Can you sell your house without agent commission or closing costs

Can you sell your house without agent commission or closing costs

Can you sell your house without agent commission or closing costs?

Selling your house is an expensive business! There are a variety of transaction costs that will significantly reduce the proceeds from the sale of your home. Keep reading if you want to find out if you can reduce the transaction costs on the sale of your home so that you keep more money in your pocket.

Real Estate Agent Commission

By far, the biggest cost of selling your home is the commission paid to the real estate agent. Typically, the buyer’s agent and the seller’s agent each receive between 2.5% to 3% commission. This means that commission can be between 5% and 6% of the selling price of your home! To earn their commission, real estate agents provide buyers and sellers a comprehensive service ranging from marketing and advertising properties, conducting showings, preparing and presenting offers, assisting in negotiations, and generally holding your hand throughout the process of selling your home. Regardless of your opinion of whether their services are worthwhile, if you use a real estate agent, you will have to pay a commission. To make matters worse, it is usual that the seller pays the full commission! Both to the buyer’s agent and to the seller’s agent.

Other Closing Costs

Closing costs are an assortment of fees that must be paid when the property changes hands. Both buyers and sellers pay closing costs, but the seller typically pays more. Closing costs can come in at 2% to 4% of the selling price of the home, in addition to the real estate commission already mentioned. Depending on your state, and what is usual in your market, this means you can end up paying anywhere between 7% and 10% in total transaction costs when you sell. Put this another way, for every $100,000 that you sell your property for, between $7,000 and $10,000 just vanishes into other people’s pockets.

It’s a lot!

Is FSBO an option?

FSBO stands for “For Sale By Owner”. This is when you attempt to sell your property yourself. By selling your property yourself, you can likely avoid a lot of the costs already mentioned above, especially the 5% to 6% in real estate commission. But going this route can cost you a lot more in other ways:

  • Getting a low selling price. Since I’m guessing you’re not a real estate expert, you may have no idea how to price your home. If you price it too high, it won’t sell. Most likely, you’ll end up with way less money than you should.
  • No one will see your listing. I’m also guessing you aren’t a marketing professional. Probably, you don’t know the first thing about marketing a property, other than perhaps putting a sign up on your front lawn. You won’t have access to the network that a real estate agent will have, and you won’t be able to list your home on the MLS (Multiple Listing Service).
  • You could run into legal trouble. The most dangerous thing when selling your own home is not knowing what you don’t know. A common problem is disclosure requirements. Laws require sellers to disclose various things about their homes to potential buyers. From lead paint, whether there are sex offenders living nearby, to the age and condition of various systems in your home. Not disclosing what you have to disclose can open you up to being sued or even prosecuted for breaking the law.
  • The sale falls through. Even if you do find a buyer, you may not know how to assess their financial credibility. Even if you agree to sell your home to them, the buyer may not qualify for a mortgage, and the sale could fall through.

What can you do?

The costs of selling your home can be a big problem if your home needs significant maintenance, and you don’t have the time, means, or ability to fix it up. If you are under pressure to sell your home as quickly as possible because of financial or personal reasons. If you are underwater on your mortgage or are facing foreclosure. And it is very risky to try and sell your home on your own.

People come to ZVestors for all of these reasons. ZVestors buys houses for cash in Florida, Maryland, Virginia, and Washington DC. Our experienced team can help you sell a house without involving realtors and real estate companies. You can get an offer quickly and close in a matter of days. Avoid the expense of selling your house online or hiring an agent. Let ZVestors buy your home as-is, and you walk away with cash in hand.