Selling Your Home is Easier Than You Think

Rather than put it on the market as is, we decided to renovate and upgrade before selling our home. We refinished the kitchen cabinets, added granite countertops, backsplash, changed flooring on the main level to hard wood, changed bath and laundry room floors to LVP, bought new appliances, changed fixtures and painted the interior to a modern light gray color. I remember walking into our home after it was all done, I could not believe we were about to put it on the market. It was beautiful and I no longer wanted to sell.

Chasing after contractors for months and the disappointments of a poorly done job that needed to be redone was no fun. I had many sleepless nights because I worried the renovation would not be done in time for our home to hit the peak market season. The contractor who did the backsplash took three weeks! to finish backsplash only. He apparently had other jobs and was going back and forth. Not to mention he appeared to have substance abuse and family issues that seemed to affect his performance. The entire renovation took way longer than I expected and yes, we missed the Spring/Summer “hot” market season. Kids were already in school about a month by the time our home hit the market. This meant most families who wanted their move to coincide with summer or beginning of the school year already moved and we lived in a very kid(s) friendly neighborhood. Our house still sold after 4 weeks on the market for 97.5% of list price. It mostly likely would have sold for more and with fewer days on the market if it hit the market during peak season.

I went back to the drawing board to see if renovating before putting house on market was worth it. I figured renovating before selling netted us a profit of 6.2% of sale price. That may sound okay on the surface, however, it gets worse. If we sold off market instead of renovating, we may have saved 6% in realtor fees and ended up with more money in our pocket or breaking even but without the headaches of the renovation process.

There are a couple reasons why renovating was not a good move for us:

1. We were busy with our day jobs and paid contractors to do everything.

2. We were renovating during peak season and the contractors were all very busy resulting in delays.

3. It was a pain not to have access to some parts of our home during renovation.

4. Retail vs wholesale contractors: Wholesale contractors work primarily with investors, vacant properties and can use economies of scale. The net effect is costs are less with wholesale contractors compared to retail. I did not have any prior experience managing a home renovation, our home was occupied and I did not know about nor had access to wholesale contractors.

5. The whole process took way longer and was very stressful for us. After renovating I had little patience to deal with the stress of moving.

6. In hindsight, updating our home along the way during the 9 years we lived in it would have been the way to go, rather than wait to do it all at the tail end when we were ready to move. I have to mention finances played some role with forgoing the updates until we were ready to move.

I have since found out it is possible to sell your home fast and with a lot less hassle than our experience. It can really be as simple as make a call, discuss your specific situation, make no repairs or updates, pick your closing date and move date. In many cases you pay zero closing costs and may even get credit towards your moving costs. I have to mention, do your research, due diligence and ask lots of questions when you go to choose a “We Buy Houses Atlanta” or “Cash For My House Atlanta” or "Sell My House Fast Atlanta" buyer.

A major advantage of selling off market is complete control over timing you move. We had to move twice, first into a temporary rental when our home sold and then into our new home we bought 6 months later. A typical home buying process takes 30 to 45 days to close, plenty of time to sell your existing home while waiting to close on the new home. Yes, many of the non-traditional home buyers can close within 14 days. This convenience does come at a cost, you have to weigh your options to see if it is worth it for you. It requires a balance between stress level tolerance, managing other competing commitments, experience with contractors and factoring in all costs for each method.

Pros of Selling Off Market

· Best when you don’t want to deal with repairs or upgrades

· Control over when you move

· A lot less hassle than traditional method

· It can be very easy and fast to sell your home if you need to move quickly

· You can negotiate $0 out of pocket costs

· Avoid hidden costs such as paying two mortgages, costs of moving twice, offering a higher price or losing a bid on your new home due to contingency on selling the old house.

· You may actually end up better off if you factor in all cost savings

Cons of Selling Off Market

· Ease and convenience of Off Market sale means you may get less money for your home

Looking back, we came off barely breaking even in terms of hard dollar costs. Considering our stress level and duration of renovation, we could have been better off calling a We Buy Houses Atlanta GA home buyer. Not everyone will have the same experience as we did. The biggest mistakes we made were underestimating the amount of resources required for repairs and renovation (albeit not a major one) and not factoring realtor fees and all costs.

What are some of your thoughts and experiences with selling your home or other real estate property?

Ada Panko

Contact us if you are interested in selling your home off market or have any questions.

info@sagelanega.com

(470) 222-4088