You’ve decided it’s time to sell, that is a significant step one. But you can not make up your mind on the next step, and you do not want to make a mistake. You keep asking yourself if you should hire a real estate agent to list and sell your house in Minneapolis St Paul, Minnesota . You know you will be paying a hefty commission to get it sold! How long are you willing to wait for the house to receive an offer? You have heard that it can be up to 6 months to get the whole deal done. How long will it take to close on the sale? What sort of repairs will you have to make before you list it, and then after the buyers have an inspection? How does the house look when I leave for work in the morning? Are you available to show your home with 24-hour notice, or less? Lots of stress and things to think about.
Showings
There is another way. You might have heard of companies to who houses for all cash? The companies are professional home buyers working here in Minneapolis St Paul, Minnesota . When you sell your home to one of these companies, you will not have to worry about going through a roller coaster of emotions. There are no frustrating, last-minute phone calls asking if you are available to show your house in one hour. You could be in the shower or eating dinner, then off you go with the family while an agent shows your home hoping someone will like it. Selling your house directly to a professional home buyer, you don’t have to worry about leaving your house spotless every day before heading to work, just in case there is a showing that afternoon while you’re gone. It’s hard enough to keep the kid’s room clean without the added stress of it always needing to be perfectly clean. You don’t have to worry about possibly running into a buyer’s agent or their clients or dealing with them asking you questions that you really shouldn’t answer anyway. You also don’t have to worry about buyers arguing with you over which furniture you are taking and what you are leaving. Having this type of showings are a natural part of doing business working with agents.
Commissions and Fees
Real estate agents are paid based on a percentage of the sale price of your house. Depending on the level of service you are wanting, the contract between you and the agent will spell out how much you will pay for what services. The full-service agents charge up to 7.5% of the sale price to sell your house. Most of the time, for 7.5%, you get professional photos, the website for your properties address, staging, one day of handyman work, and the rest of the marketing stuff. If you do not use an agent, there will be no commissions paid to a buyer’s or seller’s agent. That means thousands of dollars in savings! The usual commission is 6%, with 3% going to each side, so if you sell your house for $400,000, you would have to pay $24,000 out of your proceeds in commissions alone.
On top of that, there are the traditional seller’s closing fees and other possible transaction fees to the closing agent and the real estate agent’s broker’s office on an average figure about 1.5 for the closing cost to sell your property. Real estate investors, on the other hand, typically do not charge commission or transaction fees, and if they do, it is extremely low in comparison. So right there, you are talking tens of thousands of dollars not going to the agent or supporting companies.
Waiting Time Frame
Ever wonder how long does it take to sell your house with an investor vs an Agent? Real estate agents have access to the Minnesota multiple listing service, or MLS, which allows your property to be found in searches for certain features of a property. This may sound great, but how long will it sit on the market? How fast will you receive offers? A crazy fast sale will be at least 60 days, with the average being six months. Real estate investors and other direct house buyers typically have a network of other professional house buyers. So if your property doesn’t fit their portfolio, or their buy, fix, and sell strategy, then it may fit one of their colleagues’ portfolios. In the home buying world, this is called ensigning a property. Either way, this means minimal waiting time for an offer.
The typical time frame from start to finish selling to a professional home buyer:
Day 1 You call home buying company
Day 1 They call you back and ask questions about the property
Day 2 Buyer comes out to meet you and visit your property
Day 3 No Obligation Full Cash Offer is given to you
Day 3 Both you and buyer agree on paperwork, and it’s signed
Day 4 Buyer sets up closing at the professional title company
Day 10 You show up a title company, sign some paperwork
Day 10 You pick up the check and leave your keys to the house
Not every transaction goes that fast; most of the time, it takes closer to 30 days, mostly depending on the seller getting the paperwork ready on their end and getting the things out of the house they want to keep. Here are some other ways to tell an investor apart from a real estate agent. When you sell your house in Minneapolis St Paul, Minnesota directly to house buyers, they will typically, as you can see above, close faster than traditional buyers using an agent, and usually pay full in cash. traditional house purchases often require qualifications from banks, mortgage underwriting time, property inspection, and the buyer may not end up qualifying in the end to get a loan. Also, if your property has some issues or needed repairs, traditional buyers may get cold feet and not be able to buy because they are overwhelmed by the condition of the home.
Inspections & Repairs
Professional house buyers in Minnesota will usually purchase local twin cities properties in as-is condition. As a seller, this means you do not have to worry about repairs before closing or any other additional expenses you were not planning on. There are some companies that do not require inspections, which makes it a genuinely as-is transaction. When you use a real estate agent, the buyer’s agent will almost always order a professional home inspection of the property. If they find something wrong with the property somewhere, they may require you to fix it out of pocket before the property closes or asks for a reduction in the agreed-on purchase price. Another great reason why it is better to work with a real estate investor than a real estate agent in Minneapolis St Paul.
There are a lot of situations to think about when you are ready to sell your house. We can help you decide which avenue would be best for you.