Home inspection. Though not mandatory, sellers who have their own inspection have a heads up as to what they need to do to get the house ready for sale and anticipate what problems buyers might find. If the inspection reveals a crack in the foundation, you have the option to fix it or disclose it.

Repairs and renovations. Most homes need a faucet fixed or some minor repairs, but often, updating the kitchen or bath, replacing the carpets, refinishing the floors, or resealing the driveway are bigger ticket repairs that can increase your selling price.

Freshening up. Even if there are some repairs you can’t afford to do, repainting gives a fresh look that makes the home inviting. The buyer might want another color in the future, but if the room is newly painted, the buyer knows he has the option of moving right in.

Curb appeal. Since buyers develop their favorable or unfavorable first impression about your home in 30 seconds, you want to make sure it’s a good one. Cleaning up your yard, repainting the trim, and planting some flowers can do the trick.

Real estate sales costs. Average commissions might be 5-7% for full service agents and 3% for discount brokers if you use an agent. Even if you sell yourself, you will have advertising costs. You may think you are saving money by not using an agent, but you are paying for knowledge you may not have to price and present your home to the market.

Negotiated sellers’ costs. Buyers often expect, or at least request, that sellers pay part of the closing costs and ask for allowances for undone repairs or upgrades. Refusing to pay can be a deal-breaker even though your agent will help you counter-offer any demands you don’t accept.

Closing costs include lender closing costs, title fees, up-front interest (if any), escrows, transfer taxes, and real estate commissions (if any).

Payoff costs. Does your home value exceed your current mortgage? If you are like many underwater homeowners, you may have to pay the excess back to the bank when you sell. Does your lender have a pre-payment penalty?

Opportunity costs. Remember Economics 101? You pay opportunity costs in money and time while you wait to sell. If you make renovations or repairs of any kind, you divert your funds in hopes of getting a return you may not see when you sell your house. If you handle the repairs yourself, you sacrifice your time. The more time you wait for your home to sell, the more you are postponing moving on to the next step. If you want to buy a new house contingent on selling your old one, you may lose it if your sale drags.

You must factor in both time and money when you calculate the true cost of selling your home. If you want to sell your home in a competitive market, prepare to expend one or the other.

What home selling expense do you think sellers are most likely to forget?

Are you ready to sell a home fast? Call us today at 1-888-835-4758 or have your client contact us to get an offer in hours from Express Homebuyers.

Don’t fall for a scam that offers you quick and ready help.  Instead, call a counselor.

Counselors work, according to a recent study by the Urban Institute.  Since 2007, when the National Foreclosure Mitigation Counseling program was founded to help distressed homeowners, $410 million has gone into the program.  Over 750,000 were helped through the end of 2008.  These borrowers were 60% more likely to keep their homes if they received counseling.  Their monthly payments were decreased to an average of $454.

Part of the counselor’s job is to help homeowners evaluate whether they can afford to keep their homes and then to help them gather the loan documents the lender needs to consider a modification.

This is an interesting finding in view of recently released statistics that 51% of loan modifications in the last year were in default by the end of 2009.  Did something change in the finances of those counseled?  Did counseling standards change as new federal programs encouraged more people to seek a counselor?  Were counselors too optimistic and those served so anxious to keep their homes that they agreed to a payment schedule that was still too high for their income?  Further studies into why re-defaults occurred in 2009 will undoubtedly reveal some needed insights.

The newest federal program announced that March 26 attacks the double-headed monster of negative equity and unemployment.  Most analysts of past housing remedies blame the failure of lenders to reduce principal and bring housing values and loan values more in sync.  The new program offers lenders incentives to offer principle reduction and provides temporary help to people who are unemployed.  Even though the program is only hours old at this writing, no one expects that this is the silver bullet that will “fix housing” either.

Counselors are constrained by available programs to offer their clients.  Regardless of the program, counselors link those who can be helped to ways to get help even if the help is not the final answer to their problems.  This stark reality does not undermine the findings from 2008: Counseling works!

Want to sell your house fast?  Your house worries can be behind you in two weeks by calling Express Homebuyers.  We buy homes for cash and can have $2,500 in your hands even before your deal closes.