In this current market, is it wise to sell your home on your own?
Right now, the market is super hot, with low inventory and surging Home Values. And you're probably thinking about selling your house on your own. And you might probably feel confident about not needing a Real Estate Agent to sell your home right? Should you really FSBO in this current market?
Here are my thoughts on Selling Your House On Your Own in 2022.
- Let’s talk about the current housing market in 2022.
It is still a seller’s market, with low inventory. This puts you in a much better position as a seller. It really does, right? Now, Home Values are surging a little bit out of control this time. And that's something that you need to be very careful with. I am seeing deals fall apart like crazy at the exact same time because people are trying to price gas on their homes. You need to understand that your home is still going to appraise. - The Marketing
Do you not need to have professional good pictures? Sure you can sell it on your own. You can but what can you do in order to get the best price? You still need a really good professional to do it because what's going on is, things are falling out of contract all day every day. - What’s going on out there for FOR SALE BY OWNERS?
So first things first you're going to try to put your house on the market. Congratulations! It's a good thing that you’re doing that, but you still need somewhere to go. Keep in mind that this process is complicated since you’re a buyer and a seller at the same time. You need to have a real estate agent that's going to help you find what you're looking for. And you need a good one at this point. You need the best agents that are out there because it is complicated in our market. - Why is the market so complicated right now?
The market is complicated because we have low inventory. There's not a lot of houses out there. So if you are trying to sell your home, you're also a buyer. So where are you going to go next? The pre-owned buyer market is fast-paced. It is multiple offers and it's complicated. I am seeing a lot of people write out offers that absolutely don't make any sense. People write out offers that are not going to appraise and it is not working in any way. Then everyone's getting frustrated because then their home doesn't really truly sell. You need to have that understanding of the market and make sure that the agent you're working with on the buyer's side is going to bring you a legit. Your agent should know what they're talking about because if they don't, you're going to have a very complicated process, with a lot of frustrations on every side. - How do you navigate the Low Inventory, multiple offers market, and still get the best offers?
The best offer is not always the one that's going to bring you the most money. A lot of people think is the one that's going to bring the most money. Rather, it is someone whose financial aspect is solid, they have stable jobs and their financing is solid. With all these low-interest rates right now, I am seeing so many people getting pre-approved, but have no business being pre-approved. You have lenders out there doing the most and screwing people up right now. They’re simply giving people who have no business buying a house pre-approvals. You don't find out about this until they get the underwriting and the deal falls apart. I myself have had deals fall apart within the past few months and I'm sitting like what happened? They're using some lenders that they know gave them an answer. So people are bouncing around because they think it is a great time to buy. They're jumping from one lender to another until they get an answer they want to hear.
Here's a Pro Tip: If you got five lenders, tell, you that you probably can't buy a house right now, don't do it to yourself, and don't do it to a seller who's trying to sell their house.
There are a lot of people who have pre-approvals who really probably shouldn't even have them right now. So you need to make sure that your agent understands that and does their due diligence.
6. Homes are selling fast.
This is s actually great, it's a wonderful thing. But how do you present your home? Just because a home is selling fast and going for pretty good on the price point right now doesn't mean that you're just going to automatically get that. We still have houses sitting on the market for a long period of time because they were marketed using iPhone pictures. Stop it. Don't do that. Don't use iPhone or Samsung Galaxy Pictures or anything like that. Get some professional pictures. I've seen $600,000 homes, $400,000 homes $800,000 homes that are marketed with iPhone pictures. Don't do it and these houses are staying on the market forever they're beautiful houses. Professional pictures mean everything right now. And how you present your home.
If an agent is going to cut their commission down greatly for you. You got to think about that or you get someone who's actually going to negotiate for you and the answer to that is no.
I'm going to keep a hundred with you right now. If you are getting your agent to cut their commission down to 1-2%, they're not going to fight with your fight for you. They're gonna come across get the deal done. Protect Yourself make sure your transaction's going to go through. Maximize so you can get the most. You absolutely can get people who will go over this price right now. That's not a problem. We can find people who are re going to guarantee to get you money. But your agent needs to be well-versed in how to do that. And if this is something that you're trying to do on your own, that's a tough thing to do. I've been up against a couple for sale by owners right now and they think they're negotiating tough.
More Complications.
Contingency offers.
Now all other complications that we have going out there is contingency offers. Contingency is a tough thing right now. I think I'm gonna redo my video about that because if you need to sell your house in order to buy a house, that's a very difficult thing to do especially when no one's trying to take contingency offers.
Leasebacks.
These leasebacks are getting very long and ridiculous. And both sides need to understand that because in order to do what you want to do. Do you want to go to a hotel? You probably don't want that right? You want to go from your home to your new home. What if your new home is a new construction home and it's not going to be ready for like another four or five months. What are you going to do then? So we're gonna get the leaseback for five months that is what's going on out there. So you need someone who knows. I've negotiated scenarios like this before and I can give you options to make this stuff work but these are complications that are definitely out there.
Long Closing Time
The longer it takes for a home to close, the longer it takes that deal to close, it can get messed up. It can get screwed up in so many different ways. People are losing their jobs. People have financing complications. People cannot sit on their credit for four or five months and these are things you need to know. If you gave a buyer who's got to sit out there in the credit for four or five months, someone is going to slip up and get caught up in a sale or something and go buy something they don't need.
These are the complications that are going on within our market right now. Now, let’s go back to my original question, do you still need an agent to sell your home or can you do this on your own?
The big answer is: Don't do it to yourself.
This is a time where the market is crazy. Why not have a professional guide you through this issue right now? This market is great for you to sell your home but it is not exactly easy. It's more complex than it's ever been and you need to have a professional helping you guide you through it. So if you're thinking, you just jump through selling your house on your own, I gave you a couple of tips that you need to watch out for in this video. If you do need some help, I'll be more than helpful happy to help you and guide you through this. But it's not as easy to put aside in the yard and hope and wait for them to come.