Selling your house is a crucial decision in your life. You may have built tons of memories inside those four walls, not to mention the countless time, effort & money you have put. So, it’s okay to get confused about whether or not you should sell your house.
If you’re one of those traditional homeowners, you will see your home as the most significant financial asset. However, it may give rise to many questions like, whether it’s the right time, and should you move on or not. You do not need to stress yourself while deciding.
Ask yourself these 8 questions before pounding the “for sale” sign into your front lawn-
1. How Good Is Your Equity Status?
You have to be on the positive side of equity unless you are facing bankruptcy or something. If you don’t know your equity status, find out first. It is very easy to calculate by yourself.
Subtract your recent mortgage balance from the current market price of your house. If you have a positive value, you are good to go. Anything close to zero or in the negative region is alarming.
A healthy equity balance will boost your chances of safely purchasing a new house. However, you should not decide your house’s current value by visiting some sites because they provide inflated values. Instead, hire a real estate expert to analyze the current market.
2. How Much Is Your House Worth?
After finding out your equity balance, ask your agent to do thorough research about the current market value of your home.
Look for similar houses in your neighborhood & find out their selling price. Thus, you will have an idea about the price you are going to get.
You won’t find houses just the same as yours. Here, you need to take into consideration the number of rooms, toilets & per square feet space. These can give you a clear idea. However, the season is another influencing factor. These will help you identify the right factors of selling a house and what you should do to increase its price.
Statistics show that houses have high demand in the summer. Besides, you need to consider the overall neighborhood environment, facilities provided, location, etc.
3. How Much Can You Spend on Curb Appeal?
The first thing a buyer notices once he/she enters your house is the front yard. If a buyer gets a bad vibe before entering your home, he/she will start seeing everything negatively.
That’s why you need to make sure your buyers become mesmerized with the outlook of the house.
Start by fixing little things like trimming your bushes, cutting overgrown lawn grass. These tiny things matter to the buyers.
You may have to change the 10/15-year-old “welcome” sign just to catch buyers’ eyes.
You may also have to do a complete renovation if there are major issues with the house like fixing HVAC, swimming pool, kitchen or toilets, etc. You have to spend a little on essential repairs to increase the value of your house.
4. Is Your Backup Savings Ready?
Even after selling your house, you have to pay additional bills before receiving the check from your buyer.
You may have to pay for the movers, home inspections, appraisals, not to forget the down payment of your new mortgage.
Hence, you shouldn’t solely depend on the money from selling your house. All those little costs add up. So, it’s better to have some savings as a backup.
5. Can You Manage a New Mortgage?
It’s not so simple to get a new mortgage once you have sold your old house. Your credit history has to be strong and positive.
A higher credit score will quickly grant you a loan with lower interest rates & down payment.
Study your credit reports thoroughly. Then list your house. If you find a report saying that you missed your car payment, but you paid on time, contact them & correct it.
Lenders consider a credit score 740 or higher suitable for mortgage loans. Assess your credit score to improve if it’s low.
6. Do You Feel Congested?
Before putting your house on the market, ask yourself some basic questions. Is your family growing? Do you feel the need for more bedrooms or toilets? Does your home make you feel like living in a clown car?
If you find satisfactory answers to each of these questions, then it’s time to move on.
7. Ready to Break Emotional Ties?
One of the most critical questions to answer before deciding to sell your house is, are you ready to let go?
It’s natural to develop emotional attachments with a place where you lived all of your life or long enough. Once you put your house on the market, you need to be ready to tackle your potential buyers’ criticism.
You may get negative feedback from the home inspection; your buyers may react negatively with the paint, curtains, rugs, etc. You may have to remove all of your family photos, arrange your furniture otherwise & so on. If you aren’t ready to go through such remarks, you aren’t ready to part with your home.
8. Can You Hire a Real Estate Agent?
You may try to sell your house on your own to save the cost of hiring a real estate agent.
But you really aren’t saving a lot because you still have to pay commission to the seller’s agent. Just saving on one side won’t do much good because your agent has a greater chance of reaching out to a wide range of potential buyers than you.
Besides, a professional can bargain better & can bring out the most from the buyers.
Hire someone who is willing to invest in marketing, and communicates with you regularly to keep you updated. Finding the right realtor takes care of half of your worries.
Final Thoughts
It is not that hard to decide if you are financially and mentally ready to sell your house and move on to a new place. Once you have answered all the above questions, take an informative decision, and make the best out of the situation.
