To sell your home, and to sell it fast, you need only three things – You need a willing seller (that’s you!), the right buyer, and the right price. If you can find a buyer that wants to buy your house, and you can agree on a price that makes you both happy, that is when the magic happens! The problem is, something so simple can be difficult to pull off:

• Timing: it can happen that the right buyer simply isn’t looking to buy at the same time you are looking to sell. In a seller’s market, when there are more buyers than available homes for sale, it’s easier to find a willing buyer. In tougher market conditions, timing can be more of a factor, and your house could sit on the market without a buyer for longer than you’d like.
• Finding each other. The traditional way for buyers and sellers to find each other is through a real estate agent who can play matchmaker between buyers and sellers. However, even the best real estate agent is not going to know all buyers and sellers all the time and will use resources like the MLS or other internet platforms to bring them together.
• Competing objectives. It isn’t that easy for buyers and sellers to agree on a price. Sellers want to get as much money as possible for their house, buyers want to pay as little as possible. Again, in a seller’s market, the sheer number of buyers competing to buy the same houses will push prices up. However, when there is less demand, or because a house is not in great condition or not generally appealing, sellers can find it harder to achieve their desired price.

The traditional or the modern route to selling your home?

Using a local real estate agent to sell your home is the traditional option. A local real estate agent offers many advantages. They can advise you on timing. If you’re not under pressure to sell by a certain date, they can tell you when your type of property is more likely to sell. If the real estate agent is well connected or popular in the local market, they are likely to have a lot of inquiries from interested buyers, are likely to get a lot of traffic on their website, and are in a better position to find suitable, interested buyers for your property. A local real estate agent is also likely to have an in-depth knowledge of the local market and prices. They will be able to assess the recent selling prices of comparable homes in comparable neighborhoods and advise you on the ideal selling price for your property. They will also be able to advise you on the kinds of repairs, maintenance, and upgrades you need to do to your property to attract buyers. They’ll advise you on everything from staging your home, enhancing curb appeal and color schemes and features for renovations based on their knowledge of what typical buyers are looking for.

Using a traditional real estate agent to sell your home also comes with disadvantages:

• If you need to sell quickly because of financial difficulties, or a personal, you don’t have time for a long, drawn-out sales process.
• Similarly, you may not have the time or the resources to carry out repairs and maintenance on the house in preparation for sale.
• If you do not have much equity in your home, or even if you are under-water on your mortgage, it may not be worth it for you to spend money on staging and renovations.
• Finally, the traditional route of using a real estate agent also comes with high transaction costs. You’ll need to deal with inspection costs, commission, title insurance, closing attorneys. Even if all these costs don’t come out of your pocket, they impact the selling price and how much money gets into your pocket at the end of the day.

Alternatives to Using a Real Estate Agent.

If you are under pressure to sell quickly, or if your house would need significant and costly work and improvements to appeal to traditional buyers, you can consider selling your property through Zvestors instead.

Zvestors will give you a cash offer on your home, and if you accept the offer, you can close the transaction and have money in your pocket within one month! You’ll save on inspection fees because Zvestors purchase homes in as-is condition, and you’ll also save on most transaction costs. In addition, talk to us about helping you to clean out your home before moving, and about assistance with moving. We work with local charities to donate items you no longer need and have great deals with moving companies that can get you into your next home as part of our service.