There are more financial and time expenses involved in selling a property on the market than selling to a cash buyer. Working with a homebuyer can be an excellent option to save cash and time while avoiding all the hassle.
In our experience, the biggest reason people sell their house to us is that they want out of their property but don’t want the hassle of going through a traditional sale. Homeowners have enough on their plate, so why not eliminate one big headache?
That’s where we come in! Plus, you could pocket an extra 3-15% without dedicating too much time. What do you have to lose?
Here are the costs of selling a house on the market compared to selling to a homebuyer like Safe Home Properties.
Inspection Fees
Typically, mortgage lenders require buyers to have their homes inspected for any necessary repairs before the sale can move forward. This could cost around $300-$500 depending on where you live and who does the inspection. If issues are found, you must decide whether you’re willing to pay for repairs since it’s unlikely someone will purchase your home if there are significant problems with its structure or systems.
Real Estate Commission
A typical real estate commission is 6%, although this amount varies from state to state. For instance, the average commission is 6.5% in the Cincinnati area. If your home sells for $200,000, this would equate to a $12,000 fee. This is one of the most significant selling costs. It often accounts for over 10% of your home’s sale price!
Additionally, commissions are not determined by selling your house to an agent or directly to another party. Granted, there are other costs associated with working with real estate agents.
Financing Costs
If you’re financing your home when you decide to sell, this can add a lot of time and cost to the process. There may be appraisal fees and any number of additional charges depending on who holds the mortgage on your property. For instance, if you have an FHA mortgage, the seller must pay for certification of any repairs made.
Attorney Fees
When selling your house on the market, you’ll likely need to hire an attorney. Attorneys generally charge around $200-$500 per hour, so making sure one carefully reads through all contract documents before signing them can cost a pretty penny. If anything goes wrong during the sale or escrow process, this can take even more time and be quite frustrating!
Should either party break the agreement terms in some way, you may even find yourself having to go to court just to get everything sorted out.
Closing Costs
There are several closing costs that both the seller and buyer must pay during a sale. These include title searches, appraisal fees, transfer taxes, etc. Someone purchasing a home will expect to pay closing costs of around 2% of the sale price. However, if you are selling on the market, these costs tend to be higher since most sellers will pass these fees on to the buyer.
However, most people selling their homes don’t have enough cash set aside for these expenses, so they’ll need to utilize an FHA loan instead of paying out-of-pocket for them with cash or conventional financing, which comes with high-interest rates.
Time Costs
There’s no way around the fact that you’ll need to spend a lot of time selling your house on the market. After all, this is an incredibly time-consuming process, and it can take several months to complete everything successfully.
There are often weeks spent finding a realtor and then even more weeks—sometimes months—to find potential buyers and try to get them into your home for viewings and inspections. There’s also the matter of attending those viewings and organizing those inspections if needed.
Once someone has looked at your home and decided they like it, there’s the issue of negotiating the deal with them as well as entering into negotiations with their lender if they’re financing.
Home Repairs
If you don’t make all the necessary repairs, potential buyers could walk away. This means finding contractors to do these jobs and hoping they can complete them quickly enough for your home to appear presentable. If major issues arise, your real estate agent or even potential buyers may insist that you fix those problems before closing.
Home Staging
Just like you’ll need to make necessary home repairs, you’ll also want to arrange for some basic, quick decorating and staging of your home to make it look its best on the market. This can include any of the following:
- Removing personal touches like family photos
- Adding neutral accessories
- Positioning furniture strategically
- Adding a fresh coat of paint
Home staging can cost around $1,000-$1,500, but it’s money that many people don’t have lying around.
Sell to a Homebuyer Like Safe Home Properties
Instead of spending months with a realtor and thousands of dollars with closing and repair costs, you could sell your house to us for a flat fee. The convenience of this one-time payment is an attractive option for many people looking to get out of their house quickly and with the least amount of hassle.
Safe Home Properties will purchase your home as-is and handle any necessary repairs. We’ll even pay all closing costs!
In the Cincinnati, OH, area, the average cost of selling on the market is around $11,000. This includes time spent looking for a real estate agent, staging the home to make it more appealing, paying fees for repairs or stagers, plus some closing costs that will be rolled into your new mortgage. Selling with Safe Home Properties is an attractive option because it’s quick and easy while saving you thousands of dollars in transaction costs.
If you live in or near Cincinnati and want to sell your home quickly, consider selling to Safe Home Properties. We’ll buy your Cincinnati-area house for cash, regardless of location or condition. We are not real estate agents—we are professional cash buyers who will close on your house fast and can do so with 100% financing!