Tips for Saving Money When Selling a Home
Posted on: 12 January 2017
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If you want to sell your house but do not have a lot of equity in it, you might consider trying to sell it on your own. In other words, you might try to sell the house by owner. While this is a good way to avoid paying a commission, selling a house without a real-estate agent can be hard to do. Here are some tips that may help you save some money when selling your house.
Try to sell it yourself
Putting your house up for sale by owner is a good place to start if you are not in a huge hurry to sell. If you do this, it would give you the opportunity to try to find a buyer for your house without having to pay a real-estate commission. If this works, you will save money. If it doesn't work, that's okay too. You could contact a real-estate agent and sign a contract with him or her.
List it with a real-estate agent
If you decide to list your house with a real-estate agent, it's important to make sure that you do not have a buyer for the house when you sign the contract. If someone viewed your home when it was for sale by owner, you will be tied to paying a commission if the person waits to purchase it until after you have listed it with an agent.
You may want to ask your real-estate agent if the commission rate is negotiable. The average rate is around 6 percent, but your agent might agree to lower it for you. It is worth asking.
Don't try to avoid paying the commission
Once you list your house with an agent, you will most likely have to pay a commission if the house sells, and this is true even if the contract expires. Most real-estate contracts are for three months to one year. If the house sells during the contract period, you will pay the commission for sure. There is also a chance you will have to pay the commission even if the house is no longer listed with the agency when you find a buyer. This is because of something known as a protection clause.
A protection clause is designed to prevent homeowners from working out deals with homebuyers on their own. In other words, you cannot try to convince someone to wait until the contract ends to buy your house just so you can avoid the commission. If you do this, you are breaking the law, and you will still end up paying a commission in most cases.
If you would like to learn more about how a real-estate agent can help you sell your home, contact one today.