your depth. That might be when you decide to hire a contractor to finish the job.

As you might already know, hiring a contractor is often easier said than done. Too many contractors are way overpriced, charging 20% to 40% above what their labor and materials cost. However, the cheaper contractors may cut corners and leave you with cabinets that don’t open, doors that don’t close, crooked windows, and leaky bathtubs. If you’re working with a licensed contractor and decide they didn’t earn their full pay, they can put a lien on your house, interfering with your sale. If you chance working with an unlicensed contractor, you may even find yourself in a lawsuit to get money back that they stole or to repair damage that they caused.