What are some important things to know about selling a house?

Question

My father needs to move into a senior citizen home and he has to move soon...I know the market isn't a good time to sell and he lives in a house that needs alot of work done to it and I don't want to spend lots of $ fixing it up and he doesn't have any to use either.We need to sell it "as is" asap...He says he might have someone interested in buying it ,but I don't know what his place is worth.. Should I get a realitor ,even though he doesn't have the money and is afraid the $ will go more towards the realitor than the worth of the house....I never did anything like this as far as buying or selling and I don't want him to get taken...Please give me any advice about going about selling his place...I would appreciate it very much.

Answer 1

Hire a realtor - an experienced one who specializes in similar properties in the area. Interview several before making a choice.

You pay them nothing up front - their fee comes out of the sales prices, and they only get 3%-6% of the sales prices.

Before selling the house, you should also look into a reverse morgtage.

Answer 2

You might find someone in your city that buys fixers. They will not pay as much, but will make an offer on the property. You can always counter the offer with a higher one of your own.

Find someone that can explain what proeprties are going for in your neighboorhood. After you have done that then try and figure out the cost to bring your house to the level or cost of a a house that does not need fixing that is in your neighboorhood.

You might even call a few people such as carpet layers, those that remodel homes for bath and kitchens. See what they would charge to remodel your kitchen and bath.  Normally these estimates are free.

Once you have done your home work you are now in an intelligent position to sell your house.

If you are worried about getting less using a realtor by all  means don't use one.

A person with common sense can normally negotiate the process and be successful. Once in the process of selling you will run into professionals that will help without cost such as loan brokers, title company or escrow closing.

What ever you do, call a local title company and use their services for closing your transaction. This will eliminate any future legal problems that might arise.

Don't let anyone talk you out of this for any reason.

Listed below are a few additional tips for selling your own property.  

You really don't need a real estate agent to sell your property. You need to have common sense and be willing to hold open houses and discuss prices and other things with people that want to purchase your house.

There are several For Sale By Owner (FSBO) web sites that you can look up in selling your home yourself.  

The main thing about selling your home is the maximum exposure through advertisement. This can be done several ways

#1 Advertise in your local newspaper (to include any open houses you schedule)

#2 Flyers on some part of the property or house that is easily accessible to the public and that they can see from the curb

This flyer should give the sale price, have a picture of the property # of bed and bathrooms, perhaps a few inside shots of the house and it should be in color.

#3 Open house to show the property to potential buyers.

#4 Advertise on the free websites on the internet.

Even though you plan to sell the property yourself you might consider interviewing three real estate agents, tell them the truth you are considering selling the home yourself but you wanted to interview a couple of agents to get their ideas. During the interview they should give you some idea as to the sale price of like properties in your neighborhood.

Now once they have given you what the property should sell for, they were nice enough to spend time with you and help you in getting compts and talking with you.

When you finally make up your mind, please call these 2-3 agents that you interviewed and tell them thanks, but you have decided to sell the property yourself. That is common courtesy and you should extend that courtesy to them.

Clean up the property so it will have good curb appeal. When you drive up to the house ask yourself "Would I purchase this house?" Take care of any possible problems that you know are there but you simply over looked them. Paint inside and outside, cost about $3K increase value about 10K. New carpet might also be in order if it is more than 5 years old.

Take away any clutter that might also be there, that lived in look you have might turn some buyers off. So clean up



Now you should also call a mortgage broker to see if he would be interested in assisting you with open houses. Tell him for his expertise you are willing to give him a list of those individuals that looked at your home, but were not pre-approved.

You would also want this individual to be there for your open houses so set up a schedule that he is able to attend.

This individual should also assist you in finding an escrow closing agent, an appraiser as well as a title company to assist you in your sale.  

This person will also be able to assist with any state rules and local laws required to know in selling a house in your area.

Now once you have found a person to purchase your property, draw up a sales contract with the assistance of the mortgage broker. He will get an appraiser to verify the value. He should assist you in opening an escrow closing agent.

If the buyer is not pre-approved your mortgage broker will get the buyer approved and handle the paper work. If he is pre-approved his mortgage person will take care of the rest of the paper work.

Either way the mortgage broker whom ever he might be will take care of the majority of the rest of the transaction.

Don't fall for the real estate agents that will come by and ask if they find a buyer would you give them a commission. Tell them if they find someone their client should pay them.

The reason for this exercise is for you to put the maximum amount of your equity in your pocket as you possible can and not into a real estate agent's pocket. Keep your eye on the mission.

Now about paying off your mortgage, the escrow closing agent will send a letter to your present mortgage company and request a demand of payment indicating how much you currently owe on your mortgage. Your mortgage company will send them a reply with the amount you owe. This will be done on any mortgage you owe if you owe more than one.

The escrow closing agent will pay off any demands they receive. Anything left after all payoffs a check will be written to you the seller.

I hope this has been of some use to you, good luck.

"FIGHT ON"