How to Sell Your House While Relocating: A Basic Guide
How to Sell Your Home When Relocating
When you plan to relocate, the timeline for selling your home shrinks, and your expectations for a quick sale rise. Because you have to manage packing boxes, showing the house, hiring movers, getting settled in the new place, and closing on the old one all at the same time. The tight timeline can create a stressful, hectic pace.
Begin immediately with the following steps to expedite the process:
1. Finding Buyers
First, you must find the people who are most interested in purchasing your home. You must target the right audience to avoid wasting time trying to sell to the wrong one.
Check out the real estate ads in your local newspaper for people selling their homes to connect with qualified potential buyers. These residents may be looking to purchase another home in the area.
You could also look in the classifieds, where some people will post a “Wanted” ad with information about the house they want to buy.
Finally, social media is an excellent way to quickly spread a message to a large audience. If you need buyers quickly, consider posting about your home sale and seeing how many people respond.
2. Displaying Your Home
Before you show your home to potential buyers, make sure everything is in good condition.
Do the following before bringing in any buyers to encourage a sale when showing the house:
- Consider hiring a professional to deep clean your home.
- Depersonalize the space as much as possible by removing photos, trinkets, and personal items.
- Remove unnecessary items and donate or sell furniture that distracts from the home.
3. Closing
There will almost always be hiccups, and being overly confident about the close will make you appear desperate. A desperate seller may induce the buyer to back out of the deal.
Allow for some extra time before closing, as you’ll need to make payments on both your old and new homes.
Selling Your Home While Relocating Tips
There is an art to a successful real estate sale, and when you are in a hurry to relocate, the pressure to close a deal quickly increases. To be sure, you don’t have much time to keep your house on the market. Use the four tips below to sell your home as quickly as possible while still getting a fair price.
Make it appealing and inviting
You want your home to be beautiful and presentable, so do everything you can to make it so. Don’t try to convince anyone why they should buy the house. Instead, let the property speak for itself.
First, consider curb appeal. The outside will draw in buyers who are driving by and will affect how people feel when they first see the house. A freshly cut lawn, new landscaping, a new front door and house numbers, and possibly a wreath on the door are all examples of curb appeal.
Next, consider the impression you want to make when potential buyers enter the house. Amplify natural light, highlight the best features, and consider using aromatherapy, such as freshly baked bread, to make it feel more homey.
Rather than persuade them to buy, simply inform them that you are looking to relocate. If buyers are aware that there is a sense of urgency to sell, it may encourage them to make an offer. They will value your honesty about your reason for selling.
Offer to pay for (some) expenses
There’s a good chance your buyers will discover something they don’t like or that needs to be fixed before agreeing to close on the home.
Understandably, you may not want to spend a few thousand dollars on additional home improvements. However, being willing to make some concessions to potential buyers can drastically reduce the amount of time your home is on the market. This compromise allows you to move on and relocate without having to worry about your old property being far away.
Assume buyers come to you and ask for a new roof and a septic system. Consider either covering these costs or waiting for a better buyer down the road. Even if you wait, there is no guarantee that other buyers will not have the same reservations, putting you back in the same situation.
Understand Your Buyer
When you get to know your buyers, you’ll have the best luck selling. Take the time to understand why they are buying, what they intend to do with the home once they have purchased it, and what might entice them to act sooner.
If you can come to an agreement, you might be able to find ways to cut costs to make the deal more appealing. A discount for a shorter closing window, for example, can help move the process along.
Consider the Price
If you’re having trouble selling your home while relocating, reconsider your asking price. While this may have been the ideal amount to obtain, waiting for that price may end up costing you more in the long run if you wait too long.
When a property is on the market for an extended period of time, it becomes stale. Prospective buyers will look at the listing date, calculate how much time has passed, and then scroll past your listing.
To remain competitive, you should be willing to lower your price to close a deal. Accept that you may receive a slightly lower return on your investment because you must move and sell quickly.
What Are Your Relocation Options for Selling a House?
If you need to sell your house quickly while relocating to a new area (which may be far away), you have a few options for when and how to do so.
As you browse the options below, keep in mind that the best one for you will be determined by:
- Your financial circumstances
- How far you’re travelling
- How critical your timeline is
- How much you expect to receive for the house.
Option 1: Sell your home with a realtor before moving.
If you are not in a rush, selling your home with a real estate agent before moving can be the most profitable option.
This route may take a little longer than you expected. However, if you have enough money to pay two mortgages and two sets of bills each month until you can close on your current home, the wait is worthwhile. Holding out for the right buyer will ensure you get the most money for your home.
Option 2: Sell Your Home Through a Realtor After You Move
If you must relocate immediately and have limited options for extending your stay, you must do so. You can still sell your old home with a realtor from your new location, but the process may be more difficult.
You must pay your realtor to manage the listing while you are away. You may also be required to return for the closing, so make sure you can do so.
Furthermore, abandoned homes are more vulnerable to theft and squatters, neither of which helps a house sell. If you can wait until your house sells to move, you can avoid these situations entirely.
Option 3: Sell to a Cash Offer Company
If neither Option 1 or Option 2 feel right for you, consider selling your home to a cash-offer company like Fair Property Buyers. You’ll have to think about your options and decide if it’s better to keep your house on the market while you move or to sell it quickly for a slightly lower return on investment than you were expecting.
The time and money saved by a quick sale frequently outweigh the money lost by a quick cash offer.
You won’t have to pay for a real estate agent or go through the lengthy closing process—you’ll have cash in hand quickly, ready to use for your relocation. For some, that is priceless.
