6 Facts About Selling Your House That Realtors Won’t Tell You

Considering selling your house anytime soon? You absolutely have to know these 6 facts about selling your house in Lancaster that an agent will not tell you. Before you reach out to a real estate agent to sell your property, educate yourself on these six major points below or you could end up losing a lot of money!

Major Headaches

When selling your house be prepared to show your house multiple times over the course of a few days.  Forget about privacy or other plans, as agents can schedule walkthroughs with little notice. This makes it hard to make any plans or have people over as guests. Likewise, you’ll need to keep your house in picture-perfect condition at all times. Be ready to plan your life around showings or open houses. Whether it is constant cleaning or having to worry about how your house “looks” at all times the stress can get to you fast.  This is one detail that agents will most certainly not mention to you.

Delays in Closing The Property

Time is money! Because the process is based upon the completion of inspections and appraisals, not to mention other deadlines and hurdles that you’ll be jumping, closings can be delayed. It is not uncommon for closings to stretch more than 60, and quite possibly longer, when using conventional means to sell your property. The deadlines can even be extended further when dealing with sellers who are using an FHA loan.  Additionaly inspection requirements are put in place when dealing with specific loan programs, know this when you are looking at potential offers.  Inexperienced agents usually prolong the process, as they are unfamailiar with all the requirements and timelines when dealing with more complex sales.

Sellers Nightmare: Paying Two Mortgages

One thing is for certain: no agent can tell you how many days your propoerty will sit on the market until it sells. Agents can only give their best guess as to when the property will sell. Without knowing exactly how long it may take to sell, any plans you make may be jeapordized. We have seen other sellers stuck in their worst nightmare, paying mortgages on two properties due to closings being pushed out. During Covid this became even worese as real estate agents were prohibited from engaging in any activities.  Agents almost never mention this possibility as they don’t want to scare homeowners off from selling their house, since the agent is paid in commissions.

Contingencies

Legalities, legalities. The bottom line is, your sale may fall through if a contingency isn’t met. Contingencies are provisions in the contract that must occur before the sales contract is fulfilled, and are common in traditional real estate. Common contingencies include an inspection and appraisal, which require the property to meet certain requirements in order to get to settlement. Properties for the most part will fail on the inspection part, especially if the property is older.  Since most buyers are looking for the newest and nicest, they will most likely overreact to any negative remarks on an inspection report.  Be cautious with an agent that advises you to overlook major issues to push through the sale, you could be giving away more equity over a small issue.

Commissions, Fees, Additional Costs

There are many ways that real estate agents either advise you to spend money or earn a commission on selling your property. Right now we see agents making lots of suggestions to make your house appear a certain way or give off a “modern” look. In addition to the cut real estate agents and their brokers will take-off of the top in commissions, they will also pitch “add on” services such as drone videos, floral arrangements and professional photography to further market your home. Staging is another cost that may not be needed in order to sell your house for a premium. Getting your house ready for walkthroughs will most likely cause you to have to clean out your house of clutter.  Additional storage costs occur for the seller in a lot of these circumstances.  Though it may seem small at the time all of these minor expenses will eat away at your expected profit. Carefully consider all factors and evaluate all agent suggestions when selling your house in Lancaster.

Repairs And Renovations

Think everything is fine with your house? Think again. According to Klipinger there are many reasons why buyers will hate your house but the most important one is having to make major renovations. Most buyers now are interested in “move in ready” condition, meaning they do not want to make any repairs at all. Another tidbit about selling your house in Lancaster that an agent will not tell you, you’ll be responsible to complete any repairs required by the lender or a contingency. Failure to complete the repairs, despite the costs, will cause the contract to void. Code related issues and regulations are often little known by sellers.  Water damage, leaky pipes, and electric panels are all huge potential rehab costs that homeowners are not aware of until an inspection report is filled.

As you can see, agents offer little guarantees that they can sell your house quickly in Lancaster. 717 Home Buyers saves you money, time, and provides you with a guaranteed and very quick closing date. These are just a few of the reasons why a direct sale to 717 Home Buyers may be better for you. Find out how our process works or submit your property for a cash offer today.