How to Sell a House for First-Time Property Owners

It’s one thing to buy your first piece of real estate property, it’s another to sell it. Whatever your reason is for selling property, the process of putting it up in the market and selling can be difficult for those who have no experience. Here are a few tips to help first-time real estate property sellers.

Prepare for the Hidden Costs

Putting your home on the real estate market can actually cost you thousands of dollars total, accumulated through the entire process. Zillow estimates that homeowners shell out around $15,190 to sell a house. This depends on factors like location and demand for properties in your location.

When coming up with a selling price, think about the following costs that could eat up your profits. These include the commission your real estate agent receives (usually six percent of the total price), the cost of painting, cleaning, staging a home for when potential buyers visit the property, lawn care, taxes, and other miscellaneous costs. You can forgo most of these costs when you sell your house to companies that buy houses in Tucson as is if you want to avoid paying for these costs out of your own pocket.

Not All Installations Add Value to Your Property

Not all features of your home will attract all types of buyers. For example, an orange tree in your yard will be a plus for health buffs who see it as a way to have fresh orange juice with pulp for a healthy breakfast in your home. But for low-maintenance minimalists who don’t like oranges, it’s an added cost to either have the tree removed or a hassle to clean the leaves, branches, and oranges that fall in the yard.

Sometimes, property owners add installations to their property thinking it could add value to the property. Even if some installations can attract certain types of people buying real estate, there are some types of installations that no one really wants or won’t really increase the property value to make up for the cost of adding the installation in the first place. You might spend thousands of dollars installing an in-ground swimming pool, but your installation could have just turned away potential buyers who don’t want to deal with the maintenance costs of owning a pool.

Focus on Your Kitchen

Modern kitchen

Wondering how to budget your remodeling, cleaning, and staging costs? Focus it on your kitchen. According to HGTV, most buyers focus on what your kitchen looks like. In fact, a dated kitchen can reduce your property value by $10,000, while a remodeled kitchen can get you 85 percent of the cost of your remodeling.

Replace your cabinets and give the kitchen a fresh coat of neutral paint. It’s likely that your buyer will want to paint the kitchen, and having a neutral color on the wall can serve as their blank canvas for when they visit and imagine what they’d do to your kitchen.

Selling your house can be a challenge, especially if you choose to do it without a real estate agent. But by understanding the real estate market, knowing the costs of selling your home, and understanding what can and can’t increase your property value, you can sell your house for the best possible price.


Image Credits: David Ronald Head, eurobanks

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