Selling your house in North Carolina can be a tedious task. This is made especially true when you’re running against the clock.
When you need the money quickly, need time to carry out necessary repairs, or lack the capital to increase your house’s curb appeal, you might find yourself worrying over what is supposed to be a beautiful end to an essential chapter of your life.
For this reason, many homeowners choose to involve a third party in the transaction. Occasionally, the third party handles the deal’s appraisal, marketing, and closing.
In North Carolina, the status quo for most people is seeking the assistance of a real estate agent. Selling your house through an intermediary lets you sit back, but it also comes with several hidden fees.
Use These Alternatives to Sell Your House
You might not know this, but several alternatives exist for selling your house in NC. You don’t necessarily have to approach a realtor to finalize the transaction. Exploring all available options before settling on your preferred aide is always a good idea.
You would be surprised at how easy it is to sell your house individually to home buyers. Read on to understand how you can save on taxes and other expenditures through alternative sale routes. So, let’s see who pays the costs when selling a house and other potential pitfalls.
Use Major Listings Sites
You might not have the luxury of using the MLS system, but there are several platforms through which you can list your property and reach a larger audience in the housing market. Before you make the real estate listing live, you must familiarize yourself with any hidden fees and clauses on the listing service.
Popular listing platforms include Zillow and FSBO (a platform prized for connecting home sellers and buyers directly for decades).
It would help if you hired an excellent photographer to take quality pictures to make your listing stand out, offering plenty of incentives to potential buyers to click on. Alternatively, you may hire the services of a listing agent.
You may also list your property on various apps available on the Google Play Store, the Apple Store, or Craigslist.
Use Online Advertising
Quickly catching on as a popular alternative to traditional means of selling your house, iBuyers are the new kids on the block.
They use complex data, statistics, and algorithms to calculate an offer price to the house’s seller. However, this initial offer may deviate on either side of the scale later in the negotiation phase. For some added marketing, you may use online advertising.
An excellent example of a successful iBuyer is Redfin, a company based in Seattle but operating to the far reaches of New York, North Carolina, and even Canada. Redfin has been helping buyers relocate by giving them upfront cash for their property, revolutionizing home selling.
Sell Your House to a Cash Home Buyer
Selling your house while it still needs a few upgrades here and there is not always a good idea.
However, there are instances when you can’t wait or don’t have the resources to improve the first impression prospective buyers will experience when they walk through your front door. In this case, you can sell to a property investor.
Popularly known as cash buyers, property investors give you a quote based on the cost of renovations and the original asking price. Cash buyers have many advantages, but they will help you sell your house quickly.
An experienced and trusted property investor will help you avoid the flat fee charged by real estate agents while going around the hassle of having to deal with a buyer who is being financed by lenders.
To make the most out of your negotiations with the cash buyer, you should first declutter your house, selling anything that counts as non-essential but can still get you some much-needed money.
The advantages of a property investor include the following:
- A cash offer that lets you channel the proceeds of selling your house to the next chapter of your life
- The freedom to walk away from pending repairs
- Avoiding fees payable for brokerage services such as with a realtor
- Down payment is secured once you sign the contract transferring ownership rights regardless of the time you choose to move out of the house.
- Avoiding the strenuous process involved in the selling process
- You can avoid haggling between the seller’s and buyer’s agents since you interact with the cash buyer.
It is evident that selling to a property investor is the best decision for those seeking to sell their houses in North Carolina.
Selling Your House Through a Real Estate Agent
Arguably one of the most popular ways to sell your house in NC, selling with a realtor has several upsides but doesn’t always work out.
A real estate agent is considered ideal when your house is in peak condition and is located at a prime location. Such places tend to attract several home buyers and therefore fetch top dollar on the market.
However, only some have the luxury of having a house that fits this criterion. So, why is this route so popular?
Why People Sell Their Houses Through a Realtor
There are several reasons why you would approach a realtor to sell your property. Hiring some help to get the sale out of the way has many advantages.
A realtor has the tools and experience to sell your house on several platforms, such as the multiple listing service (a tool exclusive to real estate agents registered under the national association of realtors.
They may also help you navigate the murky waters of the market by helping you stay on the right side of federal and state law when involved in purchasing and selling property in North Carolina. As a bonus, they also help you avoid common pitfalls such as undershooting the value of your home.
However, it is only sometimes smooth sailing with realtors. When your house stays on the market for considerably longer, it may be sold at a steep discount since they may lose sight of your best interest when negotiating with potential buyers in pursuit of their agent commission.
When your house is anything short of spik and span, it would be best for home sellers to avoid real estate agents, as this might hurt the overall value of your property.
For Sale by Owner
Selling a house without a realtor is an underrated sale route in North Carolina. Most home sellers prefer a hands-off approach to the real estate market, but there are benefits to be enjoyed by those that choose to get their hands dirty.
One of the most significant downsides of a for-sale-by-owner approach is that there are several portholes, especially if you’re green in selling houses.
Before settling on this as your preferred alternative, there are several tips to keep in mind to avoid falling victim to unscrupulous business people or the law. They include:
Find Out the Value of Your Property
You might find yourself hoodwinked during the home sale without the know-how of a real estate agent or a professional appraiser.
This becomes truer when your house is a diamond in the rough (it needs a few repairs here and there to sparkle). You should carry out adequate research and familiarize yourself with the numerous tools available to avoid exploitation.
Familiarize Yourself with Purchase and Sale Agreements
It is nearly impossible to circumnavigate closing costs, even with cash buyers. It would help if you did your due diligence in calculating your home value based on the current market value of similar houses within your location and drafted a sale price that would comfortably cover future closing costs.
In North Carolina, you may cough up more than 15% in closing costs and inspection and financing contingencies. You might also need to approach an escrow company to oversee the purchase.
Outline all the Legal Disclosures You Need to Make to The Buyer
According to state law, there are several legal disclosures you need to make to the buyer, significantly if they impact the desirability of the house. Therefore, you should draft a comprehensive list covering all these legal disclosures and present them to any buyer seeking a new home in your property. However, this doesn’t have to be at the start of negotiations.
Generally, a for-sale-by-owner approach is more suitable for those with the appropriate skill set or who are willing to research to fill their knowledge gaps. If you are better at handing the reins to someone more knowledgeable, you should steer clear of it.
Takeaways
If you are looking for a way to sell your house quickly for top dollar, it will pay to research before beginning the valuation or seek a third party to help you bank your cheque.
You might also opt for owner financing, which allows the buyer to pay you a larger-than-average down payment and pay off the balance in a series of predetermined installments over 10-30 years.
The advantage of owner financing is that you rent out your house without the hassle of owning or maintaining the property. You get to enjoy higher-than-average interest rates for the mortgage payment.
With Tiffany Property Investments, cash home buyers in North Carolina can quickly and easily buy a home. We buy houses Charlotte residents love and can also help you sell a house fast in Belmont.
To get started with a property investor and kickstart your home-selling adventure, get in touch with us for a free quotation. What’s the worst that could happen?