Thinking of selling your home? Here’s why you can’t put off preparing for the sale.

Are you currently thinking of selling your home? Here’s why you can’t put off preparing for the sale.

If you’ve read the news recently, you’re probably aware of the fact that homes acrooss the nation are selling at all time highs, as shown in HomeLight’s Top Agent Insights for Spring 2021 report, 91% of real estate agents reporting inventory is lower than expected, and another 94% of agents reporting that bidding wars are on the rise or at their peak.

Since the increased demand for homes is shortening the average house sales cycle, if you’re thinking of putting your home on the market, you can’t afford to procrastinate and delay putting off preparing for the sale. Below are a few tips to help simplify the process and make things more manageable.

Know the best time to contact a realtor

When you’re selling a home, the ideal time to contact a realtor is about three months before you plan to put your home on the market. If you contact a realtor more than three months in advance, they won’t be able to provide concrete insights for your sale due to the fact real estate trends are continuously evolving. On the other hand, if you contact an agent less than three months before your desired listing date, they won’t be able to effectively prepare for the sale.

If you want to get a head start on preparing your home for the sale, there’s plenty you can do to prepare your home early on. These steps include a thorough decluttering of your home as that alone can add thousands to the value of your property. You also could attend to necessary repairs such as leaky faucets, unreliable water heaters, and anything else that would have a material impact on living in the home.

Buying and selling at once

One of the main reasons individuals postpone selling their home is because it’s a challenge aligning two separate home sale closing dates. Fortunately if you’re looking to buy and sell a home at the same time, a real estate agent can help you understand your options and determine what works best for you.

A popular suggestion of real estate agents is to take out a bridge loan which is a short-term loan that leverages equity in your current home to help you make the down payment on the second mortgage. Although effective, this approach is only recommended for individuals that can take on two mortgage payments for the full duration of the loan, which is frequently six months.

An alternative to bridge loans is a “back-rent” (post closing occupancy) agreement with the buyer of your current home. In these arrangements, the seller pays to rent the home they sold until they’re able to move into their new property. Many investor home buyers will offer free rent-back periods as part of the sale agreement.

Finally, you could also look at home trade-in programs which let you swap your home for brand new properties. While this option is much more convenient than traditional home selling processes, you may have to take a lower offer on your property.