Looking at the many homes for sale in Essex listed, you’d think that listing is a good financial decision for homeowners who want to sell their properties. But you’d be wrong. While this isn’t to say that listing is the wrong choice, and there are merits to it, there are also many misconceptions regarding listing a house that most people don’t know about.
Mainly, most of the misconceptions revolve around just how much it costs to list a house and work with a real estate agent.
Below, we’ll take you to the many factors involved in listing a house so you know exactly what you’re going into before you put your property up for sale with the help of a real estate agent:
1. Commissions
Let’s say you’re selling your house for $200,000. The typical commission rate is roughly around 5% of the final sale price. That means you’re giving around $12,000 directly to your agent. Of course, they need to get paid, and they may have worked hard for it. However, that’s still a lot of money, and that’s already on top of the marketing and administrative costs of having your house listed.
2. Repairs
Before your house is put up with other houses for sale in Essex, you’ll need to have everything that needs to be repaired fixed first. Or else, you won’t be getting much value out of your property.
Repair costs can range from a few hundreds to a couple of thousands. If it’s the latter, it might be worth it to take the time to sit down and consider whether or not the repair costs necessary for having your house listed is worth the money or not.
3. Upgrades/Renovations
Of course, you can’t just sell your house as is. It needs a fresh coat of paint, a new kitchen or bathroom fixture here and there, and a couple of landscaping changes, among other things, to be competitive with other New Jersey houses on the market.
These types of upgrades and renovations don’t come cheap, but if you don’t invest in them, your property won’t sell as much nor as quickly either, putting you in a tough spot financially.
4. Staging
Many homeowners swear by staging their home to get it to sell, and for good reason – it works. Why shouldn’t it, though? You’re paying money to make the house feel like a blank slate while also attractive at the same time so that, when a prospective buyer comes in, he or she is able to fully envision living in your home as if it was sold already.
Unfortunately, working with a professional stager isn’t cheap, and the longer you have your house staged, the more money you’ll have to spend to get it to sell.
5. Utilities
Up until the deal is closed, it’s still up to you to pay for the utilities to keep the lights and water on. This might not be a lot, but it will add up if it takes you a long time to get your house sold.
Save yourself the trouble of putting up your house for sale along with other homes for sale in Essex. Work with a direct buyer like Cash Buyer New Jersey so you can cut down the sale time from a few weeks or months to a couple of days!
