What an unusual time we are living in and what an interesting time to sell a house. How do you sell a house during a pandemic? In general, selling a home isn’t the easiest thing to do but sell a house during covid, where should you begin? Well, you came to the right place; this helpful guide will go over the selling process and how to sell a house during a pandemic.
Can I Sell a House During Coronavirus?
Yes, you can still sell your house during covid! That’s the good news. But to begin, you probably need to decide how you would like to sell a house during a pandemic. There are several options out there, so to help narrow down your choices, let’s take a look at each.
Option 1: Sell With an Agent
Most people choose this option for the convenience of selling a house. A real estate agent handles: listing, determining an asking price, marketing, showings, negotiating with buyers, as well as phone calls and paperwork. But a real estate agent does charge a fee for these services.
The amount is either a flat fee or typically a percentage of the total sales price of your home. That percentage, usually called a commission, is roughly 6% of the sale price. So if you were to sell your Memphis property for $200,000, your agent stands to make $12,000. That’s a big chunk of change. And the frustrating thing is that amount doesn’t change if your agent is working really hard to sell your house during covid or seems to be putting forth little effort.
Usually, agents recommend pricing your home higher for the area, which may seem like a great idea, especially if that means you can make more money. But if you price too high, your house can sit on the market for months without any interest. And of course, a realtor will recommend a higher amount because their commission will be higher if your house sells for that price.
Just know, selling your house with an agent does not guarantee your home will sell, especially since you are trying to sell a house during a pandemic.
Option 2: Sell By Owner
Now that you see what selling a house with a realtor looks like, you’re probably interested in selling your home by owner. It shouldn’t be all that hard, right? Plus, you would get to save all that money you would otherwise have to pay an agent. Well, that’s where you may be mistaken.
Yes, selling a house by owner will save you money, potentially. But all those responsibilities mentioned above that the real estate agent handles-
- Listing the property
- Determining an asking price
- Marketing
- Showings
- Negotiating with the buyer’s agent
- Phone calls
- Paperwork
-that would all fall to you to handle.
When selling a house by owner, the biggest obstacle you will have is determining the asking price. That is actually the top issue homeowners struggle with because if you price too high, your house could sit on the market for months with no interest, resulting in you dropping the price. And if you price too low, potential buyers assume something is wrong with the property to be priced so low for the area.
In the end, it’s a lot of work, time, and money to sell a house. And if that sounds stressful to you, this may not be the best way for you to sell your house during covid.
Option 3: Sell to a Home Buyer
Another option you can look into is selling your home to a local home investor like Fair Cash Deal. This is a great way to sell a house during covid. And here is why. When you work with a local home investor, they will either request photos or a video of your home to look it over before giving you an offer on your property. Occasionally, they may ask to do a walkthrough of your house, which is much more manageable than multiple people visiting your home for open houses and showings.
Homebuyers also purchase homes in as-is condition. Not only saving you hundreds of dollars on home repairs and renovations but also dealing with the headache of repairmen coming in and out of your house.
Another thing to consider when selling a house is the fact that not a lot of people may be buying during a pandemic. And if you need to sell your home quickly because of a job transfer, pre-foreclosure, bankruptcy, or health issues, you don’t have the luxury to wait for your house to sell. By working with a local investor, not only can they handle whatever situation you’re dealing with but also can close in as quickly as 7 days….or on your schedule.
If you’re trying to sell a house during covid selling to a local home buyer is the way to go.
Ways to Prevent Covid While Selling a House
Once you have decided how you plan to sell your home, you will need to take some precautions to prevent the coronavirus. Here are a few ways you can safeguard yourself and your family.
Go Virtually
Whether you go with an agent or sell by owner, try to do a lot of things virtually. If you do go with an agent, talk to your realtor about how they intend to show the house. Since many things are being done online now, they should be able to get a video made of your home for potential buyers to take a virtual tour on the website. Also, have them take lots of photos of your property to post online with your listing. The more ways you can show your home virtually, the better; that way, it limits foot traffic in your home.
If you sell by owner, this will be your job to find a photographer and videographer. Once photos are taken and the video is made, you will need to find a few for sale by owner websites to post them to; that way, your listing and images will be found online.
Clean and Disinfect
It is inevitable; you will need to show your house to interested buyers because, let’s face it, no one is going to buy a house they’ve never walked into before. Not only would it be a good idea to clean your home for visitors looking to buy you will also want to disinfect after they leave. So you probably should invest in some cleaning products listed by the CDC as COVID-19 Disinfectants. Some known products are Lysol and Clorox. And don’t forget to purchase some disposable gloves as well.
Before and after showings, you will want to clean as many surfaces as you can. High contact areas to disinfect would be: door handles, countertops, drawer pulls, and light switches. Leaving lights on around the house and doors or drawers open may help cut down on places visitors touch.
You can also leave a friendly note by the door asking for the visitors to kindly wear their masks while viewing the property. Setting out some extra masks and hand sanitizer wouldn’t hurt either.
Conclusion:
Unfortunately, when selling with an agent or by owner, there isn’t really a safe way to sell your house during covid. But you can still sell your house one way or another. The key is to limit the number of people coming in and out of your home, which can be hard to do if you’re selling the traditional way. It takes an average of 20 showings before selling a house with a realtor or by owner.
There is a solution, though, remember option 3- selling to a home buyer?
A local home investor might be able to make you an offer on your home by using photos or a video. Worst case, they may need to walk through the property once, significantly less than the other alternatives.
Besides seeing the property once, there are other perks to selling your home to a cash home buyer.
- No realtor fees- because their not agents
- No repairs or renovations- because they buy as-is
- No closing cost – because they pay them
- No waiting on bank financing- because they pay in cash
If you are looking for a quick and easy solution, sell your home to Fair Cash Deal. They are a local home buying company serving the Memphis area since 2016.
Our team focuses on helping homeowners like yourself find solutions to selling their homes, even if you’re trying to sell a house during a pandemic.
To find out more about how it works or to get a fair cash offer today, please contact us at (901) 531-9917.
